Relacje Międzykulturowe – Intercultural Relations (RMIR) is an open-access, semi-annual, peer-reviewed journal publishing articles in English and Polish. In spring each year, a volume is published in Polish, and in autumn, it is published in English. It serves as an interdisciplinary forum for academic scholars and professionals to present the latest theoretical and empirical advancements of various issues related to intercultural relations. The journal publishes, among others, papers on issues such as cultural studies, ethnic and minority-majority relations, migration and intercultural contact, intercultural psychology and pedagogy, globalization and integration processes, multicultural societies, and politics.
The Inculturation of “Pasahat Ulos Saput” in the Death Tradition of “Saur Matua” of the Batak Toba Tribe in the Catholic Church’s Blessing of the Body
This article analyses one of the death traditions in Indonesian society, specifically the Saur Matua death tradition of the Batak Toba tribe. It explores a particular ritual as an entry point for inculturation within the Catholic Church’s funeral rites. A qualitative, ethnographic approach was employed, involving in-depth interviews with four informants recognised by the Batak Toba community as experts in Batak culture (known as Raja Parhata, ceremonial public speakers). Interview data were enriched with insights from books and scholarly articles. The analysis yields several conclusions regarding possible inculturation. Firstly, the Church may include the ritual “Pasahat Ulos Pucca as Ulos Saput” as an inculturated element within the Blessing of the Body. The ritual shares the same intention as the funeral service, seeking God’s blessing for the deceased. The Church prays for and blesses the body by sprinkling holy water; Tulang or Hula-hula blesses the body by bestowing “Ulos Pucca as Ulos Saput.” Secondly, after blessing the earth and flowers as symbols of Christian hope for the dead, the Church may also bless the Sijagaron, a distinctive symbol in the Saur Matua ceremony. The overall aim is to enable Batak Toba Catholics to appreciate the Saur Matua tradition as a celebration of faith so that traditional elements can be carried out reverently.
Copyright (c) 2025 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
The Surge of Brain Drain Emigration in Nigeria
The paper answers the puzzle of the protracted surge of brain drain emigration over the years despite interventions through policies and reforms by the Nigerian government. Brain drain has affected the country both politically and economically as well as socio-culturally. Skilled professionals are the powerhouse of any country, as they are the determinants of growth and development. Nigeria has suffered from a pandemic of a highly skilled labour force seeking better opportunities abroad, which – in turn – drains the progress of the country. The study identifies the less-explored structural drivers that have a stronger influence on the surge of emigration in Nigeria. Therefore, this paper investigates the deeply rooted systemic and structural factors that influence the persistent increase in the emigration of skilled professionals, causing brain drain in Nigeria. To achieve this, it adopts case study methods, which delve into an in-depth study to uncover structural or systemic drivers and their impacts on the Nigerian milieu. The approach evaluates the effectiveness of the policies and reforms in reducing brain drain emigration over the years, observing the periods they were implemented and their remarkable impact, utilising published statistics. The data is sourced from secondary materials such as government publications, reports, survey results, websites, books, journal articles, newsletters and dissertations. The emphasis on Nigeria, among other African countries, is critical because Nigeria is known to be one of the African countries with a very high number of emigrants to Europe and North America.
Karate as a Tool of Soft Power and Cultural Diplomacy for People with Albinism in Tanzania
This article explores the role of non-governmental organisations and sports institutions in advancing social inclusion and cultural diplomacy, using Tanzania as a case study. It particularly examines karate as a tool for the integration of people with albinism – a group facing social exclusion and violence. Through an analysis of organisations such as the Japan Karate Association Tanzania and the New Heroes Youth Development Organisation, the article highlights how sport can foster social transformation while also contributing to Tanzania’s international image-building efforts. The research is grounded in autoethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2015 and 2025, combined with organisational documentation. It demonstrates how local sports initiatives intersect with global soft power strategies and contribute to broader narratives of social justice and human dignity.
