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African History Commons

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Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in African History

Fall From Grace: South Africa And The Changing International Order, Eduard Jordaan Dec 2010

Fall From Grace: South Africa And The Changing International Order, Eduard Jordaan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Post-apartheid South Africa has gone from being a good international citizen to defending a number of authoritarian regimes and obstructing various international initiatives aimed at strengthening the global human rights regime. This article presents this slide as a move from a ‘liberal’ foreign policy to a ‘liberationist’ one and emphasises the external sources of this shift, particularly the influence of the rest of Africa and a rising China.


Pan-Africanism And African Unity: Any Prospects?, Conrad John Masabo Mr. May 2010

Pan-Africanism And African Unity: Any Prospects?, Conrad John Masabo Mr.

Conrad John Masabo Mr.

At the close of 50 years of independence, Africa is still yearning for unity despite of the more than 100 years of the initiatives made by the pan-Africanists. The essay addresses important issues of political, economic, social and cultural rebirth of the African continent. It argues that, if the ideas of Pan-Africanism or Africanisms are deeply persuaded they can make Africa successfully in coping with its problems and orient itself in a rapidly globalising world. While there is hope for Africa in the continental unity and pan-African political and economic projects; the paper also points out imperialism and neo-colonialism as …


A Rock Strikes Back: Women's Struggles For Equality In The Development Of The South African Constitution, Thuto Seabe Thipe May 2010

A Rock Strikes Back: Women's Struggles For Equality In The Development Of The South African Constitution, Thuto Seabe Thipe

Political Science Honors Projects

In 1991, South African women’s organisations formed the Women's National Coalition (WNC) to identify and advocate for women's primary needs in the post-apartheid Constitution. The outcome of this advocacy was South Africa’s adoption, in 1996, of one of the most comprehensive protections of gender and sexuality rights of any national constitution. I argue that the WNC became a key actor in the development of the Constitution by drawing from a tradition of women’s organising in South Africa that emphasised women’s legitimacy in and value to public politics. The WNC rejected masculinist framings of politics and instead demanded that political structures …


Interview With Helen Shiller, Jacob Martin Lingan Apr 2010

Interview With Helen Shiller, Jacob Martin Lingan

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 50 minutes

Oral history interview of Helen Shiller by Jacob Martin Lingan

Ms. Shiller first outlines the path that led her to forming the Anti-Apartheid Ordinance, beginning with her work with the Minister of Information for ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) and a trip to Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and South Africa, which led to her interest in the latter. She recalls how, when she returned to Chicago, she was motivated to strengthen legislation against the Apartheid government. She describes the process they went through to force Chicago banks to divest from South Africa, which happened to coincide with Nelson Mandela’s …


Interview With George Schmidt, Melena Grace Nicholson Apr 2010

Interview With George Schmidt, Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 154 minutes

Oral history interview of George Schmidt by Melena Grace Nicholson

Chicago Public School teacher and union activist, George Schmidt discusses his work as editor of Substance a newspaper covering public education that he helped found in 1975. His activism was sparked during his college years and he recounts his work during his teaching career. He was involved in the G.I. movement and military counseling, working with ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union), and people in Angola and Mozambique, before becoming a teacher. His interest in military counseling and the G.I. movement stems from his own parents’ experience during …


Interview With Clarice Durham, Lauren Ashley Alexander Apr 2010

Interview With Clarice Durham, Lauren Ashley Alexander

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 95 minutes

Oral history interview of Clarice Durham by Lauren Ashley Alexander

Clarice Durham recalls her childhood and recounts her work with the Illinois NAACP, The National Anti-Imperialist Movement in Solidarity with African Liberation (NAIMSAL), and as co-chair of the National Alliance Against Racial and Political Oppression. She campaigned for justice in the Scottsboro Boys case in 1931, attended the founding convention of the Progressive Party in 1948, and participated in the March on Washington in 1963. As Durham recaps her trip to South Africa, she recalls the change it had on her and her views of the movement. …


Interview With Danny Davis, Terence Sims Apr 2010

Interview With Danny Davis, Terence Sims

Chicago Anti-Apartheid Movement

Length: 67 minutes

Oral history interview of Danny Davis by Terence Sims

Dr. Davis begins by outlining his introduction into activism and politics, when he served as executive director for the Greater Lawndale Conservation Commission in 1968. He explains how his definition of apartheid, which he is still fighting against, encompasses the massive underrepresentation of Black Americans in U.S. government positions. He details his childhood in rural Arkansas, growing up with ten siblings on a farm. He recalls early figures in the Civil Rights Movement in Arkansas, like the Little Rock Nine and Martin Luther King, Jr. He explains how …


A Study Of Democracy In Africa: The Senegalese Experience, Ryan Robert Riley Jan 2010

A Study Of Democracy In Africa: The Senegalese Experience, Ryan Robert Riley

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis examines the development of democracy in Senegal, one of the few democracies in Africa. In order to understand why democracy has been such a challenge to establish and maintain in Africa, it is necessary to account for the broad effects of European colonization. European powers in their attempts to "modernize" the people of Africa disrupted their natural cultural progress.