HU Credits: 4

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: cultural studies-individual graduate prog.

Semester: Yearly

Teaching Languages: English

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof Louise Bethlehem

Coordinator Email: louise.bethlehem@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Wednesday 12:30-13:30

Teaching Staff:
Prof Louise Bethlehem

Course/Module description:
Nelson Mandela: The Politics of Representation
This course examines the life of the South African political prisoner who became the first democratic president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. It examines his historical contribution to the mobilization of black protest in South Africa against the growing repression of the apartheid regime, in order to ask questions about postcolonial nationalism and mass democratic resistance. It goes on to examine Mandela’s status as a “Man of the law” as Jacques Derrida famously put it (1986) in the context of the Treason Trial and Rivonia Trial of the late fifties and early sixties, examining Derrida’s repeated engagements with Mandela in this context. The status of Mandela’s autobiography will be examined as a work of prison literature that intersects the autobiography of his wife, Winnie Madikizela Mandela as well as literary texts like South African author Njabulo Ndebele’s metafictional novel The Cry of Winnie Mandela (2004). The extensive corpus of popular cultural representations of Mandela’s life in film, comics, song and musical performance, and orature will be discussed. Mandela’s status as an icon galvanizing the global anti-apartheid movement through the mobilization of popular culture provides another thematic layer of the course, with special emphasis being paid to Mandela’s 70th Birthday Commemoration Concert held while he was still in prison which reached an audience of 600 million viewers. Finally, the course will investigate what critic Sarah Nuttall has termed “Mandela’s mortality” as well as the capture and consumption of his memory in the global public sphere following his death.

Course/Module aims:
To position Mandela in relation to Western and indigenous political philosophy.
To understand the struggle against apartheid against the backdrop of decolonization and in light of the writings of Franz Fanon.
To position Mandela in relation to cultural aspects of the anti-apartheid struggle.
To investigate the ongoing legacy of Nelson Mandela following his death in 2013.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
To engage critically with the biography of Nelson Mandela.
To identify key concepts of Mandela's political thought.
To evaluate Mandela's role as cultural icon.

Attendance requirements(%):
100

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Seminar and guest lectures. Two films will be screened as part of the course.

Course/Module Content:
On Non-Violence: Mandela after Fanon
Professor Louise Bethlehem, Yearly Seminar 2018-2018
Consultation hour: Wednesday 12:30-13:30, 7816 Humanities Building

Weekly Schedule
First Semester
24/10/17 Introduction: Nelson Mandela as Postcolonial Terrorist
31/10/17 On (Non)Violence: Fanon, Mandela and Decolonization
7/11/17 The World that Made Mandela: Sophiatown
14/11/17 Political Histories of Resistance: ANC, PAC
21/11/17 Guest Lecture: Benjamin Pogrund (biographer of Robert Sobukwe).
28/11/17 Screening: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom*
5/12/17 Research Dossier Session
12/12/17 Black Man in a White Man’s Court
19/12/17 Carceral Systems: Robben Island and Northern Ireland
26/12/17 Carceral Systems continued; introduction to Ahmed Kathrada
02/01/18 Carcerality and Multidirectional Memory: Ahmed Kathrada, continued
09/01/18 Research Dossier Session
16/01/18 “The Cry of Winnie Mandela”
23/01/18 “The Cry of Winnie Mandela” continued

Second Semester
20/03/18 Introduction: Celebrity, Popular Culture, and the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
27/03/18 Screening One Humanity*
10/04/18 Music and the Struggle: The Free Mandela Concert
17/04/18 Music and the Struggle, continued
24/04/18 Brand Mandela
01/05/18 “The Beauty of Nelson Mandela”: Mandela and Visual Culture
08/05/18 Research Dossier
15/05/18 Mandela and Political Transition in South Africa
22/05/18 Mandela and the Currency of Reconciliation
29/05/18 Mandela’s Mortality
05/06/18 Research Dossier
12/06/18 Afterlives: Fanon after Mandela
19/06/18 Mandela as Political Philosopher; Mandela and Political Philosophers
26/06/18 Research Dossier Presentations

* Screenings will take place in the evening 17:45-20:00, one screening each semester.

