Race and Politics in South Africa

3 credits

HIST-4835

History
College of Arts and Science

(same as CNST_DEM 4835, BL_STU 4835; cross-leveled with HIST 7835, CNST_DEM 7835, BL_STU 7835). Between 1948 and 1994, race was the formal organizing principle of the South African state. However, way before the institutionalization of the policy of Apartheid in 1948, race had underlined social, economic and political relations in what is now South Africa. Significantly, democratic South Africa is still grappling with the legacies of racialized rule. This course is about this nexus between race and politics in the history of South Africa. Organized around seminars, guest lectures and tours, the course introduces students to how scholars have understood race and politics in this Southern African nation. It further examines the social and economic context in which race was deployed as an instrument of making difference and exercising power and how this is contested. Finally, the course examines the legacies of racialized rule in democratic South Africa. Graded on A-F basis only.