A South African in Dolores, CO

Hi all,

To those that don’t know yet, I have taken a semester off from school and am interning at the Anasazi Heritage Center. Part of this decision was inspired by my time in South Africa. In South Africa, we looked at museums as places of truth-telling and memorialization. One of the hardest discussions (in my opinion) that we had was about what an American ‘freedom tour’ would look like. We discussed the Trail of Tears and the history of American Indian marginalization that continues to this day. (I may post my thoughts on a common history and archaeology’s role later.)

Unexpectedly, I met a South African here at the Heritage Center. He volunteers with his wife and used to be a professor at the University of Pretoria. I spoke to him and his wife this past Thursday. His wife taught school children in Pretoria and is an American. She seemed more open and talkative than her husband, which could have been a result of personality differences or cultures. I am curious about her husband’s background. If like Don Foster, it took leaving South Africa to realize the atrocities of the apartheid. I did not want to push the subject during my first meeting with this man. It reminded me too of my talk with a school tour guide on the boat from Robben Island about how it was easier to give tours and discuss with non-South Africans. Were his wife and I at liberty to talk about the apartheid and reconciliation because our daily lives had not been directly affected? Was he nervous to say something in front of me who clearly had opinions and had studied the South Africa from the lens of reconciliation?

His wife described bringing school children to the Apartheid Museum. These children were the first generation after the 1994 election. She described them as having no idea about the apartheid and being really shocked by the different passageways in which you enter the museum. “Noooo, really??” were the comments of shock. However, it seemed that the schools are still somewhat separated by the ethnicity. She described her class as ‘mostly black.’ These children are living in a world without the formalized discrimination of the apartheid but what other forms of discrimination still remain?

As Don Foster shared, inequality has increased since 1994. I asked about teaching English versus other languages in her school in Pretoria. She said that parents wanted their children to learn English because of the advantages for their ‘future.’ Learning English has a specific economic (and social?) advantage. Indirectly, other languages are discriminated against. If there does not seem to be a practical necessity to maintain their tribal culture, will it die. What is the role of practicality with culture? Also, she pointed out that students seemed more interested in cell phones and ipods etc. and not in the ‘traditional culture.’ However, I wonder if technology and their African tribal culture have to be mutually exclusive.

(I may comment on the practice of archaeology in South Africa and the American southwest, and its role in creating a common history and truth telling.)

Story-telling, not forgetting, Museums

I was showing my parents some more pictures I took in South Africa. I found that I had forgotten the names of the adorable couple that owned the Bo-Kaap Kombuis restaurant. Why did I forget these names? Should I have written them down? I feel like story-telling would have helped me to remember. One of my close friends is a fantastic story-teller. This trait is not only enjoyable but helps him to remember. On a personal level, story-telling aids memory and builds relationships through sharing experiences. How do I share South Africa with people back here in Colorado? I intend to work on my story-telling abilities. These personal experiences with story-telling reaffirms the importance of story-telling for a nation. Furthermore, I still believe in the importance, beauty and potency of oral tradition. It is a direct human-to-human interaction versus recording on paper, film or photographs.

At first, I was a little bothered by all the museums that we visited in South Africa. I wanted to see the people. However, my new views on story-telling have shown me a crucial purpose for museums. We talked about memorialization and truth-telling while in South Africa. As an anthropology major, I focus on culture and didn’t at first see museums as part of culture. My current appreciation of museums is a result from understanding their impact on culture. Maybe, “understanding” is the wrong word. I am almost in awe of their potency. Who’s history is being told and how it is told seem obvious components to notice, but museums can have a subtle or covert effect on the mind.

To side track, I finally watched Cry, Freedom. Like museums, the oppressive apartheid culture had an effect on the minds of black South Africans that Steve Biko pointed out and addressed with black consciousness. Black South Africans were made to feel dirty, less worthy, or ugly. It is not that people are stupid for being affected by an oppressive culture or even museums. Again, I am awe of how these effects occur. Cry, Freedom was another personal means of story-telling and remembering the experience. I watched the film with my mother and she had a lot of questions. The film was a great means of trying to explain what I had done and seen in South Africa.

