<p>The study outlines five areas of intervention in the development of women&rsquo / s studies and politics on the continent. Firstly, it examines the problematic construction and the inclusion of women in the narratives of the liberation struggle in South Africa. Secondly, the study identifies the sphere of intellectual debates as one of the crucial sites in the production of historical knowledge about the legacies of liberation struggles on the continent. Thirdly, it traces the intellectual trajectory of Charlotte Maxeke as an embodiment of the intellectual contributions of women in the struggle for liberation in South Africa. In this regard, the study traces Charlotte Maxeke as she deliberated and engaged on matters pertaining to the welfare of the Africans alongside the prominent intellectuals of the twentieth century. Fourthly, the study inaugurates a theoretical departure from the documentary trends that define contemporary studies on women and liberation movements on the continent. Fifthly, the study examines the incorporation of Maxeke&rsquo / s legacy of active intellectual engagement as an integral part of gender politics in the activities of the Women&rsquo / s Section of the African National Congress. In the areas identified, the study engages with the significance of the intellectual inputs of Charlotte Maxeke in South African history.</p>

The aim of this study was to critically explore the constructions of Muslim identities in selected Black African American popular music composed before and after the 11th of September 2001. This study is interdisciplinary because it used popular culture theories developed by Hall, Strinati, Storey and Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic. Postcolonial literary theories of Bhabha, Spivak and Fanon were also used. The study demonstrated that the content and style of the lyrics by Public Enemy, Talib Kweli, Paris, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Scarface, Miss Eliot, Missundastood, Erykah Badu and KRS-One have been influenced by Islam’s religious versions of the Nation of Islam, Five Percenters or Nation of Gods and Earths and Sunny Islam. Individual singers also manipulated the spiritual symbols and cultural resources made available to them in the Islam religion. Black African American singers more or less share common historical experiences, but they constructed and depicted Muslim identities differently because of their class, generational and gender backgrounds. Chapter one introduced the area of study, justified it and adopted an eclectic theoretical approach in order to account for the diverse constructions of Muslim identities in the songs composed by black African American hip hop singers. Chapter two provided an extended review of literature for the study. Chapter three explored the influence of the Nation of Islam on the singers and its creative manipulation by the black singers. Chapter four explored religious hybridity because the lyrics draw from Islam and Christian eschatological values. Chapter five used lyrics by three black female singers and revealed how they reconfigured differently, Black Muslim identities in a musical industry predominantly patronised by male singers. Chapter six explored the use of language in signifying different meanings of Muslim-ness in order to arrive at different definitions of pan Black Islamic musical consciousness. Chapter seven concluded the study by summarising the central argument of the study which was that black African American singers have referenced cultural symbols from Islam and in the process manipulated Islam’s religious metaphors to suggest different and alternative models for the black communities in the United States of America. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil.