South Africa Books

Michael Mullin has done an impressive, one of most serious jobs on Slave Acculturation and Resistance 1736-1831 periode. Anyone doing serious work in this field cannot miss this reference

In Africa in America, Michael Mullin attempts to link the level of assimilation among American slaves with the forms of resistance they displayed. While he does not believe that assimilation into white culture actually made slaves more or less likely to rebel, Mullin argues that the nature of their resistance to slavery was heavily influenced by how much of their native African culture they retained. To prove his theory, Mullin contrasts Caribbean slave culture, which was much less influenced by European practices, with slave societies in the American South, where African traditions were minimalized.
To do so, he relies primarily on sources such as plantation records, travelers' accounts, and contemporary newspapers, as well as a variety of secondary sources. Unfortunately, while these sources are perhaps well suited for understanding black culture in the Caribbean, they do not provide much information on slave culture in the Chesapeake and Carolinas, which leads Mullin to make incorrect assumptions that undermine the validity of his comparison.

Because Caribbean planters were so outnumbered by their slaves, they were much more likely than Southern masters to become intimately acquainted with their slaves, and include their observations of black culture in chronicles of plantation life. This results in the impression that African traditions were actually more prevalent among slaves in that region, whereas in actuality the practices of Southern slaves were simply less likely to be recorded in the writings of their masters. Subsequent studies by Robert Olwell and Phillip Morgan show that African traditions were retained by Carolina slaves, and to a lesser degree by Virginians. While Mullin may ultimately be correct in his assertion that Caribbean slaves were less assimilated, this characterization cannot be proven with his limited sources. For example, Mullin assumes that because Southern planters did not write lengthily about independent slave production and marketing, slaves did not enjoy a large role in local markets. A study of Charleston newspapers and legal proceedings would have shown otherwise.

Africa in America is therefore not of much use as a comparative study, but Mullin's observations on Caribbean slave culture and resistance may be treated independently. Here Mullin finds that slaves retained much more of their African heritage than previously thought by historians who believed that the traumas of the middle passage had a debilitating affect on native culture. Rather, newly arrived Africans immediately sought assistance in running away from seasoned tribal kinsman, often joining maroon communities. Those who did not immediately flee established societies similar to those they had left in Africa within the plantation community, and were likely to resist by wandering off for short periods, rather than in any organized rebellion. Only when slaves began to organize through Christian churches did they begin to plot the large-scale rebellions that would eventually win them freedom. Even in making this argument, however, Mullin is undermined by his lack of organization and tendency to jump around between time periods and places, making causality difficult to determine. Ultimately then, Africa in America is useful for its information on black Caribbean cultural and religious traditions, but little more.

Written in the twilight years of apartheid, this book conveys some of the spirit of black South Africans as they struggled against a cruel dictatorship. Erlmann surveys the field from 1890 to 1990.

In going through his descriptions of the people, one has to wonder. In a different and better period, some of the musicians and actors might have become world famous. The comparison to African-American singers is inevitable. Yet for most of the performers that Erlmann mentions, only fragments of memory and aging photos and LPs remain.

African Stars, if you are interested in the development of twentieth century Zulu performance practice, is an excellent starting point. Additionally, it stands out as the most accessible book by Veit Erlmann that I've read to date (Music Modernity and the Global Imagination, and Nightsong are both great, but very dense works).

Erlmann in this book focuses on the development of Zulu popular styles in Natal (that is to say, minstrelsey, ragtime, isicathamiya) in the late nineteenth century to early twentieth century. Erlmann is particularly successful in bringing to light the remarkably blurred distinctions between the social classes and also the rural/urban dichotomy within Natal. This blurring helps to give rise to these styles, Erlmann argues.

Additionally, the depth of research present in this book is phenominal. Erlmann really is able to bring these various figures to life with exceedingly well-documented points on their lives.

My only complaint is minor, and it involves the timeframe. I simply would have liked the book's scope to add ten years to the end date of its range. But again, minor.

All in all, it's a great book to read, and a pretty accessible one at that.

