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South Africa, 3/1/07
Key Lecture Points:
• South African apartheid finds its roots in the colonial era, when whites from the Netherlands and Britain established settlements in Southern Africa beginning in the 17th century. The colonization of South Africa established the racial and socio-economic hierarchy that dominated the country during the apartheid era.
• The apartheid era in South Africa (1948-1994) was a time of racial segregation aimed at maintaining the dominance of white South Africans of European descent over non-white South Africans (black and “Indian”). Notwithstanding increasing internal and external pressure to end apartheid, the South African government maintained its control over a restive populace. Opposition to apartheid was labeled as communist in nature. Cold War global dynamics played a large role in the maintenance of the race-based policies.
• Political struggle by oppressed South Africans combined with international pressure and eventual government capitulation to end the apartheid era in 1994. The end of apartheid was marked by the election of Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela to the presidency of South Africa.
• Since the end of apartheid, South Africa has been grappling with the legacy of racism and dealing with new and pressing issues. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission that worked from 1995-8 was an important step towards uniting a racially divided society. Although the TRC’s work was groundbreaking, many argue that blacks still suffer from the economic disparities engendered by apartheid. That said, the TRC’s success has served as a model for other divided nations.
• Compounding the difficulties for the new South Africa is the impact of HIV/AIDS. South Africa is in the midst of coping with an ever-increasing number of citizens with HIV/AIDS. Overall, nearly 12% of the population is infected and about 1,700 new infections occur each day.
For More Information:
• On Apartheid: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html
• On the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/truth_and_reconciliation/142369.stm
• On HIV/AIDS in South Africa: http://www.unaids.org/en/Regions_Countries/Countries/south_africa.asp
Books For Further Reading:
• Worden, Nigel. The Making of Modern South Africa: Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid. Blackwell, 2000. 208 pages; illustrated.
Description: The author, a professor of history at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, puts South African history in the modern post-apartheid context. This historical look, beginning in the colonial era, tracks South Africa history up until 1999.
Click here to order.
• Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Bay Back Books, 1995. 656 pages.
Description: Written five years after his release from prison, Mandela tells his own life story, a life so inextricably linked with the struggles of South Africans to end apartheid.
Click here to order.
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