<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Race Relations in South Africa: Protests Rile Up <br></h1><h1 class="">Race Relations in South Africa: </h1>
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<span class=""><a class="" href="https://fordhamram.com/author/fordhamramonline/" title="View all posts by The Fordham Ram" rel="author">The Fordham Ram</a></span><span class="">on</span><span class=""><a href="https://fordhamram.com/2016/04/13/race-relations-in-south-africa-protests-rile-up-university-students/" title="Permalink to Race Relations in South Africa: Protests Rile Up University Students" rel="bookmark">April 13, 2016</a></span><span class="">/</span><span class=""><a href="https://fordhamram.com/2016/04/13/race-relations-in-south-africa-protests-rile-up-university-students/#respond">0 comments</a></span> </div>
<div id="attachment_32374" style="width:435px" class=""><img class="" src="https://thefordhamram.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/pretoria-color.jpg?w=425&h=318" alt="pretoria color" height="318" width="425"><p class="">A
Fordham student studying abroad at the University of Pretoria
experiences protests at the university first hand. (Courtesy of
Wikimedia)</p></div>
<p><strong>By Caitlyn Vogt</strong></p>
<p><em>Author’s Note: Throughout this reflection I have used the terms
that South Africans commonly use to describe the different races of
individuals in South Africa: white, black, and colored (a term accepted
here to indicate mixed raced). I have used the terms throughout this
piece to illustrate the way I have learned about South African history
and politics.</em></p>
<p>After living in Pretoria, South Africa for the past few months I have
recognized a distinct intersection between race, class and
socioeconomic status among students and people living in the area. The
city of Pretoria was historically an Afrikaans-dominated region and
continues to be so today.</p>
<p>Afrikaans people are generally white individuals of European descent
who settled in the area and speak the language of Afrikaans. The
Afrikaans culture and traditions are particularly alive in the area. The
University of Pretoria, where I study, was also originally founded as
an Afrikaans university.</p>
<p>Within a greater historical context of South Africa, apartheid was
the official segregation of white people and black and colored people.
Although, it ended over twenty years ago in 1994, the effects of the
long-standing separation and devaluation of one group of people continue
to ripple through the social and political discourse.</p>
<p>After studying South African history in one of my classes, I learned
during the apartheid regime, white, black and colored individuals were
forbidden from interacting with one another. The black and colored
people faced limited economic, political and social opportunities as
compared to the white population, and they were pushed to the outer
townships that lacked basic resources.</p>
<p>The African National Congress (ANC) political party spearheaded the
fall of the apartheid regime. Since the instatement of democracy in the
South African government, the ANC has continued to retain political
power in the country.</p>
<p>Even though apartheid ended in 1994 and the democratic South African
government continues to rule, the social effects of the apartheid regime
are still evident in daily life. The rural areas or townships where
many students in my program complete service on a weekly basis are still
largely populated by black and colored individuals. Many of the people
in the area are caught in chronic poverty, lacking the financial,
educational and political resources to rise above the same social
situation that their family members experienced during apartheid. Even
beyond the townships of South Africa where both black and white
individuals have more resources, people of different races are
separated. For example, in the city of Pretoria, some bars are clearly
“black” or “white,” even though these social expectations remain
explicitly unstated.</p>
<p>Within the first few weeks of studying at the University of Pretoria,
classes were cancelled for multiple days because of student protests
regarding language policy at the university. The reasons for the
protests varied depending on the students with whom I spoke and their
own political opinions.</p>
<p>On the surface, many non-Afrikaans students were incredibly
frustrated with the university’s language policies in classes. Because
the University of Pretoria was originally an Afrikaans University, many
of the classes are offered in English, the universally spoken language
in the country, and in Afrikaans.</p>
<p>However, South Africa has 11 official languages, leaving many
students unable to take a course in their primary language. The majority
of the students negatively affected by this policy are either black or
colored. Some of these students claimed that the Afrikaans students had
an unfair academic advantage.</p>
<p>In response, student factions of political parties organized protests
on campus, demanding all Afrikaans classes to be removed from the
university curriculum. In response, some Afrikaans students reacted
negatively, arguing that the Afrikaans culture and traditions were being
unnecessarily attacked. Many Afrikaans students I spoke with during the
protests felt that since classes in Afrikaans didn’t directly harm
non-Afrikaans students, there was no legitimate reason for protest.</p>
<p>Needless to say, tensions were incredibly high on campus as the
administration at the University of Pretoria deliberated on how to
change the school’s policy in response to the protests. Eventually,
tensions died and campus life resumed its normal activity, even though
the university has not yet officially responded to the protests with an
amendment to the language policy.</p>
<p>Fascinatingly enough, many students claimed the issues had nothing to
do with race relations. To clarify such statements, some students
stated that apartheid ended “so long ago” and that “everyone needs to
move on and not talk about the past.”</p>
<p>I was shocked after hearing a similar sentiment from white, black and
colored students from many different backgrounds. It seems to me that
the social and political effects of the apartheid regime are clearly
still affecting the daily lives of many people in Pretoria. To deny its
lasting emotional impact seems unrealistic and unproductive in creating
common ground amongst the groups of people. In the back of my mind, I
continually see the similarities between the history and politics of the
United States and South Africa, something that I was certainly not
anticipating prior to my study abroad experience.</p>
<p>I am not from South Africa, and spending a couple of months in this
country does not mean that I am qualified to have an opinion on the
realities that I did not face. With that being said, the past few weeks
of my study abroad experience have provided me with the hindsight to
consider matters related to race, class, social justice and culture in a
completely different context from home.</p><p><a href="https://fordhamram.com/2016/04/13/race-relations-in-south-africa-protests-rile-up-university-students/">https://fordhamram.com/2016/04/13/race-relations-in-south-africa-protests-rile-up-university-students/</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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