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Published: March 4th 2008
I decided to make a whole post about daily life because its an important part of being here but its hard to slip things into the other stories- they sound better when you leave out the details. Here goes (I'll probably jump around a bit and, unfortunately, have no pictures to include):
I called this post 'life in the grey area' because it seems that, racially, I (and some of the other americans) belong in a grey area of sorts. We are not black, so we get along fine in white social circles and people feel comfortable talking about whatever they want around us- and yes, black south africans know we are not afrikaaner (Afrikaaners are the descendents of the dutch settlers who came to south africa many years ago and first discovered the 'uncivilized natives') or british (they came next, sort of took over both the afrikaaners and the original africans, but were eventually fought off violently by the afrikaaners, who in turn formed an apartheid government and oppressed the original africans). Though it is sometimes awkward, it is definitely the best of both worlds and being accepted in both social worlds has given me (us) a really interesting perspective.
First of all, I want to explain that the society is not split down the middle like I might have made it seem. THere are many groups, but the biggest ones are Afrikaaners, British, Zulu, Xhosa, Indians, and Coloreds. Classes are mixed and there seems to be little problems, at least in this university, with people of different groups getting along- even around campus, it is not unusual to see people of different groups talking and eating together. But largely, people stick to their own groups (though Afrikaaners and British mingle freely, and Zulu and Xhosa do as well). The university, during the day, is very diverse and I have not seen any outward tension betweens groups. Around 4 pm, however, the scene changes. White people leave campus and go home- which is either in their parents house or in flats (called the Diggs) just off campus). By 6 or 7 the Americans are usually the only white people on campus except for any students studying, using computers, playing sports, etc.
In the dorms (called 'res'), I am one of the eight white people (7 americans and one french guy) in William O Brian res complex (WOB). In the beginning of the semester I definitely got started at every time I walked to/from my room, but I think people are pretty used to me/us and, while I still get looks, they are less surprised and more curious. And the stares only stayed until I would talk to someone, once conversation started, people were really nice and friendly. Everyone speaks English, as that is language of the university, though most speak Zulu amongst themselves, and some speak Xhosa (Xhosa is the nearby tribe and the culture and language are comparable but not the same, the two can speak to each other without much of a problem). And some people only speak english, usually this means they were brought in a city, I think.
In the res, I share a kitchen with 10 or so other guys- we have our own cubbords with padlocks and we share a fridge with no separate compartments- other americans have had their stuff stolen from the fridge but so far (knocking on wood) my fridge has been fine. There is a small shopping center a block off of campus with two food stores- WoolWorths and Checkers. Another SAT analogy:
Checkers is to ACME
as
Woolworths is to Whole Foods/Wegmans.
The shopping center (Scottsville Mall) has a bunch of other stores including an indian food place (with meals for 50 cents- cheapest anywhere around), Chinese food, seafood, chicken place, 2 pizza places, very small book store, shoe store- etc. Nothing exceptional= just random shops. Anything we buy we have to carry back, so usually we do smaller food shopping more often (also, you cant have too much food in the fridge- you might fill the fridge. or it might get stolen).
I often cook with Cailtin and Kyla (and whoever else joins). The guys dont seem to cook together often and I don't want to eat at the indian place two times per day, every day of the week (like anthony does). Some guys in my block (subsection of the building that I share a kitchen with) cook- its usually some various of rice and beef. They dont seem to understand why I am a vegetarian, but they are interested in it and I even got two guys to try some fake meat the other day (there are vegiburgers at Checkers and I heard rumors of tofu at another shopping center nearby).
The kitchen is the way that I've actually met people in my res because everyone is friendly and when you are cooking next to someone, eventually you'll start talking. Usually people talk in Zulu- but the other day, I picked up on one of the zulu words and knew what they were talking about, they were very impressed. And today I didn't understand one of the words in my homework and asked Sipho, my nextdoor neighbor. He helped me and, ten minutes later, came to me to ask for help on an english word. And ten minutes later came by again. His english is very good but some of the words in his third year psycology book are hard to get- i had to explain that the word 'explore' is sometimes used as a metophor (to explore the concept) and he didn't which of the ten definitions to use for the word 'bound'. He explained that he learned english from teachers that didn't know english that well so he still has trouble sometimes.
What else- politics. The current politic situation in South Africa is really interesting. Violence is very prevalent in a lot of areas- including the one I am in, but much moreso in cities- including Durban and especially Jo'burg (this is what Johanesburg is called from within the country). Many abroad programs (including Rutgers) shut down their programs to Durban this year because of a spike in violent last semester, that has yet to subside. Carjackings and muggings are the rule rather than the exception, and there have been more than a few cases of rape and murder, even on the Howard campus (in Durban), this is why the programs were canceled. Many of the affluent white areas are burlglarized on a weekly basis, though usually these are not violent. The white students talk about the country as if its dooms day, while the black students, comparing it to living under apartheid, are enjoying freedoms that their parents never had.
One thing white students mention often is 'reverse racism'- many jobs in high fields are only open to blacks, they claim that this is even adhered to when the candidates do not have proper education (which is often because it was difficult to get an education under apartheid). But many whites attribute most problems in the country to this and the 'brain drain' that occured when the apartheid gov't was overthrown and many of the educated, wealthy whites left the country (it may sound offensive to call that a braindrain, but white people just had better education for the last few hundred years). A girl in my ceramics class just told us her parents have put their house on the market and are moving to England- the violence seems to be getting worse and with Jacob Zuma on his way to become president, many whites are fleeing.