Required Reading:
On (Non)Violence: Mandela after Fanon
Professor Louise Bethlehem
Compulsory Biographical Reading
Boehmer, Elleke. 2008. Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press).
http://hufind.huji.ac.il/Record/HUJ001861147
And ONE of the following texts
Mandela, Nelson. 1994. Long Walk to Freedom. (Randburg, SA; Macdonald Purnell). (Book is held in Mount Scopus Library).
Meer, Fatima. 1990. Higher than Hope: A Biography of Nelson Mandela (London: H. Hamilton). (Book is held in Mount Scopus Library).
Lodge, Tom. 2006. Mandela: A Critical Life. (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid&eq;0&sid&eq;4250a360-3065-4fe8-860c-d5d8b3965c43%40sessionmgr4008&bdata&eq;JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN&eq;186483&db&eq;nlebk
Filmography
Bestall, Clifford 1999 Long Walk of Nelson Mandela OSV 11649
Chadwick, Justin 2013 Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Public Screening)
Wright, Max 2014 Nelson Mandela The Freedom Fighter OSV 11880




Syllabus
Badenhorst, Paul. 2015. “The Weathered Corrugations of His Face: A Performative Reflection on Nelson Mandela, Self, and the Call for Racial (Un)Becoming.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research 16(2) Article 2.
Bady, Aaron. 2014. “Robben Island University.” Transition 116: 106-19. DOI: 10.1353/tra.2014.0056.
Barnard, Rita. 2014. The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela (Cambridge: Cambridge UP). https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Boehmer, Elleke. 2005. “Postcolonial Terrorist: The example of Nelson Mandela.” Parallax, 11(4): 46-55, DOI: 10.1080/13534640500331666.
Bogues, Anthony. 2014. “Nelson Mandela: Decolonization, Apartheid and the Politics of Moral Force.” Boundary2 41(2):34-36.
Buntman, Fran Lisa. 2003. Robben Island and prisoner resistance to Apartheid. Cambridge University Press. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct&eq;true&db&eq;nlebk&AN&eq;152214&site&eq;eds-live.
Bromley, Roger. 2014. “’Magic Negro’, Saint or Comrade: Representations of Nelson Mandela in Film,” Other Modernities 12: 40-58.
Cajee, Amin. 2016. Fordsburg Fighter: The Journey of an MK Volunteer, 24-26. (South Africa: Face2Face)
Callinicos, Luli. 2000. The World that Made Mandela: A Heritage Trail. (Johannesburg: STE Publishers).
Campbell, Kurt. 2014. “To Think as a Boxer: Thoughts on Reading Shadow Boxing.” Transition 16: 120-27.
Crais, Clifton and Thomas V. McClendon, eds. 2013. The South Africa Reader: History, Culture, Politics, 279-304; 320-324; 339-355; 470. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press).
Deacon, Harriet, and Paul Basu. 1998. “Remembering Tragedy, Constructing Modernity: Robben Island as a National Monument.” In Negotiating the Past: The Making of Memory in South Africa. (Cape Town: Oxford UP).‏
Derrida, Jacques. 2014. “Admiration of Nelson Mandela, or The Laws of Reflection,” Law & Literature, 26(1): 9-30, DOI: 10.1080/1535685X.2014.896149.
Derrida, Jacques and Peggy Kamuf. 1986. “But, beyond... (Open Letter to Anne McClintock and Rob Nixon).” Critical Inquiry Vol. 13 (1): 155-170. http://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/jacques_derrida_dossier/
Derrida, Jacques. 1985. “Racism's Last Word” trans. Peggy Kamuf. Critical Inquiry 12 (1): 290-99. http://criticalinquiry.uchicago.edu/jacques_derrida_dossier/
Dubow, Saul. 2014. “The Apartheid Election, 1948” in Apartheid: 1948-1994, 1-31 and
Fanon, Frantz. 1963 “On the Pitfalls of National Consciousness.” In Wretched of the Earth (New York: Grove). Online: http://burawoy.berkeley.edu/Reader.101/Fanon.V.pdf
Gerhart, Gail M. 1978. Black Power in South Africa: The Evolution of an Ideology , 85-172. (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Gikandi, Simon. 2014. “Nelson Mandela: The Absent Cause.” PMLA 129(3): 321-29.
Gordimer, Nadine. 1999. “Mandela: What He Means to Us.” In Living in Hope and History: Notes from our Century, 150- 154. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Gordimer, Nadine. 1999. “1959: What is Apartheid.” In Living in Hope and History: Notes from our Century, 105- 114. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Hepple, Bob. 2013. Young Man with a Red Tie: A Memoir of Mandela and the Failed Revolution, 1960–1963, 33-52. (Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacana Media).