I liked this book and Abdias had a lot of great ideas on improving conditions for people of African descent. I would say that he is a mix of Malcom-X and DuBois in his thinking. Many Brazilian say that his big error was pushing for too many changes too fast! Abdias actually taught at several universities in the US while in exile. I think that it may come as a surprise to many that he never learned how to speak English and his wife had to translate his lectures as he spoke. Also surprising is that his wife is a white American woman.

Imagine if Amiri Baraka or Nathan Mccall were Brazilian: you'd have Abdias do Nascimento. Do Nascimento argues that the portrayal of Brazil as this race-mixing paradise is a racist myth meant to deny how much the country owes to African people and influences. It's a strong tail about African pride. Many people that argue for integration and miscegenation will be turned off by this book, but hopefully they will find it a provocative read as well. This book really gave me an idea of how pan-Africanism is global. If you're an angry Black person like myself, then you are really going to like this book.

I just wanted to say that apartheid began as an official form of government in the late 40 when the Afrikaner National Party won the national elections. I agree with what you said but maybe you should finish the books that you put down by the first chapter, and then you would delve into the world of Stephen biko, Nelson Mandela, and know the long struggle against apartheid that lasted 50 years.

Apartheid and Racism in South African Children's Literature, 1985-1995 went far beyond my expectations, in many ways that I could not explain. In the past, books have never been really interesting to me; I usually put them down by the end of the first chapter. This one caught me by surprise because it is related to my background, as well as being interesting. I learned a great deal of history about South Africa that I could have never imagined. Example one, the way Blacks were treated and how whites took power because they feared the Black population. A leader should stay in power by meeting the people's needs not by subjecting them to inhumane conditions and ideas. It should not matter what color one is, but what type of character one has. analytical
Apartheid and Racism in South African Children's Literature, 1985-199 goes into critical detail about what people of color had to face on an everyday basis. It was torture; nobody, no matter what, should be given that sort of treatment. The authors do an excellent job of recreating the past by explaining everything so clearly that anyone would want to go to South Africa and help out as much as possible. The main message of this book was to inform people about the apartheid government and how people of color were treated because of its merciless acts. Apartheid is a horrible form of government that started in 1985 and ended in1995. It not only took away the freedom of Blacks, it broke down a community that was never given a chance. Just imagine a time where you were being judged and ridiculed on an everyday basis without having the freedom to defend either yourself or your family. It broke my heart the way people let their prejudice destroy a country.

A real book if you wanna know how is war from a conscript's view...and it covers both emotional and statistic matters of all the battles...some parts of it are from a soldier's diary and the other parts are written by that same soldier after 10,15 years...

I read this book, as part of my own research project into the South African Border War. It follows the author from home to basic to war. Pretty simple. Well written, and captures the fear of someone so young thrust into circumstances beyond their control. If you want to know what combat is like, The feelings anyway, buy and read this great book. It captures the stark unreality of combat very well. I know. But thats a different story. Highly recommended.

I read this novel in the eighties, when the power of the white minority regime in South Africa was still at its height. From the perspective of a liberal outsider there seemed to be nothing that could be said in favour of these people - they were stuck somewhere in the Dark Ages where the rest of the world could not reach them. A Chain of Voices put a somewhat more complex slant on the whole issue, but because Brink is a liberal as well as an Afrikaaner, refused to give an inch where apartheid was concerned. He doesn't stereotype people as villains or victims, but nor does he make excuses for them. He examines the evil of the system from the comparative safety of the distant past - the novel is set sometime in the nineteenth century and is based on a slave rebellion in which a slave owner had been murdered. Each chapter is taken from the perspective of a different character, slaves and masters, and Brink never fails to draw the sympathy of the reader to whichever character is being explored at any one time. Reading this book taught me that no matter how brutalised someone is, no matter how unpleasant they seem, they still have the capacity for finer feelings. They can still fall in love, they never lose the capacity to be hurt by those closest to them. You may find that this leaves you with even fewer excuses for their behaviour than ever, but what it certainly does is to bring their experience closer to our own. Modern-day evils such as racism, sexism, homophobia and religious bigotry are no longer out there being practiced by people who are not like us. They are much closer to home and we share a responsibility for them and for eradicating them. The strong moral ethos of the book aside, it is also a gripping read - all 500+ pages of it, there is much lush description of the South African landscape and there is a beautiful many-layered love story that doesn't have a cliche in it. It made me cry. Enjoy!