I have had political conversations about Zuma with blacks and whites and this is where I first recognized exactly how differently both groups view south africa. White people read white newspapers, talk to white friends, listen to white news channels, and have a specific history that influences their opinions, the same goes for blacks. South Africa has a parlimentary system and Zuma is the top politician on ANC, the party that is seen as respondisble for the overthrowing of apartheid and, thus, 80%!o(MISSING)f the population supports it. Zuma also has a third grade education level, was brought up on rape charges last year (but acquitted), is going to trial for corruption very soon, and has been (according to my white friends) quotes as saying that showering is a good protection against HIV/AIDS. I read in a white newspaper that last week Zuma banned white journalists from a meeting of black journalists, which many whites saw as the beginning of reverse apartheid- a limit on freespeech, media, etc etc.
A week later I asked a few black students in WOB about Zuma and got very different responses. One person said that he may not be the most trustworthy but he is a man of the people, will not bow down to whites or 'big business', and is better than both a white gov't and mbeki (current president of south africa and commonly seen as a bad person among blacks and whites). I asked about the white journalist thing and they said that the media always twists stories to make him sound worse. Apparently, according to these students, the caucus was a non-gov't meeting and Zuma was invited as a guest- he had no power and it was not his decision to ban the white journalists. He did not stop it, but then- he had no power to, and he was quoted as 'not being against the ban' and so white newspapers reported him as being responsible for it. When it comes down to it, the current state of politics and daily life is worse than it used to be for whites but 1000%!b(MISSING)etter for blacks, so they have wildly different opinions. I had a professor say in class 'This might piss some people off, but at least the Afrikaaner gov't could maintain power and water all the time and keep inflation down.' Food prices are at a three-year high, electricity and water losses are sporadic- moreso in some areas.
As a special bonus I heard something rather surprising in my ceramics class, from a girl whose aunt and uncle had been exiled during apartheid for helping out the ANC (the student and her family is white). They were jailed for helping hide ANC members and then told that they would be released if they would leave the country. After 11 years in Canada, they returned and now that the ANC is in power, they are paying pensions to all of their employees who worked before the end of apartheid- except for the white people who helped them, they have decided not to pay pensions to white members.
But then in the same conversation, when poverty and crime were the topic again, I heard a white student (who is a really nice kid, is on the row team, and has been really friendly) mention HIV as a solution for overpopulation in poverty-stricken areas. I told him that was an offensive thing to say but the conversation moved on quickly, whether people agreed or disagreed, no one wanted to talk about it.
While I don't want to overstate the prejudices held by many of the white students that I've been- it has been hard to ignore in so many areas. The look of shock that I/we (Americans) receive when I tell white students that I live on WOB (an all black res), take Kombis (predominately black-used MiniVan taxis), or that I have gone shopping in town is incredible. I recently promised a few white kids in my class that Caitlin and I would take them on a tour of their own town, they laughed but I doubt that they'd ever take a Kombi with us. They really truely believe that they are dangerous. They do not say (or think) 'don't take a Kombi because black people take them' they said 'they are always dangerous'- when, in fact, they are not dangerous, they are just filled with black people- which leads white people to assume they are dangerous. Its commonly known among South Africa backpackers/travelers that just because a white person says not to do it, it doesn't mean you shouldn't (though sometimes it does). I recently saw a girl from my class walking to the far supermarket to go food shopping (30 minute walk vs 5 minute walk) and I asked why, and she said 'Well Checkers is
dodgy'. Checkers is not dodgy, in fact, its a big supermarket that is always filled with people of all colors- its just that the supermarket she was walking to, Pick N Pay, was predominantly white or Indian.
Last thing to stress- the people that I am talking about are not mean, they are not full of hate, and they are not angry. They talk openly and comfortably with the black students in class and are really cool/fun students. That is the reason that this racism is so bad- its not hatred, its ignorance. Hatred can be easily identified and fought, but ignorance is like an invisible, undetectable, and unfightable (?) enemy that can only be erroded very slowly over time and can be reinforced in an instant.
That was a lot and was pretty heavy- I hope I didn't bring anyone down. The fact remains that the shift that has been going on here is total and complete- every aspect of life has changed in the last 15 years and so, though it may seem horrible now, with any luck the country will improve slowly and this will just be seen a rough transition period for South Africa. Many people say that there are a few things that will help bring about improvement: education for blacks, the breakup of the triparty block (the ANC, the Communist Party, and the Labor Union party), the breakup of the ANC into parties that are based on issues instead of just 'hey, we took down apartheid, vote for us', and the very very slow process of overcoming deeply ingrained racist beliefs (this last part is the hardest and will take the longest).
Sorry to be a downer, but this is a huge part of my experience here and wanted to report on that as well.
Another blog coming as soon as I get photos from Susan.
thanks for reading
mark
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dodgy big sista
non-member comment
good blog!
hi honey- that was a great one. i really enjoyed it. it made me want to come visit you even more than i did before. i dont know if you think about it, but it reminded me towards the end of israelis and palestinians. the political tension creates the separation- taxis, jobs, neighborhoods, etc. i mean its more so in SA bc its much much more raw, and we've been living this for longer than they have. but its an interesting parallel. love you and your downers shi