This past month has flown by. Parts of it have been difficult (witnessing corporal punishment, sexism, oppression, and more mundane things like not being able to run every day and eat what I want to all the time), but most of it has been quite enlightening. My homestay family has been amazing; I am going to miss them SO MUCH. Lu and I are practically best friends, and my older sisters have truly become my sisters.
I have learned quite a lot about the ever so complicated South Africa. This place is one big paradox with a million small paradoxes within it. Race, sexuality, gender, society, oppression, power- NONE of these is easy to understand in any context, but especially here in South Africa. The University students who worked in the rural area with us were very bright and ambitious, and discussed sexism and oppression openly, but at the same time defended sexist practices. SO. CONFUSING. "They are so embedded in it," the director (and their professor) kept telling me, "it's very difficult for them to even realize that these problems exist when they grow up in it and live in it every day." Makes sense.
South Africa has some of the most progressive policies in the world, but the disparity between written policies and the practice of those policies is significant. Corporal punishment was outlawed in 1996- all lower class public schools still use it and get away with doing so. Same sex marriage is legal here, but South African society is extremely homophobic. The South African academic world is filled with brilliant scholars who have done extensive research on sexism, gender roles, and discrimination against females, yet sexism is rampant. Even within the educational world here, sexism is not addressed nearly as much as it should be.
One big paradox. An extremely intriguing one though. This has been such a learning experience and will continue to be, even after I return to the states.
No comments:
Post a Comment