Outsmarting Apartheid

Description

For almost forty years, under the watchful eye of the apartheid regime, some three thousand South Africans participated in cultural and educational exchange with the United States. Exposure to American democracy brought hope during a time when social and political change seemed unlikely. In the end the process silently triumphed over the resistance of authorities, and many of the individuals who participated in the program later participated in South Africa's first democratic elections, in 1994, and now occupy key positions in academia, the media, parliament, and the judiciary. In Outsmarting Apartheid, Daniel Whitman, former Program Development Officer at the US Embassy in Pretoria, interviews the South Africans and Americans who administered, advanced, and benefited from government-funded exchange. The result is a detailed account of the workings and effectiveness of the US Information Agency and a demonstration of the value of "soft power" in easing democratic transition in a troubled area.
Introduction
Dan Whitman

Definitions
Chronology of South African History

Part 1. Arts

Brahms, from Malmesbury to Carnegie Hall
Franklin Larey

“Education Was My Weapon”
Sindive Magona

Market Theatre Co-Founder Discovers the American Stage
Malcolm Purkey

Dance, Too, Can Change a Society
Adrienne Sichel

“Do You Sell Stamps or Don’t You?” (Breaking the Cultural Boycott)
Brooks Spector

Part 2. Education

Persona Non Grata Becomes a Professor
David Coplan

Scrambled Eggs and Science Teaching in Pretoria
Mary Beth Gosende

“A Gill of All Trades”
Gill Jacot Guillarmod

Fullbrights, the TRC, and an MA in Washington
Monica Joyi

A Breach of Racial Divides in Training Military Leaders
Edna van Harte

An Educational Advisor Wouldn’t Take No for an Answer
Carol Wilson

Part 3. Law and Parliament

A South African Magistrate and the American Correctional System
Siraj Desai

“The People’s Judge”
Willem Heath

Fulbright Scholar, Yale Professor, Member of Parliament
Wilmot James

“Steve, I Can’t Tell You How Meaningful That Day Was for Me”
Steve McDonald

A Journey to Parliament via the United States
Sejamothopo Motau

Bridging Political Divides
Dan Adriaan Neser and Jenny Neser

Operation Crossroads Africa and Lifelong Learning
Eshaam Palmer

Part 4. Public Service

Abuse No More
Sheila Goodgall

Our Man in Pretoria: Three Tours in South Africa
Robert Gosende

ACAO under Apartheid, PAO under Democracy
Thomas N. Hull

The Boss Said He Could Stand Up to Anybody
Frank Sassman

Walking in Another’s Shoes
Klaas Skosana

Breaching the Walls on a Park Bench
Jerome Vogel

Part 5. Science and Research

Anyone’s Medical Doctor of Choice
Gilbert A. Lawrence

A Life of Firsts: The Science of Joints and Cartilage
Shirley Motaung

Two Degrees of the Universe
Karel Nel

Part 6. Social Engagement and Community Empowerment

A Spouse Brings South Africans Together
Bonnie Brown

We All Invited All
Timothy Carney

Social Work and the Cleveland International Program
Desmond Victor Daniels

“This Is the Kind of Dialogue We Need”
Robert C. Heath

Discovering American Freedom with Operation Crossroads Africa
Wallace Mgoqi

Bringing Head Start to South Africa
Virginia Petersen

“Just Give Him a Chance,” and She Did
Ruth Spector

Part 7. Editor’s Final Note
Dan Whitman

Acknowledgments
Index

Sujets

• Civil Rights
• Republic of South Africa
• Diplomacy
• South Africa
• History of Africa
• Human rights
• Diplomatie (homonymie)
• Afrique du Sud

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 09 avril 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438451220
• Langue: English

Extrait

Outsmarting Apartheid
Outsmarting Apartheid
An Oral History of South Africa’s Cultural and Educational Exchange with the United States, 1960–1999
Edited and with an introduction by
Daniel Whitman
with assistance from
Kari Jaksa
The views and opinions expressed in this book do not necessarily express those of the United States government, past or present.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2014 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu
Production by Jenn Bennett Marketing by Kate McDonnell
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Outsmarting apartheid : an oral history of South Africa’s cultural and educational exchange with the United States, 1960–1999 / edited with an introduction by Daniel Whitman ; with assistance from Kari Jaksa. pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5121-3 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Anti-apartheid movements—South Africa—History. 2. Anti-apartheid movements—United States—History. 3. Educational exchanges—South Africa—History—20th century. 4. Educational exchanges—United States—History—20th century. 5. South Africa—Relations—United States. 6. United States—Relations—South Africa. I. Whitman, Daniel, editor of compilation.
DT1757.O87 2014
305.8’0096809045—dc23
2013021458
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Outsmarting Apartheid is inspired by, and dedicated to, the memory of Bart Rousseve (1941–1994)

