Not quite fair play, old chap: The complexion of cricket and sport in South Africa

This review essay explores the racial and social divides that have permeated cricket in South Africa

A flying Springbok of wartime British skies: A.G. "Sailor" Malan

This article, an expanded version of a 2008 public lecture, explores the life and times of Adolph Gysbert ʻSailorʼ Malan, a South African who rose to prominence as a combatant in the 1940 Battle of Britain and who, after his post-war return to the Union, became a notable personality in liberal reform politics. A classic Anglo-Afrikaner empire loyalist or ʻKingʼs Afrikanerʼ, Malan became ʻSailorʼ through his interwar merchant marine service, joining the Royal Air Force in the later 1930s. An exceptional fighter pilot, his wartime role as an RAF ace in defending Britain turned him into a national hero, a migrating loyal Springbok who had sprung selflessly to the defence of Great Britain. Subsequently, as an ex-serviceman, Malan drew on his wartime sensibilities and beliefs to return to political battle in his home country, in opposition to post-1948 Afrikaner nationalism and its apartheid policies. The mini-biography of Sailor Malan analyses several key life-story elements, including his seafaring apprenticeship, British wartime identity and combat experience, and troubled relationship with post- 1945 South Africa as a gradualist liberal

Fording the Amazon

The original publication is available at http://www.sajs.co.za/In 1928, with the Wall Street Crash and the start of the Great Depression only a year away, prospects for the Ford Motor Company still looked rosy. Henry Ford’s celebrated Model T had been a major success. His firm’s new Model A was just around the corner and had already received 700 000 orders. But there were flies in the ointment. Market competition from newer car manufacturers with lower production costs was denting sales and squeezing profits. The wages of Ford’s mass assembly line workers could not be slashed because they were the essential purchasers of the vehicles they produced. Suppliers of key motor components, particularly the big rubber companies of Firestone, Goodyear and General, would not discount their prices. Thus, although Ford’s factories continued to expand, allowing him to maintain his status as the world’s richest man at the pinnacle of his wealth and power, lowering the vehicle production costs was becoming a preoccupation. Yet, the rising demand for rubber after the First World War continually frustrated Ford’s plans.Publishers' versio

Springboks at the Somme: The making of Delville Wood, 1916

African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented 21 October 1996In late-June 1916, Private James Ross of the 1st South African Infantry Brigade's 4th Regiment, South African Scottish, added a postscript to a letter despatched home to Cape Town from Sailly le Sec in the Picardy countryside. His mind and spirit instinctively forfeit to the green and tawny fields of northern France, ‘surely the neatest part of the globe’, he wrote to his parents, ‘what impresses me most here is the colour ... the red of the poppies is breathtaking, and truly indescribable.’ At this distance, Ross's observation seems almost a moment of providential suspension; until present and future merged, he seemed blithely unaware that the grassy realm around him was a poisoned pastoral. Near Corbie, further along the British Fourth Army's line, a resting fellow soldier, John Kilgour Parker, enjoyed a brisk sluicing in the Somme before idling away the 25th June, admiring the pipe bands of the 9th Division Black Watch or taking himself off to the sinewy challenge of tossing the caber against men of the 3rd Transvaal and Rhodesia Regiment. Aware of the incongruity of his tranquil reserve situation as the war closed in upon the recently-arrived South African contingent, Kilgour Parker was made edgy by the interminable din of the massive British artillery bombardment of German defences, reflecting, 'so much for this comic fireworks war. I suppose that if we took things seriously, our nerves would probably go in a month'. Yet things were very soon to be taken seriously, and men like Ross and Kilgour Parker would then find themselves advancing to the very border of their human sanity. For not far ahead lay the terrifying resolution of the Somme offensive, and in particular the perforating shock of Delville Wood for South African forces

Après l’apartheid, enseigner l’histoire

Cet article explore les changements affectant l’histoire, ainsi que son développement et son statut, dans les établissements scolaires d’Afrique du Sud à l’ère de l’apartheid et de l’après-apartheid. Sous le régime du Parti national, l’histoire du pays était un élément clé du système éducatif, proposant une version du passé de la nation qui légitimait la domination de la minorité blanche. Lors des luttes populaires contre l’apartheid dans les années 1970 et 1980, l’histoire à l’école s’est transformée de manière informelle en outil de résistance intellectuelle. Cependant, sous le gouvernement de la majorité, le curriculum d’histoire a d’abord été marginalisé, puis rétabli dans son importance, avant d’être à nouveau délaissé. Les responsables politiques actuellement au pouvoir et certains spécialistes de l’éducation souhaitent rendre obligatoire l’enseignement de l’histoire de l’Afrique du Sud, afin de répondre à des objectifs nationalistes et patriotiques clairement affichés.This paper explores the changing nature, development and status of history in contemporary South African schools in the apartheid and post-apartheid periods. Under National Party apartheid rule, South African history was a crucial element of the educational system, as it provided a version of the national past which sought to legitimise the domination of a white racial minority. During the popular anti-apartheid struggles of the 1970s and 1980s, history at school level was transformed informally into a tool of intellectual resistance. However, under majority rule, the fortunes of the history curriculum have been cyclical – first marginalised, then restored to importance, then again neglected. Currently, there is a new call from ruling politicians and some educationists for South African history to be made compulsory in order to serve an explicitly majoritarian nationalist and patriotic agenda.Este artículo explora los cambios que afectan a la historia, su desarrollo y su estado en los centros escolares de Sudáfrica durante y después del apartheid. Durante el régimen del Partido Nacional, la historia del país fue un elemento clave del sistema educativo : proponía una versión del pasado de la nación que legitimaba la dominación de la minoría blanca. Con las luchas populares contra el apartheid en los años 70 y 80, la historia en la escuela se convirtió de manera informal en un arma de resistencia intelectual. Sin embargo, con el gobierno de la mayoría, primero se marginalizó el currículo de historia, luego se recuperó, para después volver a ser relegado a un segundo plano. Los responsables políticos actualmente en el poder y algunos especialistas de la educación desean hacer obligatoria la enseñanza de la historia de Sudáfrica para responder a unos objetivos nacionales y patrióticos claramente expresados

Drugs

Throughout history, intoxicants were an important part of the war experience. The First World War was by no means an exception in that respect: its main "war drugs" were alcohol (mostly beer, brandy, rum, schnapps, wine, and vodka), morphine, and cocaine. These were both "prescribed" by military authorities and "self-prescribed" by soldiers. As in the past, the reasons for using drugs varied: from purely medical (killing the pain, anesthetizing, and energizing) to performance enhancement, from raising the fighting spirit to alleviating combat trauma, from strengthening bonds between companions to mitigating the fear of battle. Simultaneously and paradoxically, in many states temperance ideas gained in popularity and prohibitionist regulations were adopted