[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nH_WxJVxHcw&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Allison Swank Just as Nelson Mandela went underground as the Black Pimpernel in 1961 to evade the white apartheid government, in this TV ad for a popular South African fast food chain, this white Afrikaner family goes underground in 1994 to escape Mandela’s black government–what?
Long before Sun City there was this kind of thing. From Time Magazine, June 1, 1962: Composer Igor Stravinsky was conducting the South African Broadcasting Corp.’s symphony orchestra [that’s the state broadcaster] in the first of five concerts for whites only (a sixth was reserved for blacks). Stravinsky had asked that seating be integrated, but […]
From nationalism, we have passed to chauvinism, and finally to racism. Why are South Africa's middle classes not mobilizing against xenophobia.
Ahead of every World Cup or Olympics, sensational media reports of sex trafficking and prostitution are never borne out by facts.
A new film - and play - want to mainstream Afrikaans' creole origins; a historical reality odds with Afrikaner nationalist visions of language.
The postponed revolution of South African fashion blogger Malibongwe Tyilo.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS777uvHKVg&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Video of short sketch comedy scene with South African actors from a Dutch TV show. The setting is the 2010 World Cup. — Sean Jacobs
The question as to whether a coloured can become leader of South Africa's ruling party and even, more remotely, president of the country.
“The thing that overwhelms most is the level of professionalism of native Africans in knowing how to serve a bottle of wine properly,” said Philip Crawford, a designer of luxury homes from Noosa, Australia. From a story by The New York Times correspondent in Johannesburg on how the World Cup had changed the way “… they […]
Black Diamonds is a recently released short documentary by Dutch filmmaker, Saska Vredeveld (view the film here). The film offers an inside view of the personal lives of three black South African entrepreneurs, including the odd Felicia Mabuza-Suttle, the “Oprah of South Africa.” The film’s promotional material very mistakenly refers to these people as South […]
The Boston Globe’s “Big Picture” site has also published Reuters photographer Finbarr O’Reilly’s widely circulated series of a group of 450 poor whites shack dwellers living in a camp in Krugersdorp close to Johannesburg. As I suggested before I am not surprised at this. The number of poor whites are obviously quite small when […]
HBO has selected the documentary, “Courting Justice”, by American filmmakers Ruth Cowan and Jane Thandi Lipman (Cowan created, and Lipman directed the film) as a competition finalist in the Martha’s Vineyard African-American film festival. The film is about the experiences of female, especially black female judges, in South Africa’s highest courts (that’s Supreme Court of […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy_ri7XJik0&w=500&h=281&rel=0] Via Todd Johnson: Opening on Thursday, July 15, at the Studio Museum in Harlem, some new work by South African photographer, Zwelethu Mthethwa. (For the opening night, Mthethwa will be present for a conversation with curator Naomi Beckwith. It’s free, but you got to RSVP.) The works are on display till October 24. Here’s […]
Now that the criticisms of the vuvuzela have subsided and the sounds of the vuvuzela will soon take a break from the world stage too, we refer you to a fine post written by historian Laurent Dubois (references: Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France; Soccer Politics blog) and cultural theorist Achille Mbembe (see […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrvzEbrf8Ow&w=500&h=307&rel=0] Master musician Dudu Pukwana, he played the saxophone, who was part of a great generation of South African jazz musicians (I blogged about them a few days ago), died on this day in 1990. An appropriate time to post this clip, above, that appear to be from a documentary about the Blue Notes, the […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL3tRBZv7QA&w=500&h=307&rel=0] South African football fans (well, boosted by corporates) have brought the world the plastic vuvuzelas. There’s one other invention of local football that might catch on: Makarapas, the elaborately decorated construction hard hats that now come in national colors. There’s an interesting history about the origins of makarapas and the man who invented it, […]
What often gets lost within the narratives of oppression and exile is that the 1960s and 1970s also proved to be an exceptionally vibrant and creative period.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_7w2NErQI&w=500&h=307&rel=0] 10 minute rip-off of successful BBC TV series, “The Office,” for a local Youtube humor channel, NotOnTV. Little different from the original, with a few nods to local conditions. Also mildly funny in parts with good production values. Opinions? — Sean Jacobs
By the time you read this I’ll be on my way to Cape Town, via Amsterdam. I am looking forward to the World Cup as a fan. I’ve grown very tired of the kind of images and debates circulating about the World Cup here in the US or what travels. (The last straw was a […]
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH-a_rDH9c8&w=500&h=307&rel=0] The football will be great, we’ll talk tactics and football history all month long, make silly predictions on who’ll win the cup, and the fans will have a good time (though most won’t be able to afford the tickets), but many South Africans know that the benefits from the World Cup to the average […]