Week 11

Journal articles about the electricity problems in South Africa:

An Analysis of the Policy Framework on Electricity in South Africa: A Public Interest Approach:

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/ijah/article/view/113918

The effects of access to electricity --Evidence from South Africa:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421597001006

Egoli - Week 10

One of my group members, Amanda, found an awesome article and video about a company called Liter of Light, which uses a plastic bottle to bring light inside homes in third world countries. This could be relevant to the problem we are trying to solve with Egoli.
http://literoflight.org/
I also found this article interesting, talking about alternative energy sources that farmers in developing countries use. I know we aren't working with farmers, but there are some nice basic ideas here.
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/five-renewable-sources-of-energy-for-farmers-in-developing-countries/

Week 7

I found Sarah's article on education in South Africa very interesting:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/21528586.2014.887917

Other articles I found interesting were Hashem's article about foreign business in the country (which parallels some issues we see here in America as well), and Trisha's article about the bi-racial twins in the UK (one black and one white); I've been seeing many articles in the news about this type of stuff lately, and as always, they seem to reiterate the fact that race is imaginary. 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/foreign-businesses-face-backlash-in-south-africa-1425514688 

http://www.vox.com/2015/3/3/8135489/black-white-twins-race 

Week 6

Here is an article I found about "Cape Coloureds," who are mixed races. Not really black, but not white either. They're usually the product of European men breeding with women of different ethnicities.  This article goes in depth about the different types of coloured people, where they originated from, details about "mixed ancestry" people, etc.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2009/06/who-are-the-cape-coloureds-of-south-africa/#.VRm1CvmPF8E

This article explains why the rates of violent crime in South Africa are so "disturbingly high," using historical evidence and statistics from the last 12 months.
http://www.news24.com/Columnists/GuestColumn/Why-is-crime-and-violence-so-high-in-South-Africa-20140918

I was also interested in women's rights in South Africa. After reading this article, I saw many similarities between women's rights movements in the United States compared to in South Africa. This timeline shows the progression of women's rights beginning with Charlotte Maxeke (first south African black woman to get a bachelor's degree) in 1905 and ends with the women's movement in 2006.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/topic/womens-struggle-timeline-1905-2006

Week 5

In South Africa and the United States, apartheid began with white legislators. In the US, in the 1896 case we all know of very well, Plessy v Ferguson - "separate but equal" institutions are deemed constitutional, thus allowing for the legal segregation of African Americans and whites. In SA, the policy of apartheid began in 1948 when the NP takes control in 1948. By 1950, the Group Areas Act was passed to completely separate whites from blacks.Stemming from the segregation, civil rights movements in both countries took part in peaceful and violent protests alike, including riots, boycotts, and strikes. The amount of police violence and brutality during both civil rights movements is shocking. For example during the "Bloody Sunday" at Selma, Alabama, police shot tear gas, beat nonviolent protesters, and hospitalized over 50 people. In South Africa, a similar situation was even more gruesome, when 70 black demonstrators were killed at Sharpeville. It's unsettling to read about the extent of violence that black people have faced during both civil rights movements; peaceful demonstrations were often countered by unnecessary police brutality. What's even more unsettling is that this trend still continues on today. All the events at Ferguson, the death of Eric Garner, and a whole range of other instances prove that this continues to be a problem we face in this country even after all the years that have passed. SA is even more "freshly" out of apartheid, meaning that there is still a long road ahead in the pursuit of racial equality.

Nelson  Mandela and MLK were two men in two very different places fighting similar battles. Putting their stories side by side, it is easy to draw parallels between the two. Educated, persistent, and strong-willed, they both opened the eyes of countless citizens and groups around the world; the world truly would not be the same place without these two leaders. Their fight for civil rights were inspirational to say the least. Both men struggled and were imprisoned during their fight, but even after 27 years of imprisonment for Mandela, he rose up to become president of South Africa. MLK was less fortunate, being assassinated while still in his prime, but he left a legacy that will live on forever.

After reading the brief history of South Africa and "people of south africa," it is obvious that SA is a country rich in diversity and culture but also one with longstanding social issues. The sheer number of languages and cultural backgrounds in the country is impressive; I can't think of any countries off the top of my head with as much diversity. This is where both the country's strengths and weaknesses come from is what it seems. What's interesting to me was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As I was reading about that I felt like the United States should have had something similar years ago. Another thing I found interesting was reading about Reconciliation Day/the gruesome battle of blood river and the fact that it took so long to instill a memorial of the 3,000 Zulus that died.
The current event that struck me the most was the one titled "women top the agenda at the AU summit," because it's always reassuring learning about the new focus on women and women's rights around the world.
A question for the guest speaker: a very broad one, but - in general, does U.S. aid (not only monetary aid) over the years seem to benefit SA, or is it just an unwelcome intrusion that only causes more harm than good?