Wilburn on Clark and Worger, 'South Africa: the Rise and Fall of Apartheid'

H-Africa Wilburn on Clark and Worger, 'South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid'

Review published on Thursday, October 20, 2011

Nancy L. Clark, William H. Worger. South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. Second edition. New York: Longman, 2011. 187 pp. $27.33 (paper), ISBN 978-1-4082-4564-4.

Reviewed by Kenneth E. Wilburn (East Carolina University) Published on H-Africa (October, 2011) Commissioned by Brett L. Shadle

Wilburn on Clark and Worger, South Africa

Nancy Clark and William Worger have just published a second edition of their instructive work on apartheid in South Africa. Their slender textbook is a 2011 addition to Pearson's Seminar Studies in History, which is a series that explores and interprets primary sources on important topics. The authors have written six chapters in which they discuss and illustrate the origin, character, interpretation, and legacy of apartheid, at times in comparative perspective with similar racist systems in colonial Africa, Asia, and the United States. Yet they do not tell advanced students how to pronounce this routinely anglicized ("a-par-tide") Afrikaans word. Ironically (most would deem appropriately), proper pronunciation of apartheid sounds like "apart-hate," with a rolling of the "r." Clark and Worger's fine work includes a helpful chronology, a useful who's who listing, an important glossary, four valuable maps, five informational inserts, a host of explanatory notes in margins, eight thought-provoking photographs, thirteen critical primary sources, an important guide to further reading, a preliminary bibliography, and a routine index. What follows in this review is a celebration of their book peppered with recommended additions to improve future editions.

The collection of crucial documents the authors have selected introduces advanced students to voices proposing and attacking apartheid. Statements from the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League, Nelson Mandela, Hendrik Verwoerd, Steve Biko, F. W. De Klerk, and the collective voice of protest and reform expressed in one of the world's great proclamations, the Freedom Charter, challenge, inspire, instruct, and guide. The selected primary sources comply with long-standing attempts to reflect African voices more fully in African history. To this outstanding collection could be added in comparative perspective the lyrics to Nkosi" Sikelel' iAfrika" and "Die Stem van Suid- Africa." To set the historical foundation of apartheid more firmly in later editions, the authors should consider including Ordinance 50 (1828) and Cecil Rhodes's "Native Bill for Africa" speech on Glen Grey (1894) in the House of Assembly.

No brief work is perfect, however slim ("clever," in Afrikaans). To the concise "Who's Who" section, the authors should add Ruth First, Bram Fischer, Trevor Huddleston, Helen Joseph, Winnie Mandela, Helen Suzman, and Desmond Tutu. There are others to consider. In the glossary and chapter 2, some mention should be made of the collective, courageous voice of the Black Sash. Finally, the authors could add to the chapter 6 "Legacies" section a discussion of the relationship between apartheid and recent calls to decolonize the educational system in South Africa.

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Wilburn on Clark and Worger, 'South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid'. H-Africa. 09-29-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28765/reviews/32921/wilburn-clark-and-worger-south-africa-rise-and-fall-apartheid Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Africa

The fine section on historiography should also consider the admirable work of John Philip and John Colenso. As this is a book created to assist advanced students in seminars, the authors should mention the outstanding scholarship carried out at the African Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand in the 1970s and 1980s and published in the multivolume series, Working Papers in Southern African Studies. The "Further Reading" section could also use some expansion. Since the authors chose to introduce this section with valuable links to online documents, they should add the international contributions found on H-Net's H-SAfrica list (https://www.h-net.org/~safrica/), whose archives contain over a thousand postings and book reviews related to apartheid.

But why stop with the Net? Surely a paragraph should be devoted to film and apartheid, especially the outstanding five-part series, Apartheid, created by Frontline. Detailed and released before the formal end of the racist system, the chronologically arranged documentaries contain rare footage and analysis that take viewers to 1987. Hollywood productions for worldwide audiences, created in part to enhance the global anti-apartheid movement, include perspectives of the life of Ruth First inA World Apart (1988), the life of Steve Biko inCry Freedom (1987), and the life of averligte ("enlightened," pro-reform) Afrikaner teacher surrounded byverkrampte ("unenlightened," anti- reform) colleagues and estranged family inA Dry White Season (1989). These films help create student empathy and enliven primary sources, which together encourage positive action against the legacies of apartheid and similar racist systems elsewhere. Since Clark and Worger conclude their book with treatment of apartheid's legacy and the new South Africa, Invictus (2009) must be added to this short list of films. The film adaptation (1951) of Alan Paton'sCry the Beloved Country (1948) should receive honorable mention for founding anti-apartheid filmography.

Faculty and students will find Clark and Worger'sSouth Africa, The Rise and Fall of Apartheid accessible and instructive. The book will prompt teachers to expand content in some of the directions recommended in this review. Such pedagogical efforts will only add to the success of the book. The authors’ work helps us appreciate the amazing progress South Africans have made. Teachers and students alike will grow to admire the continuing journey of South Africans to reach their destination, so beautifully described in Richard Rive's anti-apartheid poem and protest song, "Where the Rainbow Ends."

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Citation: Kenneth E. Wilburn. Review of Clark, Nancy L.; Worger, William H., South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. October, 2011.URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=34254

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.