Download or read book Scatterlings a Tapestry of Afri Expat Tales written by Eve Hemming and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moving country remains the hugest thing weve ever experienced/ accomplished/ drowned in. Its an act of seemingly utter insanity, which negates all ones most primal connections to the cosmos. I find myself quoting Keats more often, Happiness is sharpened by its antithetical elements. Experiencing a new chapter of life is life-altering and isnt given enough credence. Each day we are grateful to taste a figuratively different menu, yet simultaneously we miss the staple diet stemming from our roots. I recall emailing a psychologist colleague of mine a few months after my arrival here, Am I experiencing a schism of the self? I asked. She replied, No, just re-inventing the self. I kept that pinned on my notice board at work for the first year to reflect on. _______________________________________________________________ Scatterlings Synopsis The book kicks off with the author's innocent and carefree childhood growing up on a farm in South Africa, my awakening (conscientising into an awareness that all is not right, being born into an apartheid era), life in SA and the epiphany to immigrate to NZ. The chapter Bouncing off Planet Africa' encompasses the grieving and healing process of migration. This section should be extremely beneficial to all migrants as part of the adaptation and acculturisaton process. The Scatterling tapestry chapters follow with migrants stories of their passion, pain, love - and hate - of Africa. For this section a remarkable cross section of stories; people of various cultural backgrounds and groups from Southern Africa including: cross cultural marriages; gay marriages; the lobola story between a Zulu woman and an American man; people who were marginalised and affected by apartheid, or survived the war in Zimbabwe, etc., plus Afri-expat tales from places such as Peru, USA, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kenya, Zimbabwe, UK, Oz and NZ have been gathered and incorporated. There is a section with contributions, including a Somali Refugee, a rootless African American (due to slavery) and people of colour uprooted in South Africa due to the apartheid areas act. Expats talk about hurdles and obstacles regarding migration, and about the wonderful sense of freedom from the shackles of apartheid and from fear, violence and criminality. They also offer some tips and advice to wannabes, while others hanker for home so much and return to face the challenges of a violent land. The contributors echo the same parallel threads, yet different and unique, each through their own personal lens. A short chapter offers children the opportunity to share their stories in Out the Mouths of Babes, which is both insightful and humorous. An historical/political time line follows from Khoi Khoi to current with articles and information, demographics and some statistics covering the establishment of humanity in the ancient continent; the conflicts, the horrors of apartheid and current exasperation due to ongoing heinous crime, stress, corruption and structural disintegration, juxtaposed against optimism and hope. Articles (all with the authors blessings) are included by well know South African writers, politicians, projectionists and figure heads, the likes of Helen Zille, Clem Sunter, Max du Preez and several young emerging African columnists the likes of Mabaso, Mtimkulu and Shuudi.) There is a section on migrants poetry, followed by Southern African recipes and food tales as immigrants identify with food as part of the cultural adaptation and period of grieving. A short existential epilogue concludes the book.
Download or read book Scatterlings written by Martin Shaw and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Scatterlings Martin Shaw walks the myth-lines of seven stories based in and around his homeland of Dartmoor, England. Rather than the commentaries on such tales being primarily balanced against other literary sources, Shaw uses what actually occurs on these walks as the main source of information on the tales. The swoop of raven, the swamp, the thinking that moves through him, all form a knot of relationship between the land and the story. As he walks he tells the story of the place back to itself. This is a highly unusual move for a mythologist, an aspiration to use speech as form of animistic relationship, of binding, of praise to a place. In a time of rapid migrations and climatic movement, Shaw asks: how could we be not just from a place but of a place? When did we trade shelter for comfort? what was the cost of that trade? What are the stories the west tells itself in private? Scatterlings also takes us on a wonder through the wild edges of British culture, a story of secret histories: from the ancient storytelling of the bardic schools to medieval dream poetry, from the cunning man to animal call words, to Arabian and steppe Iranian influence on English dialect. Through its astonishing journey, Shaw reveals to us that when you gaze deep enough into the local you find the nomad, and when you look deep enough into the nomad you find the local. Scatterlings is a rebel keen, a rising up, to bend your head to the stories and place that claim you.