Back to the issue of museums. I have been thinking a lot about the Native Americans and their forgotten history in our country. I was recently in Durango where the Anasazi Heritage Center is located. I did not get a chance to visit the center but hope to visit it in the near future. What I have learned about the center indicates the importance of language. Descendants of the “Anasazi” do not necessarily like the word “Anasazi” but cannot agree on an alternative like Navajo or Pueblo peoples. When a word identifies you, it becomes of utmost important to be correct. The power of words amazes me (again like museums). How can you tell a forgotten history when a single word cannot be agreed upon? Is the conflict over the single word a result from the history being forgotten and the peoples being oppressed?

Back in Colorado. Reconciliation as the everyday

I was curious about how my international experience in South Africa would affect my work with the restorative justice program at CU (CURJ). I facilitated my first conference this last Monday. I entered South Africa being more excited about the subject matter than the country. However, seeing an entirely new (and international) context made me grateful for visiting South Africa. Current efforts at promoting restorative justice at home and at abroad come with opposition. Community representatives at CURJ assess the level of responsibility a perpetrator has taken. Before South Africa, I feel like I was approaching CURJ with the idea of benefiting the perpetrator. Reducing recidivism rates was a strong selling point to the restorative justice approach. This past conference made me more aware of CURJ’s responsibility to the community. Although in the conferences that I facilitate we do not have formal victims, we still pay attention to the points of the community representatives and meeting their needs. It is not only about the perpetrator’s needs. CURJ had trained to paying attention to these different needs, but now I have a new understanding.

Even truth-telling and healing is a part of CURJ. Some students chose to have an educational component as part of their agreements. Educating themselves and others has a level of truth telling. By understanding the laws, a future ‘stable peace’ can be built. Agreement items also contain a level of personal or relationship healing. I cannot go into too much detail about the conferences. Recently, a student was empowered to make a complaint about her interaction with the police. This action was included in the agreement items because harm to ‘self’ must be addressed as harm to ‘community’ or ‘parents’ etc. are addressed. Generally, in Boulder, student-police relations seem to be a huge and important issue. A stack of apology letters addressed to police officers could lose meaning. However, spreading awareness and understanding on the student end is a form of reconciliation.

Similar to how I was curious about the position and expectations of Afrikaaner students in South Africa, I am still thinking about changing populations and individuals. While there will be a student body constantly influx and changing police officers, how do you address this consistent flux? When looking at tensions between groups, where does the individual come into play? I feel like this issue is where psychological changes become important. A psychological shift to inclusion, understanding and community would make the peace of the present be sustainable. This shift goes beyond reconciliation in the present.

Ideally, I had expected reconciliation to result in inclusion and community. I became pessimistic in South Africa because of the daunting and impossible nature of actually achieving this. However, I have been viewing reconciliation as a process with ideals that are constantly being worked towards. There will be future tensions and new individuals but structures that enable reconciliatory processes to continue to take place have a chance. I have constantly been rethinking my reconciliation-communism statement. Slowly, I am reaching an optimism about the potential of reconciliation AND restorative justice. This optimism is different than my optimism before South Africa. Shafiek ‘just living his life’ is part of my new understanding. My new understanding involves the everyday (people, education, restaurants, etc.) and less of the grand (political leaders, constitutions).

May 26th, “diversity literacy” and “we are because of them”

In the morning, we listened to Melissa Steyn. Her talk reemphasized the importance about diversity literacy, which can the talk the form of disability studies, feminist studies etc. These areas create a knowledge base to enhance the discourses around difference. Ideally, more knowledge should humanize and legitimize oppressed groups. An increase in the knowledge base is a mutual process. The oppressed and the oppressor could learn more about each other to break down stereotypes and potentially never see race.

Professor Steyn’s discussion about hegemonic identity makes me think about CU and the issues of partying/drinking. This is the hegemonic identity. How do we change such a dominant identity? I have been fortunate to have wonderful friends that do not need to drink to have a good time. We consider it ‘just what we do.’ At the same time, someone I know that parties a lot describes his habits with his friends as ‘just what we do.’ Both actions become the norm and otherizes the opposite. Furthermore, these mentalities have the potential to polarize when there is actually a spectrum. Stereotypes are dangerous for this reason and decrease diversity. If South Africa really is to be a ‘rainbow nation,’ then there is a spectrum of difference. Perhaps, seeing a spectrum versus a polarized nation of identity would increase interaction and understanding.

