Languages of South Africa

For thousands of years, female, queer, trans, and intersexed bodies, especially those of color, have found themselves to be the point of contention, and as time progressed gained advocates, some more than others. These groups often find themselves marginalized when placed in the binary system of gender, which tends to ignore everything but what is considered to be a “normal male” and a “normal female”. Like race, it can be argued that the idea gender is merely a social construct intended to…

Question 4 The issue of police brutality is sickeningly present in America and highly controversial. Instead of being flooded with feelings of relief and safety upon seeing a member of the police force, people of color feel anxiety and fear. Will this police officer harass or question me with no valid reason? Will they attempt to search my body or violate me? Will they even try to kill me? Black individuals are the most prone to acts of unnecessary police violence. In chapter 5, they discuss…

How someone views themselves is what essentially makes us who we are. That is also know as an identity. These identities are followed by issues relating to these identities. Those issues are associated with identities are called identity contingencies. Claude M. Steele wrote Whistling Vivaldi and it argues how identity contingencies exist. The definition given by Steele is “This book is what my colleagues and I call identity contingencies- the things you have to deal with in a situation because…

This Wednesday we’re crushing on South Africa’s next big thing, Ludwekazi Ndlazi (24) who made it to the One Day Leader Season 4, Top 6. One day leader is a reality show that seeks the best young leaders and puts their leadership skills and abilities to the test. Ndlazi who hails from uMthatha was adopted by KZN-Durban. “I grew up in a very warm home, loving parents, who are my everything and amazing four siblings who are literally a part of me. I am naturally an introvert hence my love for…

trying to make South African the best country it can be and was slowly being demonstrated. Many lives began to change for the better due to the remodeling taking place. Africans were filled with contentment; after all the years of living in poor, unsanitary areas, things were finally turning around. Mandela not only focused on adults but made sure there were improvements on the youth by “raising money to build schools” (“Nelson Mandela Biography”). Keeping these changes in Africa starts with the…

Orwell creating the haunting dystopia of Oceania as a warning to humanity of our self-destruction, the world seemed to go blind to its recreation in South Africa. Britain colonized South Africa and created a white minority rule, just as Orwell depicts the Big Brother and the Inner Party running Oceania in 1984. Both Orwell’s Oceanic world and the South African government formed bigoted class systems with a small, minority rule to maintain their power. After power was obtained and secured, the…

Cry, The Beloved Country, a book written by Alan Paton, is a novel about a man trying to find his lost family, but all the while describing the racial injustices of South Africa. It takes place in South Africa during the times of the apartheid, and shows many examples of just how bad the racial segregation was. This book was very enlightening in the aspect of racial injustice by showing how it affects the lives of the ones being discriminated. This book was split into three different…

The topic explaining gender stereotypes is widely acknowledge over the world especially since the feminism movement starting around 1942. The two essays that were provided by the fifth edition of “50 essays” are “The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “Just Walk on By: Black Men and Public Space” by Brent Staples. Throughout this paper, I analyzed the two given essays to see which I found the most effective for the category. The first reading, “The…

Nella Larsen’s novel Passing explores two African-American women, Irene and Clare, coming to terms with their racial identity. Evenmore, Larsen demonstrates that race is a social construct when these two women are able to “pass” as white due to their lighter complexion. Irene and Clare struggle to create an identity for themselves that goes beyond any racial boundaries; however, it becomes a battle of creating an identity without facing alienation from the black community that has sustained both…

with him to tell their superiors nothing. He instructs them to get rid of their passes that were forged by Douglass with their master’s signature on it in any way possible. The ticket was enough proof to put all of them in prison or to send them down south. Douglass also continually repeats “own nothing” (54) which means if anyone asks them about the planned escape deny anything and feign ignorant. The end of the excerpt elucidates the brotherhood that was created between the slaves by how he…