Day 2: "It's a paradox we call reality..."
Day 2: Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid museum was an amazing museum to see. The different exhibits were a mix of interactive and regular artifacts. As a comparison to museums at home, I would say its a mix of the Brooklyn museum and Liberty Science Center. Overall, this museum was excellent. I definitely learned a lot and got many ideas for future lesson planning and curriculum. Due to the overall nature of of the museum, some portions were a little difficult to deal with, however, there were a few main ideas that continued to repeat itself.
Here's a pretty general and somewhat rosy explanation of the
Apartheid system, but it is a good overview.
The first thing that I thought about was in regard to globalization. All of the emphasis that has occurred on the subject within my lifetime made me assume that this was a new issue. However, the world had already been globalized long ago. I realized this after watching the news reels and seeing the same cars from the 50s it truly hit me, the "argument" about globalization from the Clinton years wasn't necessarily about the world being a smaller place. Furthermore, it made me think...If thats not what the argument was about, then what exactly was the angst and protesting about? (Please feel free to comment and or post links below)
The second thing that stuck out in my mind was how much the time periods of Jim Crow and Apartheid overlapped. It was interesting because I remember I kept thinking about how similar the experience was between our peoples across the Atlantic, yet people (specifically African Americans) still maintain the attitude that they aren't African. The more I walked through the museum the further confirmed the absolute necessity of the UNIA (and pan-african organizations like it) and the legacy and ideals of Marcus Garvey. Even now in 2012, African people, irregardless of their location, are still subjected to covert racism and the lures of the western model of "success". The the idea of domination and the Machiavellian methods employed by the British to colonize the rest of the world for empire have astonishing effects. The whole diaspora has been Willy Lynched. In that, they have continued the legacy of the oppressor through to the next generation that England and the "western world" doesn't even need to vigilantly watch African peoples. We are truly NOT a factor...WORLD WIDE!
The last theme that kept running through my mind from this museum was the idea of being a person who is described as "other" in such a racialized society. The museum began with an assumed identity, an entrant was either "white" or "non-white". As a person of color, I though it set the tone for understanding what it is like to be a participant in segregation. Additionally, it is interesting that the experience of "Indians" and "Coloureds" is briefly mentioned throughout but not often to understand their footing within Apartheid South Africa. This is also true of the "mulatto" and experiences of other racial groups during Jim Crow. Though the lighter skinned individuals and other groups were not subject to the same and horrible forms of opperssion and discrimination, it would still be quite interesting to illustrate all spectrums within the system.
The Voortrekker Monument
The final thing that I was thinking about came from the experience of visiting the Voortrekker museum. Though others in the group were upset by the blatant covert racism that was being displayed by our tour guide, I found it, at times, humorous as she constantly referred to her ancestral Afrikaan as TRUTH and even told the group to google the FACTS about her account of history. The most interesting part of that experience was that the harder she attempted to display her tolerance of other groups of people, she only dug herself deeper into a hole.
Honestly speaking, the woman was at least 60 years old and from times past...nothing more and nothing less. She provided an authentic view of the mindset that maintained Apartheid and represented how the "whities" (as she referred to herself) are attempting to regroup within South Africa. Though some of the things she said were quite contrary to other things she stated, it was on account of all of the double think that one must do when in explaining sensitive social contexts and to avoid cognitive dissonance.
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