Managing Infertility in Contemporary Africa
This article raises the question of whether contemporary legal mechanisms in Africa can effectively address infertility issues. In particular, the relationships between international legal norms and their impact on the erosion of customary law and the changing perception of infertility are discussed. It highlights the multifaceted challenges posed by infertility, which have significant social, cultural and health implications, particularly for women. Legal responses to infertility are shaped by deep-rooted traditions and legal pluralism, with increasing influence from international law. However, cultural resistance and traditional norms hinder the effectiveness of legal interventions. Public health policies related to infertility are limited, leading individuals to seek alternative practices such as witchcraft and herbalism due to constrained access to assisted reproductive technology. The article emphasises the need for comprehensive reforms and increased visibility of infertility issues on national and international agendas. It suggests that legal reforms and greater attention to law as a regulatory instrument may facilitate the development of effective strategies to address infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa and combat culturally and traditionally rooted biases and discrimination against women.
From the mid-twentieth century, the independence of African states and the mobility of young intellectuals to Europe made migration a central site for negotiating identity and belonging. This article examines exile as a structural condition in two Francophone African novels: Cheikh Hamidou Kane’s Ambiguous Adventure (1961/1972) and Abdourahman Waberi’s In the United States of Africa (2006/2009). In Kane, exile is framed as spiritual and intellectual displacement within colonial modernity; in Waberi, it is reworked through a satirical reversal in which Africa becomes a destination for European refugees. Engaging work on postcolonial subjectivity (Achille Mbembe), Afrotopian imagination (Felwine Sarr), transnationalism (Dominic Thomas), and recent studies on liminality and identity (Okechukwu Ugwuezumba, Nkiru Onyemachi, Joanna Suffern), the article argues that Kane and Waberi write from divergent positions (Afropessimism and Afrofuturism) yet address the same concern: how identity is reconfigured when social and cultural worlds are divided. The comparison shows exile as a continuing framework for understanding both decolonization and contemporary forms of global belonging.
Manu Herbstein – author of Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade
This paper presents a comprehensive literature review examining the application and relevance of Ubuntu philosophy to conflict resolution among refugees in Uganda, specifically focusing on its profound implications for refugee and migration contexts and the accompanying transformation of African identities. The review aimed to evaluate the application of Ubuntu in conflict resolution within Ugandan refugee settings, benchmark Ubuntu-influenced integration programmes, identify implementation challenges and opportunities, deconstruct Ubuntu’s role in social justice and reconciliation and compare indigenous approaches with global refugee frameworks. Amidst the ongoing refugee crisis and diverse internal conflicts, the paper explores how the intrinsic values of communal harmony, interconnectedness and shared humanity inherent in Ubuntu inform both traditional and contemporary approaches to conflict resolution across various Ugandan settings, including prominent refugee settlements. By synthesising existing scholarly works, this review argues that Ubuntu principles provide a powerful indigenous framework for reconciliation; their efficacy is contingent upon navigating the profound tensions between communal ethics and the material realities of displacement. By positioning Ubuntu as a framework for relational identity formation, the review concludes that a critical application of Ubuntu is essential for transforming refugee identities from passive recipients of aid into active agents of peace and social cohesion. This, therefore, contributes to discourses on Africa’s agency in transnational humanitarian governance beyond Uganda.
Translating Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade
More than 4 million enslaved Africans came to Brazil between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries. Almost a million of them came from the west coast of sub-Saharan Africa, known as the Coast of the Mine, which included present-day Ghana, Benin and Togo. In 2002, a South African engineer named Manu Herbstein, who had relocated to Ghana, decided to write a novel about this violent history. Ama: A Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade narrates the capture and forced displacement of Ama, a young woman from the Bekpokpam people, through the networks of enslavement that connected West Africa to Brazil. This project interrogates the methodology and cultural imperative of translating this novel into Brazilian Portuguese as part of decolonising storytelling practices and as a means of reinforcing identity connections between Brazil and Ghana.
Utopias, Possible Worlds, Imaginary Histories
This article explores the concept of “imaginary history” within speculative fiction narratives, particularly those addressing migration, colonization, and decolonization. These narratives are not merely artistic projections, but function as metaphors for contemporary real-world processes. Drawing on Malcolm Ferdinand’s Decolonial Ecology, the study uses the philosophical perspectives of Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt to frame these fictional histories, offering reinterpretation from an African cultural standpoint. The paper delves into the themes of “dwelling”, “terrestrial nature”, and “colonial inhabitation” to examine the speculative portrayal of potential futures where human and post-human life embarks on cosmic migrations, transforms extraterrestrial environments, and constructs artificial habitats. The paper critically assesses the sustainability of human and non-human life in shifting environments, both natural and artificial, offering a speculative framework for understanding these narratives. It analyzes Cristina de Middel’s photobook The Afronauts, which envisions an African space program from the 1960s; the exhibition O Futuro na Lista de Espera, which showcases both dystopian and hopeful visions of the future; Anthony Joseph’s African Origins of UFOs; and the works of Polish speculative fiction writer Jacek Dukaj. Through these lenses, the article investigates how migration, survival, and environmental transformation intersect in speculative fiction, proposing a critical perspective on the survival of life in continually evolving landscapes.