However, South Africa is increasingly unequal. Steyn’s comments about whiteness having economic power versus political power reminds me of Pierre Bourdieu’s writing on capital. Bourdieu describes 3 categories: cultural, social and economic. In present day South Africa, a white person is tremendously likely to be wealthy and have high economic capital. High cultural capital comes in the form of the necessity of speaking English. The use of language demonstrates a manifestation of power. Furthermore, English holds of position of higher international credibility.

Later this day, we went to the Slave Lodge and the South African Museum. The phrase ‘we are because of them’ sticks with me from the Slave Lodge. Although slavery is an ugly part of many countries pasts, it is important not to ignore it. The Slave Lodge is a place of truth telling and memorialization. Again, I am reminded about the power of archaeology in telling untold stories. Archaeology has been used to reveal the lives of slaves at the Slave Lodge. In not ignoring the past and making efforts to reveal untold stories, healing can occur. Ideally, acknowledging the past will promote justice in the future. This quote made me think: “At the Cape from 1711 to 1795 slaves outnumbered colonists.” With ever increasing inequality, are the poor still slaves? With ‘The One and Only’ hotel having two workers per guest, how far has South Africa (and the world) come besides a formal abolition of slavery?

Like Professor Steyn was saying about political versus economic power, black South Africans are not the most powerful group. There is hope that with the vote and political voice working conditions will not be as bad as under slavery. Economic inequality cannot be destroyed with a legal document like slavery was made illegal. With the truth telling that occurs at places like the Slave Lodge, a dialogue on basic human rights does occur and could apply to modern day life and dialogues.

At the South Africa Museum: The sociable weavers at the South Africa museum could be an example found in nature of an inclusive community. We talk about interdependence as part of the reconciliation process and building a peaceful future. Interdependence now may need to be constructed by the government when it was once part of nature.

The winelands, 5/24, “Ick ben een africaan”

Today helped me ground an understanding of the Afrikaaner identity in past and modern day South Africa. Cailyn and I went on a winelands tour through Paarl, Franschhoek, and Stellenbosch. I was really excited to see Franschhoek because of it was settled by the French Hugenots. (Below, is a picture of the French Hugenots' memorial). I do not have a lot of understanding about the Hugenots except that they are part of my heritage and left France because of religious persecution. How do I identify myself? I am curious about my heritage but do not feel a strong connection most of the time. We have been talking about history a lot but in a larger context. If myself as an individual does not identify with a history, do South Africans? Shafiek says he just lives his life and does not focus on the TRC. Does that mean he does not dwell on the past or his ancestry? Perhaps, I am confusing two different things. Could South Africans have a stronger connection to past and ancestry than Americans? Why would that be so?

In Paarl, the Afrikaans Language Monument acknowledges Afrikaans. Our tour guide described Afrikaans as the world’s youngest languages, which is still older than the United States. Interestingly too, the monument is one of two language monuments; the other recognizes Swahili. Afrikaans is NOT Dutch. It was born in South Africa and feels appropriate to be recognized.

I bought a poster of a painting in Stellenbosch that commemorates March 6, 1707. The painting depicts a young man who after drinking a bit dramatically declared himself not Dutch but South African. The painter Laurens Barnard described the young man as a true rebel. The painter, who was Afrikaans, told me that he paints a painting everyday on March 6^th. To the Afrikaaners, this day celebrates a day of separation from the Dutch and recognition of an African identity. Barnard told me that in Stellenbosch they dress up and celebrate every year on March 6^th.

The three wineries that we visited were beautiful. One was operating since the 1600s and another had only been operating since 1999. I asked the tour guide about ownership today of the wineries because of the colonial history. He didn’t seem to think it was a problem and said that they were expensive to buy and difficult to manage. Perhaps, the Afrikaaners have a place in the identity of South Africa by building its identity as a wine producing country. We went by the University of Stellenbosch, which is known for its viticulture programs. The university almost exclusively teaches in Afrikaans, which continues the Afrikaans-wine making connection.

With so many groups of people having such vibrant cultures, South Africa can be a ‘Rainbow Nation.’ However, how do you promote inclusion of all these peoples? I am sensing a binary between the ANC and the NP, which I translate to a dialogue between the Xhosa and Zulu and the Afrikaaners. Where does that leave the other African tribes, other Europeans, like the British, and the Indians and other Asians? How do you bring people together as South Africans?

