Politics In South Africa Research Articles

The Race Game: sport and politics in South Africa by DOUGLAS BOOTH London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 1998. Pp. 250. £37.50, £17.50 (pbk.).

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Afrikaans and Afrikaner nationalism

One ofthe central problems in the politics of South Africa's many languages is their sociocultural meanings, which range from negative connotations to cases where a language is regarded as a core element in the continued sociopolitical existence ofits Speakers. In both instances, but particularly in the latter case, such meanings couldprove to be obstades to nation building. This is especially so in the case of Afrikaans, which is a basic constituent of Afrikaner nationalism. This contribution discusses the interrelationship between Afrikaans and Afrikaner nationalism. The article begins with a brief overview of the sociolinguistics of the language and its sociopolitical history, and then, against the background of the notions nationalism, ethnic nationalism, and the role of language in ethnic nationalism and politics, the role of Afrikaans in the birth of Afrikaner nationalism and in apartheid policy is discussed. In the concluding paragraph, a number of preliminary thoughts are expressed about the present position of Afrikaans and Afrikaner nationalism.

‘An unusual freedom'?; Mbulelo Mzamane's Mzala

Mzamane's comments over the years seem to reflect a doubt or ambivalence over the status of his first collection of stories, Mzala (1980). 1 In his introduction Mzamane describes himself as 'a teacher first, an aspiring literary critic next and only very incidentally a writer' (viii). In an interview in 1983 in the Nigerian journal Okella, he repeats this, and adds, 'I do not consider myself very seriously as a writer'(39).2 However, in the same interview he also defends himself against the criticism that his stories are 'escapist' or 'trivialize life'; people have tended to see him, he says, as 'a writer who is not very serious' (40). In 1979 Mzamane was in fact joint winner of the Mofolo/Piomer Prize for these stories, and Ravan's decision to republish Mzala in 1995 as part of the Ravan Writers Series indicates a continuing interest in the collection. 'This paper looks at Mzamane as a writer, and at Mzala in particular, in an attempt to assess the claims that have been made for this collection. It deserves recognition as an important contribution to the tradition of black South African writing in English. At the same time, it is necessary to look critically at the apparent endorsement of values and attitudes which may seem to contradict the author's stated commitment to a 'culture of liberation'. The stories have received little serious critical attention, and this· is also an attempt to redress the balance.3 If one looks at Mzamane's critical writings dating from the 1970s, something of a paradox emerges: he presents a view of black South African writing as strongly politicized, as a 'committed literature'. In New Classic in I 978 he makes the familiar assertion that 'Art and politics in South Africa have become inseparable for the simple reason that politics pervades all aspects of a black man's existence' (1978:42). Writing in Donga in 1977 he states that 'the only relevant literature in an African context is a committed literature.... We tum to the short story and shout our message loudly and clearly.... We protest in categorical and unambiguous terms' (1977a:8). Yet if one turns to his first collection of stories one finds little evidence of any 'message' being shouted. The stories seem to be characterized by the avoidance of any explicit protest or any obvious attempt to conscientize. These are, at first sight, among the least 'political' of South African black writings of the 70s. It was, in fact, this quality that appealed to some of the early reviewers. For Lionel Abrahams, 'the writing manifests an unusual freedom: to treat of individuals as individuals, to laugh in sheer amusement, to let protest... take a back seat'.4 He also comments on the author's 'distinct gift for starting characters visibly into life', and on his 'flair for dramatic situations' (1981:8). This may owe

Election 1999 and scenarios for opposition politics in South Africa

This article explores, through the mapping and projection of a range of scenario paths, the future possibilities for opposition party politics in South Africa. The article discusses pre‐election, election and post‐election trends towards potential realignment in opposition politics, as well as trends indicating the affirmation and amplification of pre‐existing tendencies in party politics. The analysis draws on a number of interviews with party political actors, media monitoring and direct observation by the author.