Download or read book Scatterlings written by Resoketswe Martha Manenzhe and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2022-12-13 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A BEST NEW BOOK from *Vanity Fair *The Root *Vulture *People *The Washington Post *Christian Science Monitor *Los Angeles Times *Essence A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Pick! A New Yorker Best Book of the Year! A lyrical, moving novel in the spirit of Transcendent Kingdom and A Burning—and the most awarded debut title in South Africa—that tells the story of a multiracial family when the Immorality Act is passed, revealing the story of one family’s scattered souls in the wake of history. In 1927, South Africa passes the Immorality Act, prohibiting sexual intercourse between “Europeans” (white people) and “natives” (Black people). Those who break the draconian new law face imprisonment—for men of up to five years; for women, four years. Abram and his wife Alisa have their share of marital problems, but they also have a comfortable life in South Africa with their two young girls. But then the Act is passed. Alisa is black, and their two children are now evidence of their involvement in a union that has been criminalized by the state. At first, Alisa and Abram question how they’ll be affected by the Act, but then officials start asking questions at the girls’ school, and their estate is catalogued for potential disbursement. Abram is at a loss as to how to protect his young family from the grinding machinery of the law, whose worst discriminations have until now been kept at bay by the family’s economic privilege. And with this, his hesitation, the couple’s bond is tattered. Alisa, who is Jamaican and the descendant of slaves, was adopted by a wealthy white British couple, who raised her as their child. But as she grew older and realized that the prejudices of British society made no allowance for her, she journeyed to South Africa where she met Abram. In the aftermath of the Immorality Act, she comes to a heartbreaking conclusion based on her past and collective history – and she commits her own devastating act, one that will reverberate through their entire family’s lives. Intertwining her storytelling with ritual, myth, and the heart-wrenching question of who stays and who leaves, Scatterlings marks the debut of a gifted storyteller who has become a sensation in her native South Africa—and promises to take the Western literary world by storm as well.
Download or read book Scatterling of Africa written by Johnny Clegg and published by Pan Macmillan South africa. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘There are moments in life that are pure, and which seem to hang in the air, unhitched from the everyday world as we know it. Suspended for a few seconds, they float in their own space and time with their own hidden prospects. For want of a better term, we call these moments “magical” and when we remember them they are cloaked in a halo of special meaning.’ For 14-year-old Johnny Clegg, hearing Zulu street music as plucked on the strings of a guitar by Charlie Mzila one evening outside a corner café in Bellevue, Johannesburg, was one such ‘magical’ moment. The success story of Juluka and later Savuka, and the cross-cultural celebration of music, language, story, dance and song that stirred the hearts of millions across the world, is well documented. Their music was the soundtrack to many South Africans’ lives during the turbulent 70s and 80s as the country moved from legislated oppression to democratic freedom. It crossed borders, boundaries and generations, resonating around the world and back again. Less known is the story of how it all began and developed. Scatterling of Africa is that origin story, as Johnny Clegg wrote it and wanted it told. It is the story of how the son of an unconventional mother, grandson of Jewish immigrants, came to realise that identity can be a choice, and home is a place you leave and return to as surely as the seasons change.
Download or read book Smoke Hole written by Martin Shaw and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2021-05-20 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "With potent, lyrical language and a profound knowledge of storytelling, Shaw encourages and illuminates the mythic in our own lives. He is a modern-day bard." – Madeline Miller, author of Circe and The Song of Achilles At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our modern lives—identity, technology, trust, politics, and a global pandemic—celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole: three metaphors to help us understand our world, one that is assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a health crisis that has brought loneliness and isolation to an all-time high. Smoke Hole is a passionate call to arms and an invitation to use these stories to face the complexities of contemporary life, from fake news, parenthood, climate crises, addictive technology and more. Shaw urges us to reclaim our imagination and untangle ourselves from modern menace, letting these tales be our guide. More Praise: "I can still remember the first time I heard Martin Shaw tell a story. The tale that emerged was like a living thing, bounding around, throwing itself at us there listening. I had never heard anything like it before." – Paul Kingsnorth, Booker shortlisted author of The Wake "Martin Shaw’s work is so very beautiful. A new animal. His love of images is deep and contagious." – Coleman Barks, author of The Essential Rumi "Through feral tales and poetic exegesis, Martin Shaw makes you re-see the world, as a place of adventure, and of initiation, as perfect home, and as perfectly other. What a gift." – David Keenan, author of Xstabeth "Shaw has so much wisdom and knowledge about the old stories, it emanates from his pores." – John Densmore, The Doors
Download or read book The Farseekers written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: in the two years since its takeover of Obernewtyn, the secret community of Misfits has flourished. Protected by their remoteness, Elspeth Gordie and her allies have worked hard to develop their forbidden mental abilities—all in preparation for their inevitable confrontation with the totalitarian Council. And though their training is far from complete, the Misfits can no longer stay hidden when they learn of the existence of a new Talent—one whose power may eclipse anything they have seen before.
