My grandmother had a huge impact on my cultural identity, and when i was younger she always used to teach me that when you make a sacred prayer to the ancestors you need to do so with an offering of food or whatever little you have as a way to show that you are still thinking about them in the physical world and you care about their well-being. In that way they will also be able to bless you too.

My grandmother also used to tell me a story when i was younger about the river that was directly in front of our home. She warned me that there was a snake in the river that had the ability to shape-shift into a human, and that if someone played in the water or hung out by it, they would eventually vanish along with the river. She told me that a man was once tricked by the snake which he believed was a girl who needed help by the river, and when the man tried to help the "girl", he vanished with the water. After my grandmother told me that, I stopped playing the river and I never used it as a shortcut; I would much rather take the longer route to the stores. She also claimed that those who were bewitched or connected in some way to witchcraft would be the ones who would see it the most. 

In the context of Anthropology, exchange and reciprocity refers to the giving and taking of goods, services or symbols between individuals or groups, which is essential for the formation and maintenance of social bonds, solidarity, and cooperation within communities. In the form of exchange and reciprocity, capital refers to resources that can be transferred and exchanged within social interactions. These capital forms include social capital, economic capital, and cultural capital. I exist within the social networks of friends, family, lecturers and students.

My friends and I exchange social capital because they have introduced me to a wide range of their acquaintances who are not part of our friendship circle. I also exchange social capital with my lecturers as they have access to and connections with a variety of people in positions of authority that may one day be useful to me. 

Together with my mother and my older sister, I engage in an exchange of economic capital whereby we give or borrow money to one another without expecting it to be returned. We repay the capital by performing other acts of service, such as helping one another with chores, running errands for each other, or providing other support that can lessen each other's pressures and obligations. For instance, the other day my sister did not have money for petrol so I offered to pay for the petrol and in return she would accompany me to the mall to go buy groceries and clothes. In this way, our way of exchanging is through generalized reciprocity as we give, receive and return without keeping track of all the things we do for one another. When it comes to buying and paying for each other's meals, transportation costs, and other luxuries, my friends and I exchange economic capital. We give, receive, and return goods of equal worth as part of a balanced reciprocity exchange. That means that if I purchased my friend a perfume and some Ferrero Rocher chocolate for her birthday, she would have to buy me a gift of the same value for my birthday. 

Everything I know has been taught to me by my mother and my older sister. They have taught me how to cook exceptional food, how to clean, wash, and generally take care of myself and other people, thus we exchange cultural capital. I also exchange cultural capital with my lecturers as they impart me with the knowledge and skills that is necessary for me to obtain great marks and to ultimately receive my degree.

RITES OF SEPARATION:
As I rose up this morning, I was woken up by the loud beeping sound of my alarm going "annoying, annoying." Angrily, I hit the snooze button 5 times before officially stepping foot on my cold tile in search for my sleepers. As exhausted as ever, I walked for what seemed like hours to our communal showers. As I entered the shower, droplets of hot, steamy water danced down my skin from head to toe. After taking a shower, I then went back to my room to get dressed. I applied my coconut infused lotion which left my skin feeling soft, silky and radiant. Today I was feeling rebellious and powerful so I opted for an all black outfit. I spritzed my neck and wrists with my hypnotic poison fragrance that radiated a sweet and floral scent. I finished it up with my wild jasmine body mist, which had a spicy and sultry aroma. I felt like that girl and i was now ready for school.

LIMINAL PHASE:
As I waited for the bus in the hot and blistering heat that made me feel like I was being roasted alive at 8:30 a.m, I glanced through my school media. The bus eventually arrived, and upon entering, my skin was assaulted by a chilling shivering breeze coming from the air conditioner, which felt like I had just entered a moving refrigerator. I arrived at school and attended my first lecture. As I entered the lecture hall, I was greeted by the voices and chatter of my peers, who were waiting for our professor. Upon arriving, the class gradually quieted and went entirely silent awaiting direction. After class, my friend and I took the long walk to freedom from E5 to the student center because we were starving and dying of hunger. We ordered a full meal that consisted of a tender chuck steak, a yellow spiced thick rice, a fatty oily tamato gravy and a sweet and spicy chutney flavoured beetroot. You can imagine how we felt after that: heavy! After eating, we went and laid down on the green, luscious grass near the marshy, nasty looking, bug-infested dam for what felt like hours. 

RITES OF REINCORPARATION:
Everything after that felt like a blur, and before I knew it, I was on the bus and on my way back to my residence. The moment I walked into my room, I sighed a sigh of relief as the day had now come to an end and I could finally get into my soft and fluffy bed, which had been calling my darling name from the moment I walked through the door.

For the longest time I used to have a single story about learners in township schools in comparison to learners in model-c or private schools. The conceptualization of representation and how it is applied in the discipline of Anthropology highlights differences (othering - stereotypes) and creates distinction between societies. I used to think that learners in township schools were not as educated and as smart as learners coming from English medium schools or private schools. 

The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi highlights how one dimensional stereotypes are, how they are inaccurate and incomplete stories. Chimamanda describes how it is hard to relate with people or places without first immersing yourself into their stories. She goes on to illustrate how the effects of a single story degrades people's dignity and makes it harder to see our shared humanity. A single story emphasizes our differences rather than our similarities. 

My perception of township schools changed when my sister started attending extra lessons in a township school because my mother could not afford to get her a private tutor. Before attending the township school, her grades were really horrid and she was barely making it through her selected subjects (Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Life Science). However, after just a few month of attending the school, she became motivated by her peers and her teachers. Her best friend Neo, whom she met at the township school was extremely smart - obtaining only distinctions in all her subjects. After being around Neo for some time, she started to adopt her learning and studying techniques. In her grade 11 year, term 4, she received an award for achieving 100% in Mathematics and 92% in Physical Sciences. If my sister hadn't taken extra lessons at the township school, she wouldn't have met the people who would eventually inspire and propel her to succeed.