Apartheid and Racism in South African Children's Literature 1985-1995

by Donnarae MacCann, Yulisa Amadu Maddy

Overview

While white racism has global dimensions, it has an unshakeable lease on life in South African political organizations and its educational system. Donnarae MacCann and Yulisa Maddy here provide a thorough and provocative analysis of South African children's literature during the key decade around Nelson Mandela's release from prison. Their research demonstrates that the literature of this period was derived from the same milieu — intellectual, educational, religious, political, and economic — that brought white supremacy to South Africa during colonial times. This volume is a signal contribution to the study of children's literature and its relation to racism and social conditions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415866798
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/03/2013
Series:	Children's Literature and Culture
Pages:	172
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Donnarae McCann is Visiting Professor of African-American World Studies at the University of Iowa. She is the author of White Supremacy in Children's Literature, African Images in Juvenile Literature, and The Black American in Books for Children: Readings in Racism.

Yluisa Amadu Maddy is Visiting Assistant Professor of African-American World Studies at the University of Iowa.

Table of Contents

Introduction Part I: Background Chapter I: Elements of Apartheid: Science, Theology, Government and Extra-Constitutional Government (The Broederbond) Chapter II: Gatekeepers and Literary Education Part II: Novels About Contemporary South Africa Chapter III: Civil Disobedience and Urban Conflict: The Apartheid Perspective in Novels Chapter IV: Runaways, Forced Removals, Population Control Chapter V: The First Democratic Election: Right-Wing Fears in Post-Election Fiction Chapter VI: Interracial Friendship: Sacrificial Blacks, Reformed Whites Chapter VII: Interracial Romance: Scientific Racism Persists Chapter VIII: Stories of the Supernatural: Misreading African Tradition Part III: Historical Novels Chapter IX: The Trekking Boers: Land-Grabbing in Historical Literature Chapter X: Tales of Conquest and Religious Conversion Conclusion: Is this Going to be a Democratic Society or Not? Epilogue Selected Bibliography Index

Editorial Reviews

"Also authors of African Images in Juvenile Literature: Commentaries on Neocolonialist Fiction (1996), MacCann and Maddy outline the white-supremacist mythology pervading South African literature for the young by offering brief readings that reveals how novels foster the beliefs that maintained apartheid. They argue that white novelists demean blacks through characterization and by omission or misrepresentation of oppressive social institutions. . The authors' polemical analyses warn that books shape young minds, so those who care about social justice must evaluate both what novels say and what they omit. All collections." -- R. E. Jones, University of Alberta in CHOICE, June 2002.

From the Publisher