Download or read book Scatterlings written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Ford Street Publishing. This book was released on 2015-07 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merlin wakes to a world that is utterly changed. She has no memory aside from a name whispered to her by one of the strange voices in her mind, and the knowledge that she is being hunted. She is determined to learn what happened to her and is swept up by the renegade Scatterlings, drawn into their rebellion against the all-powerful Citizen Gods.
Download or read book Ashling written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As head of Obernewtyn’s Farseeker guild, Elspeth Gordie must travel to the lowlands to seal an alliance between Obernewtyn and the rebel forces that oppose the totalitarian Council. Yet her dreams call to her with an altogether different purpose: Elspeth must destroy what remains of the weapons that brought unimaginable chaos, death, and mutation to her world. Leaving the relative safety of the mountains, Elspeth embarks on a journey that takes her across the sea and into the heart of the mysterious desert region of Sador.
Download or read book Courting the Wild Twin written by Martin Shaw and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2020 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Myth is our wild way of telling the truth, of sharing stories that have our living earth speaking through them. There is an old insistence that we each have a twin we know nothing about. A wild, curious twin that was thrown out the window the night we were born, taking much of our energy with them. This story is a quest to find and court our wild twin, for they have something important to tell us. If there was something we were here to do in our few, brief years, we can be sure that the wild twin is holding the key. In Courting the Wild Twin, Martin Shaw, an accomplished storyteller and scholar of myth and oral tradition, explores two ancient myths concerned with the wild twin and shares how vital they are to our ability to confront challenges with purpose, courage and creativity. Myths are our secret weapon. They have a radical agency of beauty in our age of amnesia, an agency far beyond concept and polemic"--
Download or read book Night Gate written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2007-09-11 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rage Winnoway’s closest friends have always been her four dogs: Bear, Billy Thunder, Elle, and Mr. Walker. When Rage sets off for the hospital where her mother lies in a coma, the dogs and the neighbor’s goat tag along. On the way, they run into the firecat, who talks them into going through a magical gate. And something wonderful happens! Each of Rage’s friends is transformed. Bear becomes a real bear; Billy Thunder, a teenage boy; Elle, a warrior woman; Mr. Walker, a small, large-eared gentleman; and the goat, a satyr with an inferiority complex. Together, Rage and her companions embark on a quest to save the world of Valley, a journey that is somehow tied to Rage’s family. In this brilliant tale of courage and transformation, Isobelle Carmody captures the magic of Narnia and the whimsy of Wonderland without losing sight of the real world and all its difficulties.
Download or read book Obernewtyn written by Isobelle Carmody and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2011-09-19 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a world struggling back from the brink of apocalypse, life is harsh. But for Elspeth Gordie, born with enhanced mental abilities, it is also dangerous. Survival is only by secrecy and so she determines never to use her forbidden powers. But it is as if they have their own imperative and she is brought to the attention of the totalitarian Council that rules the Land. Banished to the remote mountain institution of Obernewtyn, she must throw off her cloak of concealment and pit herself against those that would resurrect the terrible forces of the apocalypse. Only then will she learn most truly who and what she is . . . Elspeth is determined to uncover the plot and so, accompanied only by her cat, Maruman, embarks on a terrible adventure full of danger, the conclusion to which promises not just uncertainty about her safety but also that of many around her.
Download or read book The Stone Key written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2008-12-09 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Friend becomes foe and trust is a thing of the past when the Misfits’ most relentless enemy turns Elspeth’s world upside down. Through coercion and mind control, Ariel stands on the cusp of his ultimate revenge—and it falls to Elspeth to rescue a former ally whose mind and body have been manipulated to unleash a plague that will destroy all it touches.
