We Never Give Up II

Ten years after the production of the initial 'We Never Give Up' film, this documentary filmis a follow-up film about the experiences of ten survivors of South Africa apartheid and their struggle for reparations. Produced by the Human Rights Media Centre, Cape Town, the film was directed and filmed by Cahal McLaughlin in a collaborative relationship with Khulumani Support Group Western Cape.

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This documentary film, produced with the Human Rights Media Centre, Cape Town, and in collaboration with Khulumani Support Group Western Cape, is the ten-year follow up to We Never Give Up (2002), which addressed the issues of reparations as dealt with by the South African government and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We Never Give Up II (2012) returns to these themes and to the same participants, asking how life has changed in the interim. The process of collaborative practices acknowledges the importance of sharing ownership/authorship in the storytelling processes as well as in validating traumatic experiences by those who survived major and sustained political violence. Made over a two-year period, involving close consultation with participants, the film offers insights, by those most directly affected, to what might constitute legal, financial, social and psychological reparations. The film has been screened in Cape Town, Bloemfontain, Zanzibar Film Festival, Belfast (Belfast Film Festival), Brighton, Guildford, Galway and London, always accompanied by discussion of the issues raised in Q&As. To emphasise the importance of the film for debates on policy around reparations, a 25 minute edited version was selected to be screened on SABC on ‘Special Assignment’ by SABC on April 29th, 2013 (South Africa’s ‘Freedom Day’), followed by a debate with Department of Justice spokesperson, Dr Khotso De Wee. The chapter 'Maureen Never Gave Up' in Daniels, McLaughlin and Pearce (eds.) 'Truth, Dare or Promise' (2013) Cambridge Scholars Press (ISBN: 1-4438-4959-6, ISBN 13: 978-1-4438-4959-3, Release Date: 2013-09-01), which analyses the production of this film, is offered as part of the portfolio.

A high resolution 15,600-year pollen and microcharcoal record from the Cederberg Mountains, South Africa

The Cederberg Mountains (Western Cape Province, South Africa) are located within the Fynbos Biome, which exhibits some of the highest levels of species richness and endemism in the world. The region's post-glacial vegetation history, however, remains largely unknown. Presented here are high resolution pollen and microcharcoal records spanning the last 15,600 years obtained from the De Rif rock hyrax midden from the Driehoek Valley of the central Cederberg. In this region, previous pollen studies have shown muted variability in vegetation community composition during periods of globally marked climatic variability (e.g. the last glacial-interglacial transition). In our record, however, significant changes in vegetation composition are apparent. Most notably, they indicate a shift from ericaceous/restioid fynbos (present from 15,600 to 13,300 cal yr BP) to a brief, but prominent, development of proteoid fynbos at the beginning of the Holocene around 11,200 cal yr BP. This vegetation shift is associated with increased moisture at the site, and coincides with reduced fire frequency as indicated by the microcharcoal record. At 10,400 cal yr BP, there is a marked reduction in Protea-type pollen, which is replaced by thicket, characterised by Dodonaea, which became the dominant arboreal pollen type. This shift was likely the result of a long relatively fire-free period coupled with warmer and wetter climates spanning much of the early Holocene. A brief but marked decrease in water availability around 8500-8000 cal yr BP resulted in the strong decrease of Dodonaea pollen. The vegetation of the mid- to late Holocene is characterised by the increased occurrence of Asteraceae and succulent taxa, suggesting substantially drier conditions. These data give unprecedented insight into the vegetation dynamics across a period of substantial, rapid climate change, and while they confirm the presence of fynbos elements throughout the last 15,600 years, the results highlight significant fluctuations in the vegetation that were triggered by changes in both climate and fire regimes. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of tropical easterlies in southern Africa's winter rainfall zone during the Holocene

