Tag Archive: South Africa

International Affairs Prof. Sean Jacobs on Ladysmith Black Mambazo in South Africa

International Affairs Professor Sean Jacobs was recently quoted in an article entitled Ladysmith Black Mambazo Still Moving Forward in The Boston Globe on January 30th.

“They made you proud. But they were not explicitly political in the time when you were supposed to be explicitly political. They had a very specific audience — rural migrants — and they played Zulu music that few people knew about, outside of people who cared about Zulu music.” He adds, “But Mandela understood they were geniuses.”

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Faculty News: Sean Jacobs

Professor Sean Jacobs discussed South African media and South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius on NPR’s The Talk of the Nation. Listen to the audio or read the transcript for “The Media Frenzy Surrounding Oscar Pistorius“. Sean wrote a blog post for Social Science Research Council’s forum African Futures, titled “New Media in Africa and the Global …

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Empowering South African Youth

If you met 17-year-old Ayanda Xoeie on the street, he would immediately tell you his name, the neighborhood he lives in, and that he is an activist. Ayanda believes that every generation has its own struggle, and for him, this is the right to a quality and equitable education. This past summer, five youth members from the South African township Khayelitsha collaborated with GPIA students and the nonprofit organization Equal Education. Together, we created a youth media and social activism workshop called Amazwi Wethu [Our Voices]. Too often, young people—predominantly those in underserved communities—are spoken for instead of with and lack access to the appropriate tools to create change on their own. Through Amazwi Wethu, our students became socially conscious storytellers. They gained video documentary and photography skills, and began advocating for themselves and their communities. While engagement at the policy level is crucial in a country built on institutionalized inequality, so is empowering the youth to shape their own future. Two distinct structures make up the education system in South Africa. The first serves children from the wealthiest 25 percent of families. It is known for its established infrastructures, qualified and motivated teachers, recognized success rates, and renowned functionality. […]

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Youth Media Curriculum

Organization:  TBD About Students participating in the Cape Town, South Africa IFP hope to have 3-4 short documentaries (10-12 minutes each) produced by youth about their lives. Per IFP faculty Sean Jacob’s suggestion, these documentaries will focus on the politics of post-apartheid cultural memories and identities, and may work with South Africa’s “Born Free Generation” …

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Huairou Commission: Grassroots Women’s Land and Property Rights

Media Report Presentation Team Amy Walker Erica Reade Justine MacWilliam Ellen Guevera Nipin Gangadharan Organization Huairou Commission About The PIA Consultants will serve as a resource team on two levels. First, they will directly support grassroots women’s campaigns to secure land and property rights underway in countries located in Eastern, Western and Southern Africa. Second, …

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