One month later

After being back in the states for a month now South Africa is starting to be categorized into broad memories, the details are hard to remember. I’m very glad I have video from so much of it. I’m combing through it right now trying to pick out parts to string together into some sort of common theme. When I watch the video the days come flying back and it feels like I haven’t even left. Sadly some of the speakers imprint on my records were diminished by sporadic battery failures. For some of the days that had two speakers the later of the two met this fate. I should have done a better job noting when this occurred so I don’t spend hours trying to find a clip that doesn’t exist but alas, I left all the work for back home.

 

The video in question is proving very challenging. I’ve never had so much voice over to record, so much footage to work with, and so little time to cut it all together. Most videos I’ve produced take 3-4 months to make. I’ve never edited a video longer than 12 minutes either. This project needs to be completed in 3 weeks and will probably clock out at 25 minutes in length. My thesis, that the process of reconciliation we were studying in South Africa contains similarities to the process of studying abroad that we engaged in a CU students. Reconciliation thus has something to teach future study abroad students. The thesis is broken down into three main categories; truth telling; group identity; and transition evaluation. Truth telling for South Africa is it’s history and the TRC. For our group it was the act of me documenting our trip. The group identity issue is one that was brought up in our reading. Groups involved with a conflict have to redefine how they view themselves and their former adversary in order to move forward. In our group it was how we internally identified, first as Norlin Scholars, and then as our own micro community that exists outside of the class. The final point, the evaluation stage, is what we were directly studying, how effective the TRC and reconciliation has been for South Africa. For our group this will be how we received the information from the class and the culture of South Africa. We talked extensively about how we felt as we went along and personal interviews with participants will be used for this section.

 

Outside of my project, I keep seeing concepts of reconciliation creep up on me. With personal relationships, political commentary, everyone seems to be trying to reconcile. It’s quite nice in some regards but the timing of all of these outside interactions feels like fate after focusing on the subject so much. I’m reacting to these personal encounters and calls for reconciliation in my work and personal life with what I’ve learned from the class in mind in order to try and actively engage in conflict resolution personally.

 

I’ve also been trying to keep up with African news. I feel a much more personal connection to the country and region now that I have friends there to think about as I see weather reports and political commentary. It doesn’t feel as far away anymore and the world in general just feels smaller. I hope to stay engaged in this subject not simply through the summer but through my college career and beyond. Reconciliation for South Africa is far from over and while I talk about the TRC using a past tense, I recognize it is a very long process for South Africa to find racial balance and equity. The United States continues to struggle with it as I think every country does. We consider South Africa far behind us so much of the time, but on this they may be outpacing the world, addressing racial issues head on in the hopes that their history will reflect the greatest 180 degree turn in history. Going from the antithesis of the contact hypothesis to total integration is something that seems unbelievable, and there is a great deal of work to do. But next year, when the world cup is hosted by South Africa, black will be cheering next to white, will be cheering next to colored and however many thousands of other categorizations you can think of… it should be glorious.