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South Africa - A country of contrasts
South Africa is an intriguing country of great beauty and massive difficulties. This course attempts to give you an idea of ways that the country's past affects its present condition.
Watch the tourist video: "Leave Ordinary Behind" and discuss whether South Africa is a place you would like to visit. Why/Why not?
Now watch the documentary: "South Africa's slow demise" and read/listen to the podcast: "Whatever happened to Mandela’s dream for South Africa?
Take notes while you do it. You might want to pause the video once in a while.
Having seen and read the above, what is your impression of South Africa?
Understanding South African history
Start by watching the 3 videos.
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Below you'll find 9 worksheets that you may use to investigate the history of South Africa. When you are done, it is your task to transform all of this work into a presentation (approx. 10-15 minutes) with a maximum of 10-15 slides. Take screenshots from the videos for your presentation.
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You'll need to do some research in order to finish the worksheets.
Apartheid reflected in fiction and bibliographies
Novels and short stories are called fiction because... well... they are fictional. They cannot be used as factual sources to understand the world, but most fiction will be a product of its time.
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We'll read short stories where the horrors of Apartheid permeate from the very beginning till the very end. We'll try to find meaning in the texts themselves and also in their historical context.
If we want to say something about the world, we need another kind of materials. We'll read and analyze an excerpt from Peter Abraham's autobiography: "Tell Freedom", and we'll focus on a Mandela speech and finally a mix of fact and fiction in the Movie: Goodbye Bafana - a genre called autofiction
Bibliography - South Africa
NON-FICTION:
Glossary: https://overcomingapartheid.msu.edu/terms.php (excerpt)
South Africa Tourism Video - "Leave Ordinary Behind", 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhtnMzCzrXk&ab_channel=worldtourism
Wendover Productions: "South Africa's Slow, Inevitable March Towards Collapse", 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iiny1GrfhYM&ab_channel=WendoverProductions
Mary Kay Magistad: “South Africa's imperfect progress, 20 years after the Truth & Reconciliation Commission”, Theworld.com, 2017, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j9dCefIGyxiw7Ir1hYVopupUwFC6rk0hoHIA3NBvEKc/edit?usp=sharing
Gideon Rachman: Whatever happened to Mandela’s dream for South Africa?, AUGUST 11 2022
Jansen: Are you better off now than under apartheid? (2023)
eNCA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xvrYkTm1_I&ab_channel=eNCA
FICTION:
Rayda Jacobs: “The Guilt”, 2001, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r9KBmquhcE7pYTJN_Y-lIuy07aFh1Q6o/view?usp=drive_link
Don Mattera: “Die Bushie is dood”, 1991, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Haf2pBA9nQeB85I0gVZ-9uJLFlUGSDI2/view?usp=sharing
Nadime Gordimer: “Country Lovers”, 1980, https://xpressenglish.com/our-stories/town-and-country-lovers/
Clint Eastwood: Invictus, 2009