May 20th “I capture stories for the next generation” (Robben Island tour guide)

We started the day off at the District 6 Museum. I appreciated the role of archaeology on a personal level because of my area of study. In terms of our discussions on recording history, archaeology represents a record into the past. Especially when some groups like the San and the Khoi did not have a written record, archaeology can be used to document their stories. The archaeological work at District 6 seems to take on both roles of truth-telling and memorialization. On one hand, artifacts are used to document the lives of the people living in District 6 before they were forcibly removed. As seen in the collage, the artifacts serve a purpose of memorialization through the use of art. Art has been pervasive in its purpose in memorializing. Specifically, poetry was written both about the Xhosa cattle killing and the South African War. To me, art expresses emotions and viewpoints about the past in this context and thus, serves more of a memorializing role. The process of creating art may also serve as a healing process for the artist and the observer. I loved the tiled floor in the District 6 museum as well.

The smell of fresh paint and filth defines my experience at Langa Township. Fresh paint expresses the community development occurring. This smell seemed to be more than the smell of paint in the pottery area but literally painting the building as well. Considerable thought in terms of sustainability appears to be present. The symbolism of the red bricks used in Constitutional Court returned for me with the Happy Feet dancers (children performing the boots dance as an after school program) uses something with a painful past and transforms it into something constructive for the future. The past is remembered but in a spirit that is moving towards a future of peace. These youth are given a space to express themselves off of the streets (as one of the program directors described).

The tour guide for Robben Island was a great orator and I have many great quotes from him. “In England they have watches. In Africa, we have time.” For me, this quote was more than just funny and reminded me of the international experience. The idea of African studies is fairly knew but such a view point as this quote is part of what I am noticing in my process of thinking about ‘what is African?’ On a different note, the tour guide also said the prison wardens were “all victims of a vicious society.” The prison wardens and the prisoners all took part in the ‘university of the lime stone quarry.’ This is almost an ideal form of education where inequity is being addressed.

I appreciated that Nelson Mandela’s prison cell was not marked and you only knew which one had been Mandela’s by listening to the guard saying it was the fourth one in. Visiting this area was one of my more emotional experiences thus far. I wonder what I believe in so strongly to become a political prisoner fighting for it.

I am still processing the viewpoints surrounding and the role of Nelson Mandela. On the boat ride back, I was talking to VuVu(?) a woman that leads tours especially for school children. She expressed a desire for a space for children to process the anger they feel when visiting the island. These emotions must be addressed and processed so that a cycle of oppression does not continue. Perhaps, this is one of the places for mindfulness. VuVu and I also discussed the role of Nelson Mandela. She believed that his role as an icon is an importation of a western style of thought. She also described children coming to the island only being interested in Mandela’s story and not being able to be happy at another president. I see the glorification of Mandela as potentially problematic. If he is seen as symbolic of the struggle, that may be fine unless his role overpowers the memory of the struggle itself. There was also a considerable history and buildup that allowed a figure like Mandela to shine. I am still developing these ideas.

tourism

We also visited the Bo Kaap area on the 19th. The houses are very colorful and we were told this development was aimed at tourists. I am being very conscious of the role of tourism. What role does tourism play in development of a country? During free time, we have visited the V&A Waterfront and an area in the Waterkant. Both areas had visible security and seemed to be aimed at tourists. Why would tourists be more heavily protected than actual citizens/locals?

I visited the Greenmarket Square as well and was talking to a stall keeper about the World Cup. He had questions about my opinion of what sort of business the World Cup would bring. He was hoping that the World Cup would bring sustained tourism and business. Unfortunately, what I see in downtown Denver, I feel like the sustainability of such events is not strong. There could be considerable development to make the city look good and be enjoyable for the actual event. These developments remain after the event is over and could attract people. I am more cynical about the potential though.

Haggling at the Greenmarket made me aware of my position as a tourist. Many of the stall keepers would ask where I was from. Although a local could get many of these goods for cheaper, I felt a strong expectation to pay more because of my position as a wealthy American. There was a strained look in some of the shop keepers’ eyes. They could make a profit with a fair price, but I felt they expected more from a tourist.