„Rewolucja oddycha przez gwiazdy” – gwiazdy sceny ballroomu
Naród rozproszony. Recenzja książki Beaty Umubyeyi Mairesse pt. All Your Children, Scattered (wyd. Europa Editions, Nowy Jork 2022, 192 ss., ISBN: 9781609457853, tłum. Alison Anderson)
Geneza, charakter i polityczna symbolika Dnia Narodów, Narodowości i Ludów Etiopii
GENESIS, NATURE AND POLITICAL SYMBOLISM OF THE DAY OF NATIONS, NATIONALITIES AND PEOPLES OF ETHIOPIA The Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Day of Ethiopia is an annual celebration observed since 2006, aimed at honoring the country’s ethnic diversity and promoting the idea of peaceful coexistence among its people. Its character stems from the adoption of ethnofederalism as the state’s constitutional foundation in the 1990s. However, recent events demonstrate that ethnic-based violence remains one of the main threats to lasting peace in Ethiopia. Consequently, the impact of this holiday on the country’s situation appears to be limited. Nevertheless, an analysis of its celebrations and symbolism provides valuable insights for studying nation-building processes, modernization, and political anthropology in Ethiopia.
Znaczenie wody dla pasterzy fulańskich w Nigerii – wymiar kulturowy i wpływ jej niedoboru na konflikt z ludnością osiadłą
THE IMPORTANCE OF WATER FOR THE FULANI PASTORALISTS IN NIGERIA – THE CULTURAL DIMENSION AND THE IMPACT OF ITS SCARCITY ON CONFLICT WITH THE SETTLED POPULATION The article presents a study of the meaning of water in the culture of Fulani pastoralists in Nigeria and of the impact of its shortage on conflict with sedentary people. The paper presents a general profile of the nomadic Fulani people in Nigeria. It examines the key role of important elements of Fulani culture – cattle, migration, herding practices and, inextricably linked to it, water availability – in the daily lives of Fulani nomads. The study discusses the impact of diminishing water resources and desertification on traditional migrations in search of pasture for cows. It examines the causes of increasing competition for natural resources and the resulting tensions between pastoralists and farmers, which have erupted into mutual violence for over a decade.
Dekolonialna tożsamość polityczna z perspektywy współczesnych intelektualistów afrykańskich
DECOLONIAL POLITICAL IDENTITY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN INTELLECTUALS In the postcolonial era, Africa constantly redefines its identity and strives for full sovereignty in various areas. Many African countries still struggle with building stable governments that reflect their unique traditions and societal needs, while also focusing on developing local industries, decolonizing the education system, promoting social inclusivity, and strengthening their voice on the international stage. The article analyses how contemporary African thinkers, such as Claude Ake, Mahmood Mamdani, and Ali Mazrui, understand the decolonization process, what solutions they propose, and how their visions impact African politics and societies. By examining their theories and philosophies, the article highlights the similarities and differences in their approaches, discussing issues of cultural and political identity, political strategies leading to sovereignty, and the challenges the continent faces in the global context. The reflections in the article aim to provide a better understanding of contemporary decolonization processes in Africa and their implications for the continent’s future.
Południowoafrykańska muzyka XX i XXI wieku – odbicie realiów i manifestacja tożsamości
SOUTH AFRICAN MUSIC OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURIES – A REFLECTION OF REALITY AND A MANIFESTATION OF IDENTITY This article aims to introduce the audience to a selection of South African musical styles that emerged and evolved in the 20th and 21st centuries. These include marabi, kwela, mbaqanga, kwaito and amapiano, with most attention paid to the last two. The article adresses the historical and socio-political specificities of South Africa, which have significantly influenced the music of the country through, among other things, the creation of a specific urban space. The work also serves as an introduction to the reflection on music as a manifestation of identity in South Africa. The starting point for this reflection is the colonial era, for it laid the foundation of apartheid and, together with it, shaped the characteristic conditions in which South African music developed.
