Apartheid and its aftermath: a personal perspective | York Humanists

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October 4th, 2022 19:30   --   21:00

10 May 1994 saw the formal ending of apartheid and the inauguration of Nelson Mandela as the President of South Africa. The hope was that with a new, painstakingly forged constitution – considered the most liberal in the world – and the greatest statesman of the 20th century as President, South Africa would be embarking on a golden future of racial harmony and general wellbeing.

This talk will take a necessarily idiosyncratic look (given limited direct experience of South Africa since 2002) at how that has turned out to date, and how the legacy of apartheid, and the preceding 300 years of colonial history, have shaped what is happening in South Africa now.

About David Maughan Brown

Born in Cape Town, brought up in Tanzania, a graduate of Cape Town, Cambridge and Sussex universities, David Maughan Brown taught in the English Department at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, ultimately as Professor of African Literature in English and French, for twenty years under apartheid.

With the ending of apartheid, he took on senior management roles at Natal with a view to accelerating the ‘transformation’ of the university and the HE sector in South Africa more generally, and concluded his time at Natal as Acting Vice Chancellor before moving to York to take on the role of Deputy Vice Chancellor at York St John University.

Retired in 2013, David now chairs the York branch of u3a and the Advisory Board of the Centre for Applied Human Rights at the University of York.

Free ticket: £0.00

Location

Priory Street Centre
Priory Street
York, YO1 6ET

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