The dual politics of representation: women and electoral politics in South Africa

This article examines the politics of women's representation in South Africa. It argues that there has been a significant shift since 1994 in the ways in which women's organisations have articulated women's electoral interests. While women's organisations and women within political parties have been outwardly in agreement about the need for increasing women's representation, there are differences in their policy positions with respect to strategies for advancing equality. Within women's forums, these differences have been openly and sometimes acrimoniously debated. The article suggests that there is a dual electoral politics: an external level at which the coherence of women as a group is emphasised, and an internal level at which differences between women are recognised and debated. This dual politics is seen as inevitable in a situation in which women continue to be numerically under‐represented in electoral bodies. The article examines the consolidation of women's gains in representation in the 1994 and 1999 elections, and suggests ways in which women's constituency building may be strengthened.

Comrades in Business: post-liberation politics in South Africa by HERIBERT ADAM, FREDERIK VAN ZYL SLABBERT and KOGILA MOODLEY Utrecht: International Books, 1998. Pp. 240. £18.00 (pbk.).

<b>Comrades in Business: post-liberation politics in South Africa</b> by H<scp>ERIBERT</scp> A<scp>DAM</scp>, F<scp>REDERIK VAN</scp> Z<scp>YL</scp> S<scp>LABBERT</scp> and K<scp>OGILA</scp> M<scp>OODLEY</scp> Utrecht: International Books, 1998. Pp. 240. £18.00 (pbk.).

Men with Cookers: Transformations in Migrant Culture, Domesticity and Identity in Duncan Village, East London

This article is concerned with understanding current transformations in migrant culture and identity in South African urban areas. It approaches the topic by revisiting Philip and lana Mayer’s classic study of migrant culture and identity in the Duncan Village township of East London. The article uses the their work as the starting point from which to construct a detailed historical analysis of the tranformations in amaqaba migrant culture in the city from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. The first part of the paper attempts to show that the Mayers greatly underestimated the resilience of this cultural form in the face of far-reaching social and political change in East London. In documenting the survival of amaqaba culture well into the 1980s, it focuses not only on the external forces that shaped migrant responses to change, but also on the internal social dynamics and relations that facilitated cultural reproduction. The second part of the paper is devoted to an analysis of the decline of amaqaba culture as a rural resistance ideology in the city in the late 1980s and its reconstruction as an urban resistance ideology predicated on the defence of particular urban spaces, identities and power relations. The paper concludes by considering the significance of the analysis for the understanding of migrant identity politics in South Africa.

Comrades in business: post-liberation politics in South Africa

Comrades in business: post-liberation politics in South Africa

Writing Community: Bessie Head and the Politics of Narrative

t is virtually impossible and assuredly inadvisable to think about South Africa without thinking about politics. The power of apartheid as a racist policy and as a hegemonic distortion of society is equaled by its power as a symbol both of what man has done to man, and of a world subdivided and classified by surface distinctions. The power of politics in South Africa is such that the stru c t u re of the politics itself, and apartheid in part i c u l a r, is duplicated in the very distinctions made between political writers and apolitical writers, between writers committed to the cause and those who have abandoned the cause. B e f o re discussing how this politics bar becomes an instrument of exclu- sion, I need to make clear just how important politics are to South African l i t e r a t u re. In Ta sks and Masks: Themes and Styles of African Literature, Lewis Nkosi sums up the effect politics has had on literature in South Africa: . . . (W)ith very few exceptions the literature of Southern Africa is wholly concerned with the theme of struggle and conflict . . . In p a rt i c u l a r, if South African literature seems unable to contemplate any kind of human action without first attempting to locate it with- in a precise social framework of racial conflict it is merely because v e ry often colour diff e rences provide the ultimate symbols which stand for those larger antagonisms which Southern African writers have always considered it their proper business to explain . . . . (T)he literature of Southern Africa is committed to the notion that c e rtain 'tasks' are the legitimate function of socially re s p o n s i b l e

The Race Game: Sport and politics in South Africa

The Race Game: Sport and politics in South Africa

Writing Community: Bessie Head and the Politics of Narrative

It is virtually impossible and assuredly inadvisable to think about South Africa without thinking about politics. The power of apartheid as a racist policy and as a hegemonic distortion of society is equaled by its power as a symbol both of what man has done to man, and of a world subdivided and classified by surface distinctions. The power of politics in South Africa is such that the structure of the politics itself, and apartheid in particular, is duplicated in the very distinctions made between political writers and apolitical writers, between writers committed to the cause and those who have abandoned the cause.