Download or read book A Branch from the Lightning Tree written by Martin Shaw and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is centered around several key elements: 1. It features four texts and commentaries ? Welsh, Russian, Siberian and Norwegian myths that explore the process of leaving what is considered safe and predictable and journeying out into wild, uncertain areas of nature and the psyche in search of new insights. The four stories have at their center a man, woman, and adolescent. 2. A narrative of why the author gave up a large musical publishing deal with Warner Brothers to spend four years living in a tent in the wilds and over a decade facilitating wilderness rites-of-passage for others. 3. Shaw's eloquent insistence that without a renewed attention to myth and the initiation process we are only partially equipped to reestablish a complementary relationship with the living world. 4. The core of these stories are paradoxical in nature, far from the clumsily perceived ?hero' myths, and point towards Trickster, or Coyote, as a way of existing in a world ambivalent to the insights of what you could call traditional knowledge. A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is unique in the field of myth and ritual in several ways: 1. It carries an ?in-the-field' narrative of several hundred men and women who have gone out into wild places to fast for four days and nights. Not in the Amazon, or in Mongolia, but in a place that is indigenous to them, that grounds the experience in the wider context of their lives, rather than a one-off event that can be hard to reconnect with. This is part of a growing mood to get to the bones of initiatory experience, rather than the cultural affectations. The stories illustrate both the grandeur and struggle of this often subtle process. 2. Unlike many of the big mythological sellers (i.e Bly's IRON JOHN or Pinkola Estes WOMEN WHO RUN WITH WOLVES), A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE is not a gender piece, but focuses on both men and women's movement into wildness as part of the bigger awareness of climate change and ecology. It presents the old stories as keys into any debate on these issues, that the ability to think metaphorically/mythologically loosens the grip of literalness, and can ?re-enchant' our perspectives. 3. As a wilderness teacher Shaw has noticed that the real point of crisis that is emerging is the return to community, rather than the time out in the wild. This is turning of rites-of-passage on its head: Shaw reasons that the rites-of-passage process requires three stages following an initial Call to the Soul: (i) Going out of the Village, and the severance from ordinary life and the stepping into the image-laden language of myth, story, ritual; (ii) Into the Forest, baring the soul to extraordinary forces, receiving the sacred wound, bonding with the living world; (iii) And Back Again, return to community, the performance of identity, and the confirmation in and of the Soul. A BRANCH FROM THE LIGHTNING TREE invokes Robert Graves work on the White Goddess, and the Crow poems of Ted Hughes-it is a combination of practical knowledge, imaginative insight and passionate storytelling that gives Shaw's book its persuasiveness and power. At times incantatory, at times novelistic and poetic, he writes as someone who has been to these places, undergone these trials and tested himself at the extremes of lived experience.
Download or read book What is Genocide written by Martin Shaw and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-04-26 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this intellectually and politically potent new book, Martin Shaw proposes a way through the confusion surrounding the idea of genocide. He considers the origins and development of the concept and its relationships to other forms of political violence. Offering a radical critique of the existing literature on genocide, Shaw argues that what distinguishes genocide from more legitimate warfare is that the enemies targeted are groups and individuals of a civilian character. He vividly illustrates his argument from a wide range of historical episodes, and shows how the question 'What is genocide?' matters politically whenever populations are threatened by violence. This compelling book will undoubtedly open up vigorous debate, appealing to students and scholars across the social sciences and in law. Shaw's arguments will be of lasting importance.
Download or read book A Fox Called Sorrow written by Isobelle Carmody and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 2007 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a dangerous quest to the troll city of Underth, the healer, Little Fur, is mystified by a new companion--a scarred and angry fox whose strong spirit keeps him alive despite his wish to die.
Download or read book Fragile Monsters written by Catherine Menon and published by Penguin Group. This book was released on 2022-04-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mary is a difficult grandmother for Durga to love. Sharp-tongued and ferocious, Durga hopes simply to endure her and the memories of her past when she visits rural Malaysia. But when a reckoning comes, both women find they must unravel generations of secrets. What happened to Durga's mother? Why did so many of their family members disappear during the war? And who is to blame for the childhood tragedy that haunts Durga to this day? Tracing one family's story from 1920 to the present, Fragile Monsters is a thrilling tale of love, family and betrayal set against the backdrop of natural disasters and fallen empires.
Download or read book Global Pop written by Timothy D Taylor and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-13 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Global Pop examines the rise of "world musics" and "world beat", and some of the musicians associated with these recent genres such as Peter Gabriel, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, and Johnny Clegg. Drawing on a wide range of sources - academic, popular, cyber, interviews, and the music itself - Global Pop charts an accessible path through many of the issues and contradictions surrounding the contemporary movement of people and musics worldwide. Global Pop examines the range of discourses employed in and around world music, demonstrating how the central concept of authenticity is wielded by musicians, fans, and other listeners, and looks at some of these musics in detail, examining ways they are caught up in forms of domination and resistance. The book also explores how some cross-cultural collaborations may fashion new musics and identities through innovative combinations of sounds and styles.
