Afrikaner

Apartheid was the codification of laws and regulations to keep Africans in an inferior position to the white Afrikaners in South Africa. Nelson Mandela described apartheid as ‘a poison that bred moral decay in all areas’ and it was this poison that he spoke of which dominated South African society from 1948 to the early 1990’s. Apartheid was implemented by an Afrikaner government in 1948 named the Nationalist Party under the leadership of DF Malan. Afrikaans ideology was that they were to unite all Afrikaners to withstand both the English and Africans on behalf of the Volk. Their ideology was linked with ideas of racial superiority which was the blueprint of apartheid. Apartheid was therefore a way for Afrikaners to become the superior race…

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, a government supporting apartheid laws in South Africa took power. The National Party, controlled by the white Afrikaner population, came to power in South Africa in 1948. Hoping to keep the white population in power in South Africa, the National Party enacted laws to give the whites in South Africa advantages over other ethnicities. The laws used by the Apartheid system were harsh on non-white ethnicities, to the point that the effects of Apartheid are still felt in…

that everyone in the family is taken care of. Part of taking care of everyone is by feeding them. Traditionally, starches, meats, and Cosines (Dutch, English, or Asian) are what they eat, however, if there are times when cereal (A grain that is similar to grits in the United States.) is not being sold as much then, to savor the cereal they survive off of meat. For the most part today’s South African family eats starches and meats. With eating food comes, customs and ceremonies. For the South…

Melanie Isaacs, a transition to a new life style The novel Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee takes place in post-apartheid South Africa. The author offers a view of what is happening at the time, suggesting tensions between the races which are embodied mostly by symbols. David Lurie, a representation of “old” white South Africa, will interact with Melanie, his student and this will change his life from there. While the novel’s portrayal of Melanie have many meaningful layers despite her race, she has a…

the political environment of South Africa’s past through a reflexive, historical and personal memoir. Malan’s memoir is focused around the journalistic work he conducted. He is currently still a writer, journalist and documentary maker. All of his work revolves around telling the stories of South Africa. Malan’s ancestry is an important and controversial topic throughout the memoir. Malan is a descendant of Dawid Malan, an infamous Boer who was one of the first to impose white law in South…

One of the most celebrated men of the 20th century is Nelson Mandela, the man who helped free South Africa from Apartheid rule. But however inhumane, disgusting and barbaric Apartheid rule was, it contributed to the growth of the South African economy and created tremendous amount of wealth for the white South African minority. A significant amount of this wealth was generated from South Africa’s vast gold mines that were all owned by whites. To make these mining houses practical and lucrative…

The Help is a 2011 period-drama film directed by Tate Taylor which challenges the societal racism of a 1963 Jackson, Mississippi. The film follows its white protagonist, Skeeter (Emma Stone), in her attempt to write an exposé on the mistreatment of the dark-skinned maids and nannies in Jackson. The dominant attitudes in this society come from the white population, as they have more power and numbers than those with coloured skin. Conflicts between characters from the opposing races reveal…

If someone tells a joke and nobody 's around to hear it, does it make it funny? Maybe. That is, if the joke is funny in the first place. But is there a line drawn between jokes and the hurtful reality? Are some things we simply shouldn’t poke fun at? Martin Seligman, a psychologist, once conducted an experiment for further research on classical conditioning. Using dogs and electrical shocks, he developed a new theory: learned helplessness. “Failure to take steps to avoid or escape from an…

Gap background – Skeeter started writing about Hilly’s initiative ‘The Home Help Sanitation System for the coloured help’, but while she starts writing the initiative on the second page of the Newspaper all Skeeter can think about is what Constantine would think of her. Pages/ Chapter – This silence in the novel is at the end of chapter one, page 281 Character discourse and background – Skeeter is an innocent, well-meaning and privileged character. In the beginning of the novel Skeeter can be…

Imagine a world where all races perform everything separately. Only white people can go to that zoo, while only black people can go to this zoo. Or only Asian people can go to this bathroom, while only Native Americans can go to that bathroom. An odd concept, is it not? This is exactly how the system of apartheid works and it’s the same system that was used in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Apartheid was brutal system to live by and it was much like a caste system with the lightest skinned,…