Huddleston, Trevor. Naught for Your Comfort, 177-191 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday &Company, Inc.).
Krabill, Ron. 2009. “I may not be a Freedom Fighter, but I Play One on TV”, in Starring Mandela and Cosby: Media and the End(s) of Apartheid, 119-145. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid&eq;0&sid&eq;e5cb5be8-14ed-426b-84a7-a01795c7408f%40sessionmgr104&bdata&eq;JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN&eq;336775&db&eq;nlebk
Lodge, Tom. 1983. Black Politics in South Africa since 1945, 139-152. (Johannesburg: Ravan).
Mandela, Nelson. 1986. “’Black Man in a White Court’: First Court Statement, 1962” and “Second Court Statement, 1964” in Nelson Mandela: The Struggle is My Life, 133-181. (London: International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa).
Marback, Richard. 2004. “The Rhetorical Space of Robben Island.” Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 34 (2): 7–27. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40232409.
Mbembé, J-A (Achille) & Meintjes, Louise. 2003. "Necropolitics." Public Culture, 15 (1): 11-40. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/39984.
Mangcu, Xolela. 2013. “Retracing Nelson Mandela through the Lineage of Black Political Thought.” Transition112: 101-116.
Mangcu, Xolela. 2014. “A Critic, In Retrospect.” Transition 116: 27-39. DOI: 10.1353/tra.2014.0057
Munro, Brenna. 2014. “Nelson, Winnie, and the Politics of Gender.” In Barnard, ed., 92-112. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Ndebele, Njabulo. 2003. The Cry of Winnie Mandela. Cape Town: David Philip.
Nixon Rob. 1994. “Mandela, Messianism, and the Media.” In Homelands, Harlem, and Hollywood: South African Culture and the World Beyond. (London: Routledge).
Nelson, Steven. 2014. “Nelson Mandela’s Two Bodies.” Transition 116: 130-42. DOI: 10.1353/tra.2014.0065
Nuttall, Sarah and Achille Mbembe. 2014. “Mandela’s Mortality.” In Barnard, ed., 267-290. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Pogrund, Benjamin. 2014. “ Nelson Mandela and the Israel-Palestine Conflict: Lessons, Messages and Misinterpretations” Palestine-Israel Journal 19(3):72-76
Posel, Deborah. “’Madiba Magic’: Politics as Enchantment.” In Barnard, ed., 70-91. DOI: 10.1353/tra.2014.0065
Quayson, Ato. 2014. “Winnie’s Penelope: On Solitude and the Comfort of Strangers.” Arcade: Literature, Humanities and the World. http://arcade.stanford.edu/blogs/winnie%E2%80%99s-penelope-solitude-and-comfort-strangers.
Schalkwyk, David. 2014. “Mandela, the Emotions, and the Lessons of Prison.” In Barnard, ed., 50-69. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Sitze, Adam. 2014. “Nelson Mandela and the Law,” in Barnard, ed. 134-61. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Soudien, Crain. “Nelson Mandela, Robben Island and the Imagination of a New South Africa.” Journal of Southern African Studies, 41 (2): 353-66. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.1012915.
Temba, Can. “Requiem for Sophiatown.” Africa South, April 1959, 49-54.
Tomaselli, Keyan G., and Bob Boster. "Mandela, MTV, Television and apartheid." Popular Music and Society 17.2 (1993): 1-19.
Von Robbroeck, Lize. 2014. “The Visual Mandela: A Pedagogy of Citizenship.” In Barnard, ed. 244-266. https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003766.
Wood, Rulon, et al. "Public Memory, Digital Media, and Prison Narratives at Robben Island." ["La mémoire publique, les médias numériques et les récits de la prison à Robben Island"]. ESSACHESS, vol. 10, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 173-195. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct&eq;true&db&eq;sih&AN&eq;124216335&site&eq;eds-live
Youcef, Adbeljalil Larbi. 2014. “The Algerian Army Made Me a Man.” Transition 116: 67-79.

Additional Reading Material:
Additional reading lists will be tailored for the individual research dossiers of each participant.

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 0 %
Project work 0 %
Assignments 60 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 40 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
Humanities Building
Mt Scopus