Author: johannekekroesbergen

I am an anthropologist of religion and photographer, currently living in Pretoria, South Africa. I wrote my PhD-thesis on narratives about Satanism in Zambia. Currently I am preparing a new research project that uses photography as an ethnographic method. In my free time, I love hiking, safaris and enjoying nature through photography.

Road works

Road maintenance in Zambia happens less frequently than one might wish for. Especially the road from Lusaka to Livingstone has spectacularly bad stretches. In an attempt to let the users of the road pay for their maintenance a system of tolls has been implemented. Let’s hope that the revenues find their way to the potholes!

The Other?

I love this picture, taken during a play about witchdoctors. This is dr. Koko, and he is eating a snake while the audience scampers away in fear. The purpose of the play was to show how witchdoctors play on fears of their audience, and how they use props such as chemical reactions and rubber snakes to do that. But if you don’t know that background, what you see might well be the image of dark Africa: superstition, backwardness, scary occultism. That’s not the image of Africa that I want to spread. So… lovely picture, but it cannot be used?

Otherworld

What would it be like to live in another world? A world with different laws of nature, or different moral codes? I’ve always been fascinated by books that explore this question – fantasy, science fiction, utopias and dystopias. I think these books have prepared me, maybe more than anything else, to live and settle in a different culture.

Photo taken somewhere between Kafue and Mazabuka, Zambia

Golden silk orb-weaver

The golden silk orb-weaver is one of the largest spiders in our garden. The large female weaves a strong, yellowish web and catches anything that finds itself entangled. The much smaller male doesn’t need a lot of food, but I’m sure he shares every now and then.

Photo taken in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa

Sunday afternoon

Speeding on the bicycle over the sandy lanes, with two bottles of juice on the bike rack – do you remember those Sunday afternoons?

(Btw I love the outfit: Millennium Falcon meets Pixie Pals…)

Photo taken in Choma, Zambia

Zebra love

We encountered a group of zebras standing on the road. After waiting for a while, a second group arrived. In this photograph zebras from the two groups meet and greet each other. Such affection and love!

Photo taken in Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa