Conversations concerning South Africa
These recommended texts and music help us gain an insight and / or understanding of apartheid. Waiting for the Barbarians, focuses on the victims of apartheid and colonialism, particularly the Black population. Where-as Spud offers a nostalgic insight into of someone’s childhood. Set in the backdrop of South Africa's transition from apartheid, it tackles this seriousness through the universal humourous experiences of adolescence.
The apartheid system was officially abolished in 1991, and Nelson Manela won a democratic general election in 1994. Shortly after his release from 27 years of imprisonment, he commented that Ladysmith Black Mambazo were South Africa's cultural ambassadors. They accompanied Mandela to the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, Oslo, Norway, and performed at his Presidential Inauguration, 1994.
Nelson Mandela’s appearance at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final was one of his most iconic acts to unify a nation. South Africa hosting the tournament represented it’s re-entry into the international community; with Ladysmith Black Mambazo covering the tournament soundtrack “World in Union”.
Recommended books
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Waiting for the Barbarians
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Call Number: C673wISBN: 9780140061109Publication Date: 1982For decades the Magistrate has been a loyal servant of the Empire, running the affairs of a tiny frontier settlement and ignoring the impending war with the barbarians. When interrogation experts arrive, however, he witnesses the Empire's cruel and unjust treatment of prisoners of war. Jolted into sympathy for their victims, he commits a quixotic act of rebellion that brands him an enemy of the state. J. M. Coetzee's prize-winning novel is a startling allegory of the war between oppressor and oppressed. The Magistrate is not simply a man living through a crisis of conscience in an obscure place in remote × his situation is that of all men living in unbearable complicity with regimes that ignore justice and decency. -
Spud
by
Call Number: V225sp 2007ISBN: 9781595141873Publication Date: 2008It's 1991, and John "Spud" Milton's journey to manhood is still creeping along at a snail's pace. Nearly fifteen, Spud's starting his second year at boarding school and, to his utter mortification, he's still a spud. -
Long Walk to Freedom
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Call Number: 968.064 M271L 1994ISBN: 0316545856Publication Date: 1994A moving account of Mandela's life from his childhood to his inauguration as president of South Africa in May 1994. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality. -
Life and Times of Michael K
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Call Number: C673LISBN: 9780140074482Publication Date: 1985-01-08From author of Waiting for the Barbarians and Nobel Prize winner J.M. Coetzee. J.M. Coetzee's latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, is now available from Viking. Late Essays: 2006-2016 will be available January 2018. In a South Africa turned by war, Michael K. sets out to take his ailing mother back to her rural home. On the way there she dies, leaving him alone in an anarchic world of brutal roving armies. Imprisoned, Michael is unable to bear confinement and escapes, determined to live with dignity. This life affirming novel goes to the center of human experience--the need for an interior, spiritual life; for some connections to the world in which we live; and for purity of vision. -
At the Crossroads
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Call Number: I74aISBN: 9780688052706Publication Date: 1991-05-24South African children gather to welcome home their fathers who have been away for several months working in the mines.
Suggested further reading or listening
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About Ladysmith Black MambazoLink to the website.
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Transforming the Springboks: Re-imagining the South African Nation through Sport.Karen Farquharson and Timothy Marjoribanks; Social Dynamics, A journal of African studies, Volume 29, 2003 - Issue 1.
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‘One team, one country’ – the importance of timingThe importance of Nelson Mandela's role in the 1995 South Africa Rugby World Cup.
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Interview with author John van de RuitInterview hosted by Srizzil, July 2013.
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Waiting for the Barbarians literary analysisPublished by InfoCraft, January 2024.