Some Remarks on Cultural Exchange with South Africa

1973 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Edwin S. Munger

There are a number of intellectually and morally defensible approaches to cultural exchange with South Africa. A position from which I wish to disassociate myself is that cultural relationships with South Africa can be justified on grounds of the moral justness of its present society, or as a defense of “white Christian civilization,” or that South Africa, however wrong on some counts, represents a “bulwark against Communism.” Those who would advocate or defend cultural exchanges with South Africa primarily on these grounds will have to make their own brief. Indeed, I have long ago stated my conviction in writing that the very term “white Christian civilization,” as used by the late Prime Minister Strijdom of South Africa, is a contradiction in terms.

2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-82
Author(s):  
Colin Durrant

This article focuses on young musicians' perceptions of their musical and cultural experiences while on a tour of South Africa during the summer of 2000. The young musicians were asked to keep journals throughout the tour in order to be able to recall their reactions and feelings about their various experiences. The comments, particularly the written ones from the young musicians, vividly display the impact of such experiences on their musical and emotional life. While conclusions are incomplete, some implications for the nature of cultural exchange and understanding and music education in general are put forward.


2020 ◽  
pp. 74-86
Author(s):  
Alexandra Arkhangelskaya

The history of the formation of South Africa as a single state is closely intertwined with events of international scale, which have accordingly influenced the definition and development of the main characteristics of the foreign policy of the emerging state. The Anglo-Boer wars and a number of other political and economic events led to the creation of the Union of South Africa under the protectorate of the British Empire in 1910. The political and economic evolution of the Union of South Africa has some specific features arising from specific historical conditions. The colonization of South Africa took place primarily due to the relocation of Dutch and English people who were mainly engaged in business activities (trade, mining, agriculture, etc.). Connected by many economic and financial threads with the elite of the countries from which the settlers left, the local elite began to develop production in the region at an accelerated pace. South Africa’s favorable climate and natural resources have made it a hub for foreign and local capital throughout the African continent. The geostrategic position is of particular importance for foreign policy in South Africa, which in many ways predetermined a great interest and was one of the fundamental factors of international involvement in the development of the region. The role of Jan Smuts, who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948, was particularly prominent in the implementation of the foreign and domestic policy of the Union of South Africa in the focus period of this study. The main purpose of this article is to study the process of forming the mechanisms of the foreign policy of the Union of South Africa and the development of its diplomatic network in the period from 1910 to 1948.


1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 111-111

Vice President Mondale has been participating extensively in Africa-related foreign policy matters since taking office in January, 1977. The Vice President works closely with Secretary of State Vance and Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young in the development of Africa-related policy recommendations for consideration by the President. The Vice President also participates in meetings with visiting African leaders and monitors political developments in Africa. Finally, at the President’s request, Vice President Mondale met with Prime Minister Vorster of South Africa to explain the new Administration’s policies toward southern Africa. Information on the Vice President’s staff’s involvement in Africa-related matters was requested but not received.


1977 ◽  
Vol 17 (194) ◽  
pp. 264-270

Presidential mission. —Mr. Alexandre Hay, President of the ICRC, visited South Africa from 19 to 26 April, in the company of Mr. Frank Schmidt, Delegate General for Africa. On 21 April, Mr. Hay met Mr. John Vorster, Prime Minister, Mr. R. F. Botha, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. J. Kruger, Minister of Justice, Mr. P. W. Botha, Minister of Defence, and Mr. S. van der Merwe, Minister of Health. The talks dealt mainly with humanitarian problems in southern African and in particular with the subject of detention. In this connection, the ICRC, which visits sentenced political detainees, expressed the wish to extend such visits to other categories of detainees, especially those arrested under the “Terrorism Act” and the “General Law Amendment Act”.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
T Tu Huynh

Abstract The article explores how the politics of South-South cooperation, namely between Africa and China, play out at the level of cultural subjectivity, implicating modes of affect and identities that are not captured by the more commonly employed binary framework of “friend” or “enemy.” It asks whether it is possible for the Africans and Chinese to imagine each other without the West as its geocultural dominance diminishes; and if so, how is this being made possible? As modes of transmitting and learning, cultural initiatives under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and “Belt and Road Initiative” provide a window into both people’s understandings of one another. While necessary for building people-to-people relations, the article, relying on an analysis of data collected from Chinese websites, argues that the state-sponsored cultural exchanges largely reify existing racialized ideas of “the African” and Orientalist views of “the Chinese.” However, building on Simbao’s (2019) point about artists’ works that “push back” against dominant discourse, the article further argues and demonstrates through the journey and works of three artists (Chinese, Kenyan, and Ghanaian) that radical imaginaries reflecting the inner states of acting subjects of China-Africa engagements are available in local cultural productions, uncompromising in communicating shared beliefs and posing challenges to power relations on multiple scales.


Polar Record ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 5 (40) ◽  
pp. 576-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. B. Crawford

Between 1939 and 1945, plans were afoot in the Union of South Africa for the establishment of meteorological stations on Gough Island in the South Atlantic, and on one of the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean. Shortage of shipping and staff caused these plans to be shelved in 1945. In 1947, Field-Marshal Smuts, who was then Prime Minister of the Union, decided to annex the Prince Edward Islands without delay. These islands, which consist of Marion Island and the smaller Prince Edward Island, are situated in approximately lat. 47° S., long. 38° E., half-way between South Africa and Antarctica, and have always been regarded as British, although no records of any sort of annexation ceremony can be traced.In December 1947, therefore, the frigate H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal recalled her crew from Christmas leave and sailed south. Bad weather delayed a landing for several days, but eventually, on 29 December 1947, the commanding officer of the Transvaal landed on a rocky beach on the eastern side of Marion Island and hoisted the South African flag.


2011 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 1087-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAUL DUBOW

ABSTRACTJust over fifty years ago, Prime Minister Macmillan made an extensive tour of Africa, culminating in his ‘wind of change’ speech in Cape Town, 1960. This article traces Macmillan's progress through Africa with particular emphasis on his intervention in South African politics. It offers a novel reading of the ‘wind of change’ speech, arguing that the message was far more conciliatory with respect to white South African interests than is usually assumed. Pragmatism rather than principle was always the prime consideration. Far from being cowed by Macmillan's oratory or his message, Verwoerd stood up to Macmillan and, at least in the eyes of his supporters, gave as good as he got. The shock of the ‘wind of change’ speech was more evident in Britain and in British settler regions of Africa than in South Africa. Macmillan's advisers had an inflated view of the import of the speech and in many ways misread Verwoerd's brand of Afrikaner nationalism. One of the consequences of the speech was to embolden Verwoerd politically, and to prepare him for the declaration of republican status in 1961 and departure from the commonwealth.


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