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South Africa: Culture of the People

Lesson IIISamuel T. Livingston, PhD Sinead N. Younge, PhDProject LEAD South Africa Study Abroad

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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?