Współczesne rozstrzygnięcia nad przeszłością oratury
CONTEMPORARY APPROACHES TO THE LEGACY OF ORATURE: HOW IS THE ROLE OF SPOKEN WORD SHAPED IN AFRICA? The paper invites to rethink the existent terminology describing oral literature and to challenge its common (mis)understandings in the related fields of Humanities. Reviewing the most important (and published) pieces of orature and their interpretations shows the ever changing comprehension of the phenomenon, taking into consideration its contemporary transformations and present embodiments on the African continent. The discourse leads toward renewal of the definition of the spoken literature, underling as its foundational characteristics the (literary) performativity and creativeness.
Czarny queer to nie biały queer, czyli o południowoafrykańskim zmaganiu się z tożsamościami
BLACK QUEER IS NOT WHITE QUEER: NAVIGATING IDENTITY IN SOUTH AFRICA The article explores the literary representations of queer short fiction in the Queer Africa: New and collected fiction anthology within the South African context, shedding light on the ongoing struggle to redefine diverse identities and experiences among the Black. It delves into the distinctive nature of African queer experiences, deliberately positioned in contrast to Western gay studies. This comparative analysis aims to deconstruct prevailing notions of queerness, interweaving critical examinations of race, economic disparities, poverty, and the conservative traditionalism inherent in African familial structures. By critically engaging with these multifaceted issues, the article endeavors to transcend conventional paradigms of queer studies, emphasizing the unique complexities inherent in the African narrative. Notably, the article highlights the emergence of the blackness of Africans as a pivotal and dominant factor in the redefinition of queerness within this specific local context.
Kahina a (re)konstruowanie tożsamości w Północnej Afryce
KAHINA AND THE (RE)CONSTRUCTION OF IDENTITY IN NORTH AFRICA The legendary figure of the Kahina – a Berber queen and leader whose biography is full of questions and uncertainties – serves as a tool of identity-making – be it the indigenous communities, the French, or Arab history-based policy of representing North Africa as a region in desperate need of a civilizational rebirth. The Kahina has also been portrayed as a proto feminist heroine – a trope vividly present in the modern literature of the region. Building on the existing literature devoted to the „Sorceress” – the exact translation of her Arabic sobriquet, this text’s primary focus is the question of strategy – how does the figure of the Kahina serve the different narratives framing the identities of North Africa.
W poszukiwaniu tożsamości – przypadek Kafka’s Curse Achmata Dangora
IN SEARCH OF IDENTITY – THE CASE OF KAFKA’S CURSE BY ACHMAT DANGOR The question of identity is one of the fundamental issues raised in post-colonial studies. However, the identity crisis is not a phenomenon typical exclusively to post-colonial societies. The authors of the proposed essay believe that both the expressed dependency on the love tale about Laila and Majnun, as well as the reference made in the title of Achmat Dangor’s Kafka’s Curse could perhaps be read as an indication that problems connected with searching for one’s ‘pure’ identity presented in this book are not constrained to post-colonial world only. The main aim of the proposed essay will be to demonstrate the obvious instability of identity in Kafka’s Curse, typical for human mental and emotional development, through the application of Richard Jenkins’ theory (Jenkins 2008) defining identity as a process of ‘being’ or ‘becoming’. Therefore, there should be no question of one’s identity, but rather of one’s identities. Through the proposed analysis, the authors would wish to present, how the multidimensional characters of the five stories cannot ‘plan’ their identities as their development continues through different stages of life, and that their identity therefore cannot be some fixed feature but it must develop in time as well as change based on a place and the circumstances, as according to Jenkins.
