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COAS Study Abroad-South Africa 2011: Review and Research Agenda

COAS Study Abroad-South Africa 2011: Review and Research Agenda . July 4, 2011 University of Cape Town. Overarching Themes [From Webpage]. Deconstructive Engagements: South Africa, the United States and the Modern World System

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COAS Study Abroad-South Africa 2011: Review and Research Agenda

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  1. COAS Study Abroad-South Africa 2011: Review and Research Agenda July 4, 2011 University of Cape Town

  2. Overarching Themes [From Webpage] • Deconstructive Engagements: South Africa, the United States and the Modern World System • Narrating (Re)memories: Constructing Historical and Contemporary Identities in South Africa • We Think What We Like: Representative Figures in South African and African American Intellectual History • The World and the Text: Research and Writing as Liberating Practices in Study Abroad

  3. Map of South Africa

  4. General Information • Population: 50 million • Economy (2.7 billion rand gdp , 2010) • Exports: Gold, minerals, diamonds, metals and metal products, foods, automotive components • Main Trading Partners: US, UK, China, Japan, France • Political Structure: Executive, Legislative, Judiciary • Bi-Cameral Parliament (5 year terms): 400 seat NA and 90 seat CP [Universal Adult Suffrage] • Party-based elections [ANC/SACP/COSATU, DA, PAC, etc.] • Tripartite Capitals: Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein

  5. [South] Africa at a Flash • 5 MYA to 1500 ce: Human Population • 1300-1500: Southern Africa Repopulated by Migrations [Bantu [Sotho, Tswana] and Nguni [Zulu, Xhosa] Language Speakers]. Khoi-San here • Ca 1500-Present: European Invasions • 1460: Portuguese • 1652: Dutch East India Company • 1750s: Trekboers move east • 1795: British take the Dutch Cape Colony • 1830s-50s: British abolish slavery, set off Dutch “Great Trek”; Boers declare Republic of Natalia, OFS] • 1870s-1910 • The Age of Rhodes [e.g. 1895 Jameson Raid on Transvaal, etc.] • 1898-1902: Ango-Boer War leads to USA [1910] of Cape, Natal, OFS, SAR [Transvaaal] • The Concretization of Apartheid and African Resistance • 1912: Founding of ANC [1913, Natives’ Land Act, 1914: NP Formed, 1923 Urban Areas Act] • 1943: ANC L [1948, NP Wins, 1953, Bantu Education Act] • 1955: Freedom Charter [1958, Verwoerd] • 1959: PAC formed; Homelands formed] • 1961: Sharpeville [1960, SAR] • 1963: Rivonia [1970: Bantu Homelands CA] • 1976: Soweto [1983: Tricameral Parliament/SoE; 1990: Mandela Released • 1990- Present • 1991: CODESA • 1994: Mandela Presidency [95: TRC; 96 Constitution] • 1997: Mbeki • 2009: Zuma

  6. Basic Components of Research (A Cross-Disciplinary Approach) • Statement of the Problem • Review of Current Scholarship • Methodology • Theoretical Framework • Development of the Thesis • Research Findings

  7. Basic Components of Research (Your Projects) Statement of the Problem Review of Current Scholarship What has already been said about this subject? Working Bibliography Summary of key ideas/scholarship on the topic What information do you need to complete this research meaningfully? What new information/solutions will your research reveal? • What is your research problem or inquiry? • What is the purpose of your research? (to build skills that enable you to facilitate change) • To advance knowledge • To solve a problem • To inquire • How did South Africans in the country and in exile use literature to advance the freedom struggle?

  8. Your Projects Methodology Preliminary Findings & Further Research What do your preliminary research efforts reveal? What further research needs to be done? What larger context(s) must be considered to make this research transformative? How might the research be useful in its transformative capacity? What variables would need to be in play to maximize that capacity? • What research method is best suited for your research question? • Design: Before/after; retrospective, prospective, blended; current or focused period • Data: secondary sources, interviews, etc • Disciplinary approaches: discipline specific, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary

  9. Ideas for Projects [From Site Visits and Class to Date] • Outlining pitfalls for a post-apartheid SA based on post-integration failures in the US • Exploring the impact of “mother tongues” on educational achievement • Identifying what can be learned about SA’s experience with HIV-AIDS • Comparing political ideologies and/or world views • Considering the SA Constitution and the law • Determining the impact of gender or culture on entrepreneurship • Imagining a “new” economy • Developing a thinking class • Understanding the politics of museum curation • (Re)Constructing cultural memory • Reviewing “radical” resistance • Embracing/Rejecting the “rainbow nation” • Analyzing the politics of land ownership

  10. Engaging the Themes • Use them as conceptual frameworks: • “The world and the text” (the world is a text!) • “We think what we like” (how have thinkers and cultural workers exchanged ideas within/across Pan-African spheres?) • Use them as prompts: • Consider one or more of its questions (what does a comparative study illuminate?) or assumptions (world systems of oppression (e.g. capitalism) have racialized dimensions; • Use them as guides: • Consider the books they invoke (Michael McDonald’s Why Race Matters in South Africa)

  11. Focused Study (Prompt Books, from Webpage) • White Supremacy • African American Consciousness of Africa • Race for Sanctions • The Price of Reconciliation • History Making and Present Day Politics • Do South Africans Exist • Why Race Matters • The Black Experience in the 20th Century • Incognegro

  12. Focused Study (Collections & Resources) • UCT Library collections • Mayibuye Archives • Klipton documents: Freedom Charter • SA Constitution

  13. Class Day Blog Posts • Summarize the lecture; • Ask at least 3 questions that came to mind during the lecture (these can be general, or they can relate specifically to your research project); • Summarize your research activity (what did you to, read, see, think about, write); and • Indicate your research agenda for the following day.

  14. Your Projects Conducting your research Presenting Your Research Power Point presentations 10-15 minutes July 11th • Full class/research days • Class from 9:30-noon; lunch; research (1:30-5) • Write/Post blog • Library hours (8:30am-5pm) • “Office Hours” • Mayibuye Center • Check their website to see what holdings you’d like to view while there.

  15. Immediate Upcoming Schedule • Monday, July 4 Full class/research day   • Tuesday, July 5 Full class /research day • Wednesday, July 6 SA Parliament; evening class/research • Thursday, July 7 Full class/research day • Friday, July 8 UWC-Robben Island Archives, Mayibuye Center   • Saturday, July 9 Robben Island • Sunday, July 10 Cape of Good Hope, Stellenbosch and Winelands • Monday, July 11 Full class day (Presentations) • Tuesday, July 12 Depart Cape Town at 8:50am for Johannesburg (10:50 am arrival) evening reception or lecture

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