Bart Rousseve
Contents
Introduction
Dan Whitman
Definitions
Chronology of South African History
PART 1
ARTS
Brahms, from Malmesbury to Carnegie Hall
Franklin Larey
“Education Was My Weapon”
Sindiwe Magona
Market Theatre Co-Founder Discovers the American Stage
Malcolm Purkey
Dance, Too, Can Change a Society
Adrienne Sichel
“Do You Sell Stamps or Don’t You?” (Breaking the Cultural Boycott)
Brooks Spector
PART 2
EDUCATION
Persona Non Grata Becomes a Professor
David Coplan
Scrambled Eggs and Science Teaching in Pretoria
Mary Beth Gosende
“A Gill of All Trades”
Gill Jacot Guillarmod
Fulbrights, the TRC, and an MA in Washington
Monica Joyi
A Breach of Racial Divides in Training Military Leaders
Edna van Harte
An Educational Advisor Wouldn’t Take No for an Answer
Carol Wilson
PART 3
LAW AND PARLIAMENT
A South African Magistrate and the American Correctional System
Siraj Desai
“The People’s Judge”
Willem Heath
Fulbright Scholar, Yale Professor, Member of Parliament
Wilmot James
“Steve, I Can’t Tell You How Meaningful That Day Was for Me”
Steve McDonald
A Journey to Parliament via the United States
Sejamothopo Motau
Bridging Political Divides
Dan Adriaan Neser and Jenny Neser
Operation Crossroads Africa and Lifelong Learning
Eshaam Palmer
PART 4
PUBLIC SERVICE
Abuse No More
Sheila Goodgall
Our Man in Pretoria: Three Tours in South Africa
Robert Gosende
ACAO under Apartheid, PAO under Democracy
Thomas N. Hull
The Boss Said He Could Stand Up to Anybody
Frank Sassman
Walking in Another’s Shoes
Klaas Skosana
Breaching the Walls on a Park Bench
Jerome Vogel
PART 5
SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Anyone’s Medical Doctor of Choice
Gilbert A. Lawrence
A Life of Firsts: The Science of Joints and Cartilage
Shirley Motaung
Two Degrees of the Universe
Karel Nel
PART 6
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT
A Spouse Brings South Africans Together
Bonnie Brown
We All Invited All
Timothy Carney
Social Work and the Cleveland International Program
Desmond Victor Daniels
“This Is the Kind of Dialogue We Need”
Robert C. Heath
Discovering American Freedom with Operation Crossroads Africa
Wallace Mgoqi
Bringing Head Start to South Africa
Virginia Petersen
“Just Give Him a Chance,” and She Did
Ruth Spector
PART 7
EDITOR’S FINAL NOTE
Dan Whitman
Acknowledgments
Index
Introduction
I first met South Africans in the summer of 1978. As interpreter for francophone Africans visiting the United States with Operation Crossroads Africa, I found them mixed in with groups of young African leaders brought in from twenty to thirty countries at a time.
Traveling across the wilds of northern New Jersey from JFK airport to the Princeton campus for orientation, one collared South African clergyman made quick eye contact with me in the airport shuttle and undertook to explain his bizarre country: “Brother!” he said with deep belly laughs. “You can’t imagine how strange my country is. So strange, that the penalty for a black man sleeping with a white woman is a year in prison!”
I knew apartheid South Africa had peculiar rules and restrictions, but wasn’t yet versed in the particulars.
“Well, Brother, let me tell you,” the clergyman continued. “It was worth it, every minute of it!” He laughed even harder.
There was something exceptional about the South African visitors to the United States in those days—most but not all of them “black” and “colored,” to use the South African nomenclature. Cloistered but worldly, committed to social and political changes that seemed unlikely at the time, they persevered through minefields of distrust laid by Africans of other countries. Surely, if they were allowed by the apartheid regime to travel to international fora, they must be stooges, or worse: spies.
I interpreted French through tense and arduous hastily arranged meetings long into the night in the Princeton dorms. I tried to keep a neutral tone because I was the uninvited but necessary guest to get the messages across. I tried to convey them without interpretative body language or innuendo, as Malians, Nigerians, Ivoirians, Liberians, and others subjected South Africans to harsh scrutiny. Opponents at home to their own system at personal risk and cost, the South Africans weathered the suspicions of the others, in tranquil Princeton, that they were in fact the regime’s patsies. Eventually they gained the others’ trust. It wasn’t easy.
Profound change in South Africa was imminent, but no one knew it then. Coinciding in time with events and efforts that corroded communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe to the breaking point, similar patterns played out in South Africa. Along with others, the United States Embassy pushed the envelope of transformation, hastening a painful process and short-circuiting the violence everyone expected. U.S. diplomats and their South African local employees in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Pretoria engaged daily in brinksmanship with police, ministry officials, and educators of the apartheid regime. They managed to get “majority” South African students and professionals to the United States in significant numbers, cracking open the seemingly unshakeable clouded glass ceilings. In effect they outsmarted apartheid every day for a twenty-year period.
Sharpeville 1960. The Soweto Uprising 1976. Constructive engagement, military and economic boycotts, debates on American campuses—the brew was volatile. A country’s wealth, talent, and beauty lay largely unrealized, while tantalizing information began to circulate within the country about the vibrant changes on the outside, in the United States and other dynamic societies, overtaking South Africa in most forms of development.
Even as few could have predicted the events in Berlin of 1989, likewise few could foresee that apartheid in South Africa might yield a more normal society, short of the bloodbath many expected with or without change. A just society, with economic and social outlets for all South Africans, and basic parity in a country of income extremes seemed unattainable goals. Even the movements of the privileged within the system—many of whom sought justice in their society—were blocked overseas, where they were mistrusted and shunned. They left in waves of emigration in the 1970s and 1980s.
The work of U.S. officials and their employees during that period richly deserves recognition for their contribution to the outcome two decades later. Their story is largely untold outside their own circles. This volume gives voice to a number of the witnesses: officials, local employees, and South African “grantees” of all races who made it to the United States during turbulent times and later took up the reins of leadership in the new South Africa of the 1990s.
Quietly in the background, South African and American employees of the U.S. Information Service (USIS) in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban, and Cape Town prepared for a future few thought possible. The USIS staff engaged local publics of all stripes and identified South Africa’s likely future leaders. They visited townships “illegally,” testing the limits and bending the rules of diplomatic engagement. The Fulbright, Humphrey, and International Visitors programs spirited out perhaps 2,000 to 3,000 individuals from South Africa’s majority and oth