The Culture Of South Africa

The incomprehensible mainland of Africa is so rich and different in its society with it transforming beginning with one of the nation then coming the next one as well as inside an individual nation numerous diverse societies might be found.

Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.

Africa is a country with many different government parties, each having its own legislation. Although much of the country is of the non-white population, the government officials in South Africa were all white. This lack of diversity within the government led to the establishment of racial segregation, the term used for this segregation was apartheid.

According to my research if we study the history of South Africa all we could see is racial discrimination. Africa was all in control of Whites till 1994. South Africa got free from racial discrimination when Nelson Mandela took a step became the first black prime minister of South Africa. Contemporary South Africa is now economically strong and it is completely a racial free state. The contemporary South Africa is now in race with every state in every field. Before 1994 South Africa was completely under control of Apartheid.

The more you explore the world the more you learn about new and exotic things, but can you use “eccentric” articles of clothing for Halloween or just for fun? Well, in reality, NO! You’re probably thinking "Why would anybody be offended? I'm appreciating the culture! ” Actually, you're doing more harm than good by implying that you're with the oppression of the minority you're "borrowing" from.

The avowal that the apartheid ‘vision for democracy’ necessitated state terror and repression is evident when examining the South African apartheid system between 1960 -1994. The system of apartheid spiked significant internal resistance, hence, the ideology for apartheid stems from the creation of a white state surrounded by economically interdependent and politically dependent black states, which required state terror and repression to ensure mounting resistance and international condemnation did not abolish the apartheid system. The government responded to a series of popular uprisings and protests with police brutality, which increased support for armed resistance. Detentions were set without trial, torture, censorship and the outlawing of political oppositional organizations such as The African National Congress, the Black Conscious Movement, the Azanian Peoples Organisation, The Pan Africanist Congress and the United Democratic Front, were all a result of the apartheid government due to political resistance.

The United States of America has four distinctive regions, the commercial Northeast, the rusty Midwest, the entertaining West, and most of all, the hospitable South. As a Southerner myself, I feel like the region is very unique compared to the other three regions, which they feel the same, while the South seems very special in a certain way. It might the the history behind the region, the music that comes from here, the religious subculture, the rather heavy ruralness in an rapidly advancing world, or maybe even the people here. As someone that has lived in the South all my life, I’m aware of the practices many Southerners do, the products the South creates, and the perspectives of the people here. This will focus on the inclusive features of the South, and how much that impact the region.

Africa is land of various climates, deserts to the north, in the middle of the contenent, lays large jungles, and plains and mountains to the south. The whole southern end itself is various, not only in its in its cultures, but its peoples too. Between the beginning of the 19th century and the beginning of World War I in 1914, there was a power struggle between 3 major groups of people: The British, who had once inhabited the Cape Colony and had returned, the Native Africans, who had been there for some time, and had learned to live off the land, and the Boers, the descendants of the Dutch who had lived in the cape until the British returned. All of these people held power, but none of them held on to

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During Imperialistic times South Africa was a region of great resources that was greatly disputed over (Ellis). Europe’s main goal during these times was to compete against each other and played a “game” of which country can imperialize more African countries than the other. Imperialism was a curse to South Africa, because many wars, laws, and deaths were not necessary and would not have happened if South Africa were not imperialized.

Based on the results on Johari’ window questionnaire, I noticed that I was in-between two quadrants. The two quadrants that was in-between were the open and hidden quadrants although these were opposites they contains similar concepts. In open quadrant it shows people who are shy trying to get to know their rest of their team in due time. People could share their likes and dislike about different topics relating to the subject. It helps with communication and cooperation skills in a team setting. In the hidden quadrant people are not likely to share personal information with them. This could led to people having the wrong impression on a manager. Also this could led to the spread of hateful rumors which is bad for any work place. This will affect I as a manager as not knowing the difference between which information can be shared to my co workers. Also certain aspects of my life should be keep private. Although I scored high in both quadrants, it does not affect I personally.

The movie invictus portrays a very controversial issue that has been presented throughout history in many ethnic groups and is seen in societies up to these days. The apartheid is clearly pictured in the movie through many of the attitudes and actions that people take towards the other race they live in their day by day. What is more, Mandela constitutes one of the most important figures in South Africa, especially for the black race as he liberated them from the apartheid. From those days Mandela has been recognized worldwide as a major symbol of the rainbow nation; a reality of distinction between the black and the white people and its establishing differe nces.

Many of the contemporary issues in South Africa can easily be associated with the apartheid laws which devastated the country. The people of South Africa struggle day by day to reverse “the most cruel, yet well-crafted,” horrific tactic “of social engineering.” The concept behind apartheid emerged in 1948 when the nationalist party took over government, and the all-white government enforced “racial segregation under a system of legislation” . The central issues stem from 50 years of apartheid include poverty, income inequality, land ownership rates and many other long term affects that still plague the brunt of the South African population while the small white minority still enjoy much of the wealth, most of the land and opportunities

The question presented, concerning the South African apartheid and the music that was involved with the movements, debates whether the music came from the people’s desire to over come apartheid or if the music was a catalyst to the movement. As explained in the movie, the people used music for different aspects of the music, fundamentally a different song for every part of the movement. The music was a way in which the people could express themselves in a way that was noticed by their over rulers and which included all people taking part in the revolution.

Sexual orientation: this is one of the biggest issues here in South Africa because they feel like it is not right for example to a guy to like another guy or even more a girl liking another girl. This is seen as something really wrong had there has been cases where people were physically hurt because of it.