The 1999 Election and New Orientations in Opposition Politics in South Africa

South Africa’s 1999 election presented the country’s opposition parties with a number of serious challenges. For the three years before this second democratic election, opposition parties had been building up their hopes for 1999 as the year when the African National Congress (ANC) colossus might start shedding support and create space for opposition growth. Instead, the 1999 election fragmented the opposition, halved the size of the single biggest opposition party, annihilated opposition parties in most of the ANC-controlled provinces, and strengthened the ANC in the two opposition-controlled provinces. It also brought enhanced cooperation between the ANC and precisely those opposition parties that might have given credibility to a realigned opposition movement.

Reinventing a Continent: Writing and Politics in South Africa

Reinventing a Continent: Writing and Politics in South Africa

The race game: sport and politics in South Africa

ROBERT CHAPPELL - BRUNEL UNI -This important book deserves place on the shelf of all university libraries, as it is an excellent addition to those books already available. New Zealand International Review- traces the development and changes in racial attitudes in South Africa, particularly with regard to sport, from the 19th century - whilst reading it, the thought that was never far away...was how useful this book would have been thirty years ago for those of us who were on the anti-apartheid campaign trail. Choice - November 1998 book is recommended reading for all interested in sport as crucial player, not only in sociocultural development, but in nation building. African Affairs: The Jnl of the Royal African Society- The Race Game is both scholarly and readble history of sport...A major strength of the work is the sharp analysis of the changing relationship between sport and politics from 1948 to the collapse of apartheid, including an excelllent reappraisal of the development and contribution of the anti-apartheid international sports Ethnic and Racial Studies- In an illuminating and often invigorating exposition of the process through which race and national identities have shaped the political development of sport, Douglas provides history of the complex interplay between sport, race and class relations in South Africa...It is abundantly clear that in sport, the years of political, racial and class divisions in South Africa will not be solved overnight, and Douglas is to be commended for articulating and chronicling the reasons why in such forthright and succinct manner. Mass Phenomena- Sociological Abstracts The Sports Historian, at http://www.umist.ac.uk/sport/revs182.html Booth is supplying an in-depth and wide ranging critique of the politics surrounding South African sport since the 1960s. His work is built on an intricate knowledge of the specific sporting history of his topic, of the key figures and organisations ... In all his coverage shows solid understanding of the politics of South Africa, both black and white, and offers sensible critique and assessment of the policy of sports boycott. The International Journal of the History of Sport essential reading for anyone with an interest in the socio-political or cultural history of South Africa...a seminal work in its field Nationalism and Ethnic Politics: a perceptive historical analysis... an excellent resource for anyone interested in racial politics of Southern Africa.

From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1990. Volume 5: Nadir and Resistance, 1964-1979

From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1990. Volume 5: Nadir and Resistance, 1964-1979

Religion and Resistance Politics in South Africa

Religion and Resistance Politics in South Africa

From protest to challenge: a documentary history of African politics in South Africa, 1882-1990. v.5: Nadir and resurgence, 1964-1979

From protest to challenge: a documentary history of African politics in South Africa, 1882-1990. v.5: Nadir and resurgence, 1964-1979

State Power and Black Politics in South Africa, 1912-51.

State Power and Black Politics in South Africa, 1912-51.

State Power and Black Politics in South Africa, 1912–51

(1997). State Power and Black Politics in South Africa, 1912–51. History: Reviews of New Books: Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 84-84.

Issues in the Making of South Africa's Language in Education Policy

Issues in the Making of South Africa's Language in Education Policy