Museums

The class took a visit to the Constitutional Court in Jo’burg.  The institution is built to incorporate The Fort Prison, which held Nelson Mandela and other political activists.  There were two separate prisons, one for males and one for females.  The prison guards violated countless human rights.  Gruesome tales of female mutilation and torture were part of the everyday routine for prison inmates.  The tour of the complex and the events that occurred in the prisons reminded me a lot of the events of the Holocaust.  The two events are certainly not completely comparable, but the human rights violations are certainly similar.  In the women’s prison, the communal cells were to only hold 25 inmates, but the guards would cram 80-120 inmates into one cell.  Sanitary conditions did not exist.  Buckets were used for refuse that were stationed in the corner of the cell. *Warning: this may be graphic for some* The prison would issue black women with sanitary pads, but they were not issued underwear.  These women would have to hold their pads between their legs and if they fell down they would be hit.  This was very undignified and embarrassing for these women. 

The buildings themselves had symbolic meanings.  The Court, which is still active today, was built in a way that symbolizes the fairly new democratic system.  The reception area of the Court consists of pillars that symbolize tree trunks and overhead are metal-wires in the shape of leaves.  Depending on the time of day, shade from the makeshift leaves are cast on the floor.  The trees represent equality for every human being, no matter the color of skin or cultural background.  The inside of the courtroom is made from bricks that were kept from old buildings of the prison.  These bricks are not held together by very much concrete, which symbolizes freedom.  Small rectangular glass windows run along the walls of the courtroom so that one can easily observe what is going on outside of the courtroom.  This is supposed to symbolized transparency. 

Much of what occurred in South Africa during the period of Apartheid was similar to what was occurring in the U.S. at the time.  The U.S. was also struggling with civil rights issues.  A really interesting aspect of the Constitutional Court was the constitution of South Africa.  Among other things, the constitution promotes equality, dignity and freedom, which is pretty much the same as the U.S. constitution.  The way these constitutions are carried out, however, are different.  In the U.S. it is a law that companies have to promote an equal opportunity workplace, where the number of blacks employed (don’t quote me on this) has to be a certain proportion (or equal to?) the number of whites employed.  You don’t really find that in South Africa.  There is still very much a division between the black and white labor force and the types of jobs each has. 

The Apartheid Museum had a lot of symbolism incorporated into the architecture as well.  The reflecting pool outside of the museum represents peace, while the seven pillars erected next to the pool represent the 7 pillars of the constitution: freedom, dignity, respect, democracy, equality, reconciliation and tolerance.  Inside, there are two different directions to walk, the white direction or the non-white direction.  When walking the white direction, there is a ramp to walk on that represents the ease with which whites lived in South Africa.  The non-white direction has stairs instead to signify the struggles that they had to endure. 

Both of these museums contain a lot of symbolism and it seems they use this as a way to “forgive but not forget”.  These museums have successfully incorporated significance into architecture.  The sometimes-subtle symbolic messages allow visitors, and hopefully South Africans, look to the future, while at the same time reminding them of the past. The Apartheid Museum and partly the history of South Africa remind me of The Holocaust.  The lecture we had on the divided histories of South Africa discussed the concentration camps during the colonial era.  Certain groups of people would be targeted merely for their race or ethnicity, which is extremely similar to what happened during the Holocaust.  Both countries also went through a white supremacist regime.  The Nazis strove for a pure Aryan race and in South Africa, the Whites strove for a pure white population as well.  Evidence for this is shown in the creation of the Bantustans, or the homelands, that the white people created to remove blacks from the white republics in South Africa. 

These museums definitely give a great overview of the history of South Africa.  I’ve noticed that while in Soweto I did not see much anger or resentment towards the white population, nor did I notice much racism.  The main reason being, of course, that Soweto consists of mainly black South Africans.  In terms of grievances towards the Apartheid era, though, they seemed actually quite content with their lives and it seemed like they were able to forgive in a very short amount of time.  This, of course, does not mean that there are emotions they are not showing.  In Cape Town, however, it is a different story.  There are still things that suggest that there is segregation in this society.  The groupings on campus suggest this.  Many blacks and whites don’t seem to mingle, or mix crowds.  This, I think, is also evident in the U.S. as well.  In both Soweto and Cape Town I definitely feel like the minority, which is something that I have never experienced before.  Today standing at the bus-stop I thought about how different history would be, and how different I would be as well, if the white population were the ones to be enslaved and suppressed, instead of the black population.  But that is difficult for me to imagine.  Trying to put myself in the shoes of a group of people who have been taken advantage of for decades is not an easy feat, but my attempt continues.