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Overview What is Culture? South Africa’s People A Short Cultural History Modern Movements in Azanian Culture Why Culture Matters 5/29/2010
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5/29/2010
South Africa: Culture of the People
Lesson IIISamuel T. Livingston, PhD Sinead N. Younge, PhDProject LEAD South Africa Study Abroad
5/29/2010
Overview• What is Culture?• South Africa’s People• A Short Cultural History• Modern Movements in Azanian
Culture• Why Culture Matters
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What is Culture?• Definition: a group of people’s total way of life as
it develops over time. It is a collective concept as groups form the primary unit of analysis.
• Explanation: Culture is an organic whole composed of three levels of meaning: o deep structural meaning, o intermediate structures of meaning, o surface level structure of meaning.
• Examples• Relation to South African Culture
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South Africa’s People• There are about 48 million South
Africans according to 2007 estimatesoAfricans - 38 million (79.6%)oEuropeans - 4.5 million (9.2%)oColoureds - 4.2 million (8.9%)oAsians - 1.2 million (2.5%)
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South African People
• South Africans began interacting interracially in the 17th centuryo Azanians
KhoiSan - pastoralists and hunter-gatherers were attacked by the Dutch, many were killed, enslaved or forced off of their lands
other larger more established ethnic groups could not be as easily subdued:
Ngoni (Zulu & Xhosa) Sotho Shangaan-Tsonga Venda
o Europeanso Dutch British
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Religion & Culture• Azanian religious culture - the
traditional belief systems of African peoples who inhabited the land for the past 200 millennia
• European culture - the Christian religious culture of the Dutch and English people who settled after the late 17th century
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Ubuntu Philosophy• A way of understanding life that views all existence
as a form of Ntu — spirit, energy or force; “-ntu” is a part of many nouns in Bantu languages.
• Ubuntu is composed of the following areas of existence:
Muntu – all intelligent beings, spirit-beings Hantu – time and space as a unified force Kuntu - modes of existence - moods, feelings, thoughts, ideas,
theories, philosophies, ideologies Kintu - existence without voice - rocks, trees, animals, earth
• Ubuntu – exists when there is balanced, free and open flow of energy
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Ubuntu: Everything is connected
Muntu
Hantu
Kintu
Kuntu
NTU
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Language• Most of the people in South Africa speak a
mix of Bantu, Dutch and English languages
iziZulu iziKhosa Afrikaans English Sotho Shangaan-Tsonga Venda
• These languages are all officially recognized
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Struggles over Language• Summer of 1976, young Black people
protest in the streets of Jo’burg’s SouthWest Township (Soweto) overo Immediate Causes
Pass Laws & humiliations by the Police StateBeing forced to learn their lessons in Afrikaans
oDeep-rooted CausesLand exploitation, low-wages, poverty
• Over 28 uprisings from June to August
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Music as Resistance• Azanian music has always been a
source of inspiration and a way of expressing frustrationoTraditional Cultural songsoChristian SpiritualsoPopular Music influenced by West
Skokian JazzKwaito Hip Hop
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Traditional Cultural songs
• Find examples of traditional songs from – Ngoni
• Zulu• Xhosa
– KhoiSan– Tsonga– Venda– European cultures
• Boer• English
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Spirituals•What Spirituals are common in the
South African churches, mosques and temples?
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Popular Music• Identify and describe various forms
of South African popular music. Provide rich detail (names of songs, artists, etc.)
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Summary• Summarize main themes from this
lesson• Reiterate key ideas
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Relating to Azanian culture• What aspects of Azanian culture are
similar to your own?
• What is different?
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Goals for the Study Abroad• While being as respectful as
possible try to be a cultural scientist while you are in South Africa.
• What can you observe and learn about culture from being in South Africa as opposed to solely reading about it?
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