This class is being taught in conjunction with Meagan Tauber’s ‘Born a Crime Novel Study’ course. Taking both classes is mandatory in order to truly gain the full content and experience. Meagan’s portion of the class will approach apartheid from a human perspective, utilizing three weeks of class to analyze Trevor Noah’s book – Born A Crime and focusing on the fourth week in discussions about Nelson Mandela utilizing the movie Invictus.

Here is the link to enroll in Meagan’s course:

https://outschool.com/classes/born-a-crime-novel-study-understanding-apartheid-through-trevor-noahs-eyes-XDonLGiy?sectionUid=298f3892-e1fa-4c97-935b-cab25b382af9&usid=2RzYWbR0&signup=true&utm_campaign=share_activity_link

In this portion of the course we will focus on South Africa’s government structures to understand how apartheid developed in the country, the great struggle to end the destructive government-sponsored segregation and to consider the challenges of building a democracy from such a racist past. When we think about the question, “What makes democracy work?” it’s important to remember that not all democracies are the same. In this four week class, we turn to voices from South Africa, a relatively new and fragile democracy, to ask what can make democracy work in countries with different cultures and histories.

The class begins with the first half of the course focused on apartheid. Learners will focus the first two weeks on the definition and understanding of apartheid generally and how it manifested within the South African context as well as gaining an understanding of the struggle to end apartheid within the country. 

The second half of this class will shift to focus on South Africa post apartheid, with students gaining an understanding of how democracy developed within the fragile structure of a society trying to rebuild after the struggle of apartheid. Finally, the last class will focus on an understanding of how democracies can vary from country to country and culture to culture, based on a cultural and historical context. The learner will leave the course with gained knowledge not only about the history of South Africa and an understanding of apartheid within a societal structure, but will gain critical analysis abilities in the efforts to analyze and understand how these factors can work to influence the democracy that developed from South Africa’s painful history. 

The course will contain part lecture, supported by primary source materials and audio visual aids as well as a large amount of critical discussion concerning the relevant materials. 


Important:  Learners must register for this class and Meagan’s section.  If a learner is only registered for one of the two required sections 
(both mine and Meagan’s), they will be withdrawn from class one week prior to the start of class OR when only two spaces remain in the class – whichever comes first.