South Africa's southwestern Cape occupies a critical transition zone between Southern Hemisphere temperate (winter) and tropical (summer) moisture-bearing systems. In the recent geological past, it has been proposed that the relative influence of these systems may have changed substantially, but little reliable evidence regarding regional hydroclimates and rainfall seasonality exists to refine or substantiate the understanding of long-term dynamics. In this paper we present a mid-to late Holocene multi-proxy record of environmental change from a rock hyrax midden from Katbakkies Pass, located along the modern boundary between the winter and summer rainfall zones. Derived from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes, fossil pollen and microcharcoal, these data provide a high resolution record of changes in humidity, and insight into changes in rainfall seasonality. Whereas previous work concluded that the site had generally experienced only subtle environmental change during the Holocene, our records indicate that significant, abrupt changes have occurred in the region over the last 7000 years. Contrary to expectations based on the site's location, these data indicate that the primary determinant of changes in humidity is summer rather than winter rainfall variability, and its influence on drought season intensity and/or length. These findings are consistent with independent records of upwelling along the southern and western coasts, which indicate that periods of increased humidity are related to increased tropical easterly flow. This substantially refines our understanding of the nature of temperate and tropical circulation system dynamics in SW Africa, and how changes in their relative dominance have impacted regional environments during the Holocene. 

Rethinking the early medieval settlement of woodlands: evidence from the western Sussex Weald

The assumptions underlying the interpretation of the early medieval settlement of woodland are challenged through a detailed study of the Weald in western Sussex. The patterns of usage of woodland in England were very varied, and each area needs to be looked at individually. Systems of woodland exploitation did not simply develop from extensive to intensive, but may have taken a number of different forms during the early medieval period. In one area of the Weald, near to Horsham, the woodland appears to have been systematically divided up between different estates. This implies that woodland settlement may not always have developed organically, but this type of landscape could have been planned. It is argued that the historical complexity of woodland landscapes has not been recognised because the evidence has been aggregated. Instead, each strand of evidence needs to be evaluated separately.

High-resolution spectroscopic observations of B-type stars from the Edinburgh-Cape Survey - III. Completion of a magnitude range limited survey

High spectral resolution (R similar to 40 000) and signal-to- noise ratio observations of five high Galactic latitude early- type stars taken from the Edinburgh-Cape (EC) Faint Blue Object Survey are presented. These were required to complete a magnitude range-limited survey of young B-type objects with 11 <V <15. Of the five stars, four were rejected on the grounds that they are either subluminous (subdwarf or horizontal branch), were part of a binary system or possessed colours later than the (U - B) = -0.5 cut-off employed. The remaining star in the data set, EC 19596-5356, is found to exhibit normal young B-type stellar properties. A kinematic analysis reveals that an origin in the Galactic disc appears likely for all the stars in the sample. Some statistics are drawn about the number density of young stars in the Galactic halo.

High-resolution spectroscopic observations of post-asymptotic giant branch candidates from the Edinburgh-Cape Survey

High spectral resolution ( R similar to 40 000) and signal-to-noise optical spectra, obtained at the Very Large Telescope ( VLT), are presented for three post-asymptotic giant branch ( AGB) candidates selected from the Edinburgh-Cape ( EC) Faint Blue Object Survey. The stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical compositions, derived using sophisticated non-local thermodynamic equilibrium calculations, reveal that EC 14102-1337 and EC 20068-7324 are both in an evolved post-horizontal branch ( HB) evolutionary state. However, EC 11507-2253 is most likely a post-AGB star.

Model atmosphere and kinematical analyses of early-type stars from the Edinburgh-Cape Survey

We present high-resolution spectroscopic observations of 21 B- type stars, selected from the Edinburgh-Cape Blue Object Survey. Model atmosphere analyses confirm that 14 of these stars are young, main-sequence B-type objects with Population I chemical compositions. The remaining seven are found to be evolved objects, including subdwarfs, horizontal branch and post-AGB objects. A kinematical analysis shows that all 14 young main-sequence stars could have formed in the disc and subsequently been ejected into the halo. These results are combined with the analysis of a previous subsample of stars taken from the Survey. Of the complete sample, 31 have been found to be young, main-sequence objects, with formation in the disc, and subsequent ejection into the halo, again being found to be a plausible scenario.