I spent the majority of my day at uShaka Marine World, a touristy area where mainly middle-upper class folks hang out. Not exactly my kinda place, but most of the group was going there, and the almighty internet was accessible there, so I went and made some progress on my research paper (definitely a good thing). While I was there I closely observed the different types of people roaming around. Muslims, blacks, whites, foreigners, young folks, old folks, people with kids, couples- South Africa's diversity continues to amaze me. There is no typical South African, which is actually pretty cool.
In addition to all of the people I saw today, I saw groups of "traditionally dressed" (black men scantily clad in animal skins and furs- whether or not this is truly traditional or just stereotypically traditional, Im not quite sure) performing "traditional dances" (same question of tradition here). I found this to be quite degrading. It would be the equivalent of Native Americans dancing around in an Arizona casino looking "tribal" for all of the upper class whites to observe and stare at. Quite similar to an exhibition of animals in a zoo. To complete the absurdity of it all, the uShaka mascots (a goofy looking shark and some other silly character) bounced around behind the "tribal" dancers. So we have "traditional" dancers dressed in their "traditional" clothing performing what are supposed to be "traditional" dances with 21st century westernized mascots running around behind them. Anything wrong with this picture? Anything just slightly odd about it? I found it all ridiculous, to be completely honest. Any kind of exploitation of anyone's culture is wrong, and these men dressed up like this for tourists to photograph and stare at seemed to be a bit exploitative. Perhaps Im wrong, but it didnt sit well with me.
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