Andre Brink is one of the leading lights of white South African literature, a writer with a strong commitment towards social justice in a country whose black majority until recently could not have a say in its daily life. His celebrated 'A dry white season' stands as a monument of indictment of the 'apartheid' regime by exploring its consequences in the social dynamics and psychology of a white South African schoolteacher who takes upon himself to find out the whereabouts of his gardener's son and, then, the gardener himself. Anybody interested in 'apartheid' South Africa and in Brink's ouvre of moral commitment should read that novel; it would definitely be an excellent introduction to both.

With 'A chain of voices', Brink explores the dynamics of another oppresive regime: slavery. It is evident, however, that what Brink does in this novel is to go back to the institution of slavery to explore 'apartheid' in a similar way to 'A dry white season'. And what he finds, again, is ugly. At many levels, Brink tells us that any oppresive regime corrupts all human relationships, and that it can even transform--in a Frankenstein-like fashion--victims into victimizers. Not only is white pitted against black, but also wife against husband, father against children, brother against brother, and friend against friend. Brink brilliantly accomplishes this feat by giving voice to those that are senselessly involved in the oppresive dynamics of slavery, in a true 'chain of voices'.

The novel is set in the early 1800s in the Western Cape, in the beautiful area around Tulbagh and Worcester. From the very beginning, we know that three white men (two masters and one schoolteacher) have been killed by a group of slaves in a small-scale rebellion. What the novel does so well is to go back through the forces that led to that ending. In the process, one finds that the oppressor oftentimes is not aware of his oppression, that he is not enterely evil in the naive way that he is almost always portrayed, and that, incredible as it might seem, there is human side to him. On the other hand, one also finds that those that are oppressed are forced to commit acts of cruelty, even against those they supposedly love, in an effort to assert some power. In the end, however, everybody, but particularly the male characters, is a victim and a victimizer.

Even though I enjoyed the novel, with its deep psychological analysis of the characters involved, I found that the language seems too modern and sometimes too sophisticated for the 1800s setting. Also, there is some repetitiveness, particularly in the sexual domination of women. Despite this, I thoroughly recommend this novel to anyone interested in Brink's novels and the psychological consequences of oppressive regimes.

I am satisfied! Am pleased to have received my order in a timely fashion.

Shows how gender, race and space have a crucial impact on economic and social relations in business. She lays out why its imperative that one does not discount these factors

This is a brillant book, writen in a way that captivates anyones attentions towards the subject of the Stone Age in Southern Africa. An essential to your collection.

Archaeology has conclusively documented through the discovery of fossil remains of early humans that Africa is the cradle of homosapiens. Human Beginnings In South Africa: Uncovering The Secrets Of The Stone Age surveys 150 years of archaeological research that depicts the progress of paleolithic and neolithic humans, piecing together the evidence showing that the roots of South African society stretch back into the very beginnings of the stone age. Highly recommended for students of archaeology as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in human origins, Human Beginnings In South Africa presents an up-to-date text that is enhanced with black and white photography, maps and diagrams.

If you are into reading about old time African hunters, this book is one you must have on your shelves. He was obviously a very tough man who lived a life full of adventure. If you read many other old time African hunters, you will find this book to complement others. Well worth buying.

If you love hunting and Africa this is the book for you. It is all hunting. There is somethings about the people. A little about his guns, but he went on to become one of the greatest African hunters ever. The great game reserve of Tanzania is named for him. I loved this book. It is direct and to the point, hunting, hunting and more hunting. Read it and enjoy. thanks

Having visited South Africa, I have become interested in all things African. This book covers a lot of regions in pictures, and I am pleased with its presence on my coffee table. It makes me want to see even more of Africa.

This book and the companion North and East volume are extraordinarily beautiful and offer images of a rich array of African homes -- traditional, contemporary and intermingled. The photography is excellent and offers images of architecture, art, landscapes and lives. Highly recommended.