In this collection of letters between a South African political prisoner and a community organizer in Durban, two people who have never met become dear friends during the last decade of apartheid. Ahmed Kathrada is being held in Robben Island when he sends a letter to a former flat mate and receives a reply from the man's sister, Zuleikha Mayat, the "Betty Crocker" of South Africa and the editor of the best-selling cookbook Indian Delights. Virtual strangers, these two have in common their small-town Transvaal childhoods, and they find much to explore in their different approaches to culture, politics, and religion. The letters are written with wit and style as they discuss both the issues of the day and the sustenance found in memory.
The death of Nelson Mandela, the great South African fighter for freedom, in December 2013 prompted several colleagues within the World Council of Comparative Education Societies community to come together to think about the significance of his life and his work for education. This book is the result of that coming together. The contributing authors reflect on what his life, the commitments he made and principally the values he took into the struggle for freedom in South Africa mean for education. The point of departure for the book is that of honouring the man. It begins with the argument that the values for which he stood, namely, the unconditional dignity of all human beings, respect for difference and principally his lifelong commitment to justice, have a special significance for how we as inhabitants of an increasingly connected and interdependent world conduct our personal lives, our relationships with one another and with the material and living space which surrounds us. It is an ecological approach. As the world moves into a twenty-first century where, paradoxically, we know so much and yet appear to understand so little, and so find ourselves struggling to create social lives in which all of us can feel respected, can offer respect to others and live lives free of fear and anxiety, the values for which he stood have specific relevance for how we do the important job of teaching and what we put into it. Mandela poses deeply provocative questions about the kinds of lives we seek for ourselves and for everybody else around us.
“This is an epic work which gives us another deep insight not just into the South African Gandhi but also into his colleagues at the settlement and an ongoing biography of the settlement itself. This is the first book telling the history of Phoenix Settlement from its founding to now. It provides us with a view into the lives of the residents and supporters, rather than merely a history of the buildings. This is a goldmine for researchers. It very skilfully presents the role of the settlement in the campaigns against apartheid in the early 1950s and the international recognition of its actions and the stimulus they provided for international campaigns. The story of the settlement as a haven for multi-racial gatherings in the time of apartheid, and, regardless of this, the disaster that followed is wonderfully told.” - Thomas Weber, Emeritus Professor La Trobe University, Melbourne “Another magisterial book from Dhupelia-Mesthrie, this time on Phoenix, told through deeply researched contextual chapters and the letters of those who lived there. Informed by a lifetime’s work on Gandhi and drawing on archives and personal papers from across the world, this monumental work will be treasured by grateful scholars and readers for decades to come.” - Isabel Hofmeyr, Emeritus Professor University of the Witwatersrand “The book provides a major, new, in-depth understanding of a major initiative in Gandhi’s life, an initiative which laid the ground for his work in South Africa and in India, and whose resonances are still being felt in the world.” - Ramachandra Guha Eminent biographer of Gandhi --- Uma Dhupelia-Mesthrie is an Emeritus Professor, Department of History, University of the Western Cape.
In Africa in the Indian Imagination Antoinette Burton reframes our understanding of the postcolonial Afro-Asian solidarity that emerged from the 1955 Bandung conference. Afro-Asian solidarity is best understood, Burton contends, by using friction as a lens to expose the racial, class, gender, sexuality, caste, and political tensions throughout the postcolonial global South. Focusing on India's imagined relationship with Africa, Burton historicizes Africa's role in the emergence of a coherent postcolonial Indian identity. She shows how—despite Bandung's rhetoric of equality and brotherhood—Indian identity echoed colonial racial hierarchies in its subordination of Africans and blackness. Underscoring Indian anxiety over Africa and challenging the narratives and dearly held assumptions that presume a sentimentalized, nostalgic, and fraternal history of Afro-Asian solidarity, Burton demonstrates the continued need for anti-heroic, vexed, and fractious postcolonial critique.
When Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa in 1994, the world looked on at the ?miracle? of racial reconciliation that unfolded in South Africa. However, the dream of a ?Rainbow Nation? (in Archbishop Desmond Tutu?s phrase) seems to be fading, and racial identities seem to be more entrenched than ever. What prospects then for the ?non-racial democracy? envisioned by Mandela and the South African Constitution?This book examines the status and future prospects of non-racialism. It discusses the nature of non-racialism and applies the concept to wider national issues and to questions of identity. The book looks out into South Africa's future and assesses generational changes to the country's handling of non-racialism. This latter point is the main theme in the opening preface by Ahmed Kathrada, jailed with Nelson Mandela, who reminds the reader that there is no easy answer: non-racialism is built every day, every minute, by people who seek to transform social relations and allow the ?Rainbow Nation? to flourish.This book was published as a special issue of Politikon.
Metaphors are ubiquitously used in the humanities to bring the tangibility of the concrete world to the elaboration of abstract thought. Drawing on this cognitive function of metaphors, this collection of essays focuses on the evocative figures of the ‘gateway’ and the ‘wall’ to reflect on the state of postcolonial studies. Some chapters – on such topics as maze-making in Canada and the Berlin Wall in the writings of New Zealand authors – foreground the modes of articulation between literal borders and emotional (dis)connections, while others examine how artefacts ranging from personal letters to clothes may be conceptualized as metaphorical ‘gateways’ and ‘walls’ that lead or, conversely, regulate access, to specific forms of cultural expression and knowledge. Following this line of metaphorical thought, postcolonial studies itself may be said to function as either barrier or pathway to further modes of enquiry. This much is suggested by two complementary sets of contributions: on the one hand, those that contend that the canonical centre-periphery paradigm and the related ‘writing back’ model have prevented scholars from recognizing the depth and magnitude of cross-cultural influences between civilizations; on the other, those that argue that the scope of traditional postcolonial models may be fruitfully widened to include territories such as post-imperial Turkey, a geographical and cultural gateway between East and West that features in several of the essays included in this collection. Ultimately, all of the contributions testify to the fact that postcolonial studies is a field whose borders must be constantly redrawn, and whose paradigms need to be continually reshaped and rebuilt to remain relevant in the contemporary world – in other words, the collection’s varied approaches suggest that the discipline itself is permanently ‘under construction’. Readers are, therefore, invited to perform a critical inspection of the postcolonial construction site. CONTRIBUTORS Vera Alexander - Elisabeth Bekers - Devon Campbell–Hall - Simran Chadha - Carmen Concilio - Margaret Daymond - Marta Dvořák - Claudia Duppé - Elena Furlanetto - Gareth Griffiths - John C. Hawley - Sissy Helff - Marie Herbillon - Deepika Marya - Bronwyn Mills - Padmini Mongia - Golnar Nabizadeh - Gerhard Stilz
Many were filled with hopes as high as the stars as they crossed the Indian Ocean, making their way from India to Durban in southern Africa in the late 1800s. Yet, realising the dream of a better life and returning home triumphant was not to be for many. Thousands returned with less than they had started out with, only to find that home was no longer the place they had left. The travellers, too, had changed irrevocably: caste had been transgressed, relatives had died and spaces for reintegration had closed up as colonialism tightened its grip. Home for these wandering exiles was no more.
Without much fanfare Ahmed Kathrada worked alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other giants in the struggle to end racial discrimination in South Africa. He faced house arrest and many court trials related to his activism until, finally, a trial for sabotage saw him sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Mandela and six others. Conversations with a Gentle Soul has its origins in a series of discussions between Kathrada and Sahm Venter about his opinions, encounters and experiences. Throughout his life, Kathrada has refused to hang on to negative emotions such as hatred and bitterness. Instead, he radiates contentment and the openness of a man at peace with himself. His wisdom is packaged within layers of optimism, mischievousness and humour, and he provides insights that are of value to all South Africans.
