Trip of a LIfetime

We're getting ready to take off on the trip of a lifetime to South Africa.  The stars aligned, and we were able to dovetail a work trip for Doug with the kids' spring break.

We're so excited about this opportunity on many different levels, the most obvious being the incredible cultural and historical lesson we will receive.  Of course, we are also restless to experience the natural beauty of South Africa with a week on the coast and four days in the bush on safari.

On a personal level, our little girl turns six during this trip, and we can only hope that this voyage is fun for her and introduces her to a lifetime appreciation of travel, diversity and cultural exchange.

I've been researching books and films about South Africa, most of which we'll never get to before we leave on Friday, but we've got a 12-hour flight and downtime after the kids go to bed while we're on vacation.

Of the many books to choose from, I've selected these three for my vacation reading list:

Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee. Coetze is probably South Africa's most well-known and internationally acclaimed author.  He's won the Nobel Prize in literature as well as numerous other literary awards.

The novel is about a white South African professor of English who loses everything in post-apartheid South Africa, an era of violence perpetrated by both whites and blacks in the shifting political landscape.

This one is first on my list.









Next is Mother to Mother, by Sindiwe Magona, a fictionalized account of the murder of Fulbright Scholar, Amy Biehl.  Biehl was killed while helping organize the nation's first democratic elections in 1993.

Goodreads summarizes it like this:

"The murderer's mother, Mandisi, writes about her life, the life of her child, and the colonized society that not only allowed, but perpetuated violence against women and impoverished black South Africans under the reign of apartheid. The result is not an apology for the murder, but a beautifully written exploration of the society that bred such violence."

July's People, by Nadine Gordimer, is last on my vacation reading list.  I'm really hoping I don't run out of time for this one; it was hard to come up with the order for these three books.

Gordimer is also a South African writer who also won the Nobel Prize in literature.  Written in 1981, July's People imagines how apartheid will end, before it actually ended.

In Gordimer's novel, black South Africans violently overturn apartheid, and the main character, a liberal white South African family take refuge with the family of their black servant.

Here's info on other intriguing South African writers:  http://theculturetrip.com/africa/south-africa/articles/top-ten-south-african-writers/










From what I can tell, most of the films about South Africa have been criticized for being directed by white men and starring (and directed by) people who do not come from South Africa.  And to date, films about Nelson Mandela, specifically, have been criticized for portraying him as a saint--flawless and one dimensional.  This is true even of the most recent film about Mandela, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, just released this year.

Criticisms aside, all of it is an education for us, so here's the stretch goal.  We've seem a few of them before, but I suspect they will be worth the re-watch.