Cape Town

I'm on my way to Cape Town for a few days, so there won't be many updates. See you all soon.

The Classroom

Despite what a few of my friends might think, in between the festive South African nights, I've actually been going to class and learning a fair amount about South African Political and Social history. It has been a unique experience because almost all of my professors lived through apartheid and were involved in the ANC resistance in one way or another. The classes are what I imagine learning Political Science in Jamaica would have been like. There is only so much one can learn from a book, but having the opportunity to speak to people about what it was like living through apartheid and also what they think about the SA that has emerged since 1994 has been an interesting experience. I have even gone as far to set up appointments individually with a few professors to talk politics and the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission)--gotta make the most of the experience.
The TRC is of particular interest to me because of the powerful ideas that are behind it. You can learn about here. The long and short of the TRC is that it was a powerful initiative ordered by Nelson Mandela and chaired by Desmond Tutu to bring out the truth about . It offered persons amnesty for revealing the truth about the crimes and atrocities during the minority government. The idea of restorative justice--action that heals wounds and aims at unification---is very different from the traditional retributive or punitive justice that I have been used to. People's views on the TRC have been mixed so far and I am keen to learn more.
The overall classroom experience has been good. The classes have been 2 hours in length and lecture style. Some of them have been more difficult to stay awake in than others, but I will let you know that I have only dozed off in one and only for like 5 minutes!
The classes have provided more motivation to talk to people when I (eventually) get home. The last couple of times I have been in JA I tried to talk to those persons around me who could tell me about Michael Manley and what it was like to live in Jamaica during the 60s, 70s and 80s. I can read books by various authors, critiques from that time, or even reports about the economic situations but the personal stories about life and effects that people like Bustamante's, Shearer, Manley and Seaga had can only garnered from talking to people.
Peace for now...

Links
TRC - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

our little global village!

I apologize for not updating recently, but things have been very busy and I haven't really gotten a chance to sit down and wrote specific entries. I have a few posts that I've been working on and I'll post in the next couple of days.

First of all, I want start by saying that I love JA culture. I was passing a club and they were playing romping shop! I don't think there are many things that could have made me happier last night. The global influence our culture has had on the rest of the world is absolutely amazing. Earlier this year in the Botswana airport and a man was asked me if I knew Brother Desmond. I was a little confused at first, but then remembered that Ninjaman also goes by that name. Apparently, he had gone to a Ninjaman show at one point in the past and was a big fan. Go figure! It was the middle of the night, I'm on my first trip to Africa and this guy is asking me about Ninjaman! I haven't even listened to a ninjaman---or should I say Brother Desmond---song in the longest while
Unfortunately, the reverse side of globalization and pervasive cultures, primarily US pop and hip hop cultures, means that many other traditions are under siege. Some describe it as cultural genocide or cultural darwanism. The South African Arts festival started yesterday (more on that later) and I am pretty excited about it. So we have been speaking about SA culture in our last few lectures. It is amazing how cultures interact. I'm only recently understanding the influence of people like Marcus Garvey and Franz Fanon. Either way, we spoke about how some traditional SA music and dance are becoming less popular and replaced by hip hop and other mainstream media.

During this whole talk I thought to myself how interesting it is that to a large extent we in JA don't necessarily have that problem. That American pop culture and hip hop has found a place alongside our dancehall and reggae. Certainly older genres, like ska, have become less popular, but there is definitely a strong and specific Jamaican cultural identity. Even more so, it is interesting that we have been able to maintain and even promote this identity despite our close proximity to the US and the size of our country. While on the other hand an exponentially larger country like SA has problems maintaing various aspects of its cultural identity.

The dynamics of culture are very interesting and it is probably worth a more in-depth look(I'll add it to my list). Besides Trinidad it would a look at how the cultural influences have affecter other smaller Caribbean, particularly the French, with their Zouk and other types of music. This is all food for thought. In the mean time, I'll talk to you all later. I have a few more updates coming in quick succession.

Peace.

Day 3: 6/27/09

For a moment, I thought I woke up this morning in Ohio. As I sat in the general lounge listening to the radio, the announcer spoke about snow sightings in various area and then went on to plan Hannah Montana! A little surreal and not what I expected to hear about during my trip in S Africa. Today has been solid. We went for a four hour game drive and then watched the S Africa vs England rugby game—certainly a cultural experience! I fell asleep somewhere in the middle of both for a few minutes but that is to be expected. I got some great pictures of a variety of animals—alive and dead. I even got a picture of the endangered black rhino. One of only 2,000 left in the world. My camera was definitely worth the purchase. I am very happy with it. The pictures came out great. Our core module on contemporary political S African thought starts tomorrow, and I am looking forward to it. This trip has been pretty awesome thus far, and long may it continue.

Day 2: 6/26/09

Today was relaxed, as will be tomorrow. The rest of the group got in today and they all seem fairly chill. This guy named Alan, from the University of Kansas, is a pretty nice guy. Dirk, from the Netherlands, is another favorite. Our chaperones for the program are Aretha and Ashwin. They are both really nice people. Aretha is from Zimbabwe and Ashwin is from South Africa. I really like our Safari guide, Jaunty, who is a globe trotter if I ever knew one and just all around good guy. He, myself and Aretha stayed up really late talking about politics. I love this trip already. I have already learned a lot listening to both of them. I really enjoy listening to insightful persons speak. It is the quickest way to learn a wide breadth of information.
The resort owner Tracy offered me a free stay at the end of the trip instead of staying in Joburg a few days, and I think I may take her up on her offer. I really want to see Nelson Mandela before I leave, and have been asking around about how to do so. I've heard mixed views on how possible/likely it will be but I'm going to keep on trying.

Day 1: 6/25/09

So, the weather is sucking at the moment. It is 0 degrees Celsius and raining. It has been raining since I got in last night, and the weather reports expect it to remain this way until tomorrow morning at least. Honestly, if I wanted this type of weather I would have staying in O-H-I-O! Eitherway, I'm just glad to be here.
I got in early enough to catch the last 30mins of the Bafana bafana vs Brazil game last night. They played fairly well from the first half highlights. It sucks that they lost, as it would have been nice to have a minnows finals. It probably isn't a good idea to be wearing a Brazil jacket this morning, but whatever. Most of the people here seem to be in good spirits. I LOVE the South Africa(Afrikaans) accent, and most of the people here love mine as well. Sounds like the start of something beautiful.
The plane ride over was not the most pleasant. I had an aisle seat which was nice, but then I sat beside these two people who constantly needed to get up and go somewhere. If that wasn't bad, they also broke my earphone plug one of the times they got up. In addition to this, the GPS display on the plane wasn't working so for the first 3 hours, I thought we were stuck over North Carolina. The 15 hours didn't drag too much so it was alright. I watched a few movies and generally just relaxed
I wish it would have not been raining so I could have gotten to walk around a little but whatever. The hotel I staying in was fairly modest, I didn't have too many problems falling asleep last night either (go figure). I met up with Andrew Vogel this morning(see Flickr pictures), also from the College of Wooster. We are now waiting for the Rhodes bus to come and pick us up. We will be heading to the Addo Elephant Park afterwards, where we will stay until monday, so don't expect an update before then. This has been a pretty long entry. Blogger is being difficult at the moment, so I'll do a proper update at the university. Until then, later