Category Archives: journey

From heresy to beauty products–the idea of South in France

It is tempting to position the South as a victim of the North. Certainly, the conflict between the French North and South appears to be a story of ruthless oppressor that violently subjugates a peace-loving and tolerant victim. Is that necessarily so? Whichever way, French history straddles a cultural fault-line that continues to move in [...]

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Spain as South – the Black Legend has a warm heart

‘Africa begins at the Pyrenees.’ Voltaire “Whatever has black sounds has duende.” Garcia Lorca Spain seems an exception to civilised Europe. While the Enlightenment promoted the pursuit of reason based on natural order, Spain remained captive to a theatre of violence as it persecuted heretics and bulls. Is this a true image of Spain? What [...]

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The German idea of South – high noon in the Black Forest

Spernere mundum, spernere te ipsum, spernere te sperni. Scorn the world, scorn yourself, scorn being scorned. St Filippo Neri quoted by Goethe The Faustian quest Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is today the proud hero of enlightened Germany. Institutes in his name disseminate German culture around the world. And the core of this culture, Das Drama [...]

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Zimbabwe: The Colossus from the North Finds Ruins in the South

If I had a mother, Oh Time, leave me alone. She would offer me food when she ate herself, Oh Time, leave me alone. It’s only the gods who know, Oh Time, leave me alone. She would say, ‘Here you are my child’. Patrick Chakaipa[1] Now we take a sideways leap from the South Pacific [...]

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Tahiti – Time to eat time!

Around 1,000 years after Tahiti was first settled by Polynesians, the English sailor Samuel Wallis arrived to claim the territory as ‘King George the Third’s Island‘. The Tahitians attempted to repulse the intruders, but the superior weaponry of the English made an unequal match. When the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville arrived the following [...]

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