Completed: South African books for my history class

This past term, I took a general upper-division course on South African history. I took it because I knew next to nothing about South African history - I knew Apartheid had been, I knew it ended in large part because of Nelson Mandela in 1994, and I knew it struggled economically both before then and since.

That was really all I knew. And this was laid quite abruptly bare to me once I started this class. The history of South Africa is complex, multifaceted and painful (as is the history of many other nations), but of this one I knew next to nothing. It was a big learning curve, and a difficult but enriching class.

As recommendations based on the class, I would suggest watching the movie 'Last Grave at Dimbaza' and 'Tsotsi' - though all the movies we watched were great, these two may have been the most impactful for me.

For reading, we read three books, and parts of many others. The three full reads were:

Title: South Africa in World History
Author: Iris Berger
Published: 2009
Pages: 163

Iris Berger's brief overview is too brief, in my opinion. Without our other sources, what she wrote would have lacked depth enough to be impactful. As a piece of a bigger puzzle it was OK, but on its own wasn't very helpful.

Title: The South Africa Reader: History, Culture, Politics
Author: Clifton Crais, Thomas V. McClendon eds.
Published: 2013
Pages: 624

This was probably my favorite reader that I've ever had, except perhaps one I had for an Anthropology of Art class as an undergrad. It was full of enriching, challenging, raw and important documents. Though we didn't read each and every selection, we read the large majority of this book (and a lot of the page count was references, so it wasn't as enormous as it sounds). I'm glad I read this reader - not a normal sentiment among university students!

Title: The Heart of Redness
Author: Zakes Mda
Published: 2000
Pages: 288

I am a bit embarrassed to say that this was, I believe, my first reading of a work of fiction by an African author. It was a historical fiction that brought to life the world of the Xhosa Cattle Killing, along with a modern parallel story connected to the past. I believe my prof called it mysticism - the indigenous Xhosa beliefs integrated into the narrative. Mda is a beautiful writer, and it was an excellent read. From the course I have several other novels and books that I will tackle eventually. This book and this class were definitely a case of 'for every book I read, I find three more. At least'!

Total Books Blogged: 60

Total Pages: 17,329