Muzeum (bez) pamięci – Museu Nacional da Escravatura w Luandzie i dziedzictwo transatlantyckiego handlu niewolnikami w Angoli
MUZEUM (BEZ) PAMIĘCI – MUSEU NACIONAL DA ESCRAVATURA IN LUANDA AND THE LEGACY OF THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE IN ANGOLA This article examines the role of the Museu Nacional da Escravatura in Luanda as a site of both memory and oblivion, embedded within Angola’s broader postcolonial heritage and historical politics. Based on field research conducted in 2023, the author explores the museum’s history, exhibition, and spatial-symbolic context. The institution, while officially commemorating the transatlantic slave trade, does so through a narrative that omits the complexity of local actors and historical nuances. Drawing on Ruy Llera Blanes’s concept of “places of no history,” the museum is interpreted as a space where memory is simultaneously revived and sanitized. The article addresses the selectivity of historical narratives, the instrumentalization of heritage, contemporary identity politics, and the marginalization of community-based memory practices.
Muzealizacja a dekolonizacja dziedzictwa afrykańskiego
MUSEUMISATION AND THE DECOLONISATION OF AFRICAN HERITAGE The author focuses on the analysis of how African cultural heritage is presented in museums, with particular emphasis on its colonial context. She highlights the need to decolonize museum narratives through dialogue and cooperation with local communities. Using the framework of critical museology, the article examines how politics, institutional conditions, and curatorial decisions shape narratives of difficult pasts – especially those related to slavery and colonialism. Drawing on the examples of Portugal as well as museums located in Mauritius and Zanzibar, the author demonstrates how local historical and social contexts influence museum representations. Furthermore, she argues that contemporary museums should serve as spaces for dialogue and multi-perspective reflection on cultural heritage.
Wstęp do numeru tematycznego Afrykańskie narracje. Tożsamości i różnorodność współczesnej Afryki
Commonly referred to as Raqs Sharqi in Arabic, “belly dance” is a choreographic form intricately woven into the cultural fabric of the MENAT region. This paper begins by tracing its transcultural evolution, from colonial influences to recent feminist discourses, illustrating how research on belly dance offers a rich field for examining the complex interplay of culture, ethnicity, religion, gender, and power. The second section builds on this foundation, applying theoretical frameworks to investigate how dancers’ habitus is selectively developed through “reflexive body techniques” (Crossley 2004), exploring how gendered social structures are embodied (Sassatelli 2022) and performed (Butler 2006) by Italian dancers. The third section details the research methodology, employing a mixed-methods approach informed by a narrative-inspired analysis (Greimas & Courtés 1982; Ferraro 2021). A web survey and in-depth qualitative interviews were designed to explore dancers’ perceived processes of transformation. The Greimasian and Ferraro frameworks were operationalised to structure the data according to the Canonical Narrative Schema (CNS), enabling an analysis of the key stages of the dancers’ journeys. The fourth and fifth sections present and analyse data collected from 428 respondents and three in-depth interviews. Using NVivo software, all data were analysed thematically within the CNS framework. Five key themes emerged: Empowerment, Cultural Capital, Vitality, Socialisation, and Identity. These findings are contextualised within Italian society, with an emphasis on gender roles and stereotypes, which have shaped the experiences of Italian women over the past two decades. Given the breadth of data collected, this paper focuses on one key dimension: the perceived experience of personal transformation, which most participants described as leading to the emergence of a “new self.” By examining the different stages of the Italian belly dancers’ journeys, this paper aims to explore how gendered social structures in the Italian context are embodied by practitioners, shaping their learning and performing as a journey of self-discovery.
Copyright (c) 2024 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
World music might be defined most benignly as an attempt to conceptualise all of the world’s music. More cynically though, world music can be also seen as just an advertising label for all non-Western music. Many scholars have gone even further and argue that world music is a delusional subjective fantasy, an unreal utopia and an oppressive discourse of western hegemony. Defining what world music is really depends on who is asking the question. Whose world musi is it? This paper will focus on the philosophical conundrums of ‘world music’ within the context of the current BA World Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. The paper will be framed through the following questions: what is world music; whose music is it; why should we world music and how it can be done? In this article, I will trace the shifting meanings of world music from its origins as pedagogical framework, to its use as a popular music marketing term and finally its significance as part of a post modern critique of globalisation. I will outline how students at the Irish World Academy engage with ‘world music’ both as a problematic concept but also an exercise in exploring transcultural musical relationships, particularly through practical ensemble work in five different cultural areas: popular music, Javanese gamelan, Indian Classical music, Ewe drum and dance and Turkish maqam. I will also discuss my own journey as a musician and outline how this practice has influenced both my pedagogical and theoretical framing of what it means to be a performer in the contemporary global music landscape.