Reminder: the extra lecture on the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Global Context is Monday 4/30.
4-6:50 pm
1100 Donal Bren Hall. I hope to see some of you there. If you want extra credit, look for me or Dan, and sign in.
Today is Freedom Day, a public holiday in South Africa that celebrates the first non-racial elections in 1994.
You can read about the first election day here.
The blog Africa is a Country is posting music breaks to celebrate. (Thanks, Sean, for the great selection!)
Here’s a distinctive version of Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika by Charlie Haden and the Liberation Music Orchestra.
What are you doing to commemorate Freedom Day?
The troubled relationship of black and white South Africans cannot be fully understood by focusing on what tore them apart and ignoring what held them together. The history of a marriage, even an unhappy one, is inscribed in the wedding banns as well as the divorce notice.
~Charles van Onselen, The Seed is Mine, p. 4
We’ve spent some time reading and discussing the actions of Nelson Mandela and Ruth First. As you reflect on the recent reading assignments and anticipate the film tomorrow, I invite you to think about questions I’ve been posing in class:
Think also about the “critical questions” that shape the course outline, in particular:
What role do individuals play in shaping broad historical processes? Do individual actions influence events, or do events provide the parameters for individual lives? Does your answer to this question change if you consider the biographies of prominent people compared to ordinary people?
Thanks for your comments on Amandla! and your specific questions (I’ve posted replies to those–but they’re not showing up on the site. Hope to have that fixed soon.)
In today’s class (Tuesday) we will discuss:
Class will conclude with a quick preview of what’s coming next
PLEASE NOTE: I’ve adjusted the reading for week 4–dropping one of the chapters. I want to slow down and have more discussion, and so will skip the comparison I had planned. I will still post the chapter of Van Onselen’s The Seed is Mine, for those of you who are interested.
What did you find interesting about the film? Did any segments surprise you?
What questions do you have after watching the film?
Who is authorized to tell stories and make meaning about the past?
How important are economic factors in the major turning points of SA history?
What are the limits of legitimate opposition to a government?
What is the difference between opposition and rebellion/revolution?
What are the challenges of achieving revolutionary change by democratic means?
What roles did music play in the anti-Apartheid struggle?
Exile was an alternative to prison for some freedom fighters, but it was not without costs. What does the film Amandla! tell you about how exile was experienced by specific individuals?
Is describing the anti-Apartheid struggle as a civil war too strong a statement?
The BBC curated a selection of photographs of the Defiance Campaign by Jurgen Schadeberg, a German photographer who worked for Drum Magazine. His work provides important documentation of Black South African life in the 1950s and 1960s.
UCI faculty and students will discuss what Trayvon Martin’s killing means for race and racial injustice in the United States.
Wednesday 10 April
Cross-Cultural Center : Joseph L. White Conference Room
12:00 – 2:00 pm
The first reading assignment, which you should complete before class on Thursday, is intended to give you background and context. There are three different texts: the introduction and historical background in Clark & Worger; the preface from Lodge about why Mandela’s early life matters; then a comic book version of Mandela’s early life. Don’t dismiss the visuals; there’s lots of information in the graphic–more like a graphic novel than a kid’s comic book. It’s an accessible introduction to Mandela’s childhood and education.
Read C&W for basic chronological overview. Don’t obsess about details yet. We’ll take two different approaches to that history in lecture on Thursday.
Think about Mandela’s early life in terms of the differences between rural and urban life, between the economy and social expectations of in an African kingdom compared to what you know about life in industrial cities in the 1930s. Consider also the discipline involved in life at the Regent’s court in Transkei compared to the discipline required of ANC members.
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