Course syllabus autumn 2025
Course syllabus autumn 2025
Title
South Africa: From Apartheid to Democracy in a Global Perspective
Swedish title
South Africa: From Apartheid to Democracy in a Global Perspective
Course code
IS226F
Credits
15 credits
Grading scale
UV / Fail (U), Pass (G) or Pass with Distinction (VG)
Language of instruction
English
Decision-making body
Faculty of Education and Society
Syllabus approval date
2021-02-08
Syllabus valid from
2023-08-28
Entry requirements
General entry requirements + English 6
Level
Basic level
No main field.
Progression level
G1N
Course objectives
The main objective of this course is to enable students to develop an understanding of the origins and history of the apartheid system and how it affected people within and beyond South Africa. Students will also develop their ability to analyse contemporary ideological conflicts and multiple ways of exercising political resistance.
Course contents
Modules
South Africa During Apartheid, 7.5 credits
Module contents
The first course focuses on the South African context to create an understanding of the origins and history of the apartheid system. This course deals with a variety of themes during lectures, readings and sources, and focuses on analyses of South Africa’s political development during the 20th century.
Module learning outcomes
After completing the course, students will be able to:
1. describe how apartheid affected the living conditions of people in South Africa;
2. account for and analyse different forms of resistance to segregation and apartheid, and how social and cultural norms and identities affected resistance repertoires.
3. discuss, contextualise and problematise a range of sources created during the apartheid era.
Module learning activities
This course contains a range of teaching methods, including lectures and seminars. Students are expected to actively contribute with reflections, knowledge and perspectives. The course contains compulsory elements that will be communicated at the start of the course.
Module assessment
Assessment 1: Essay, 6 hp. This examination assesses intended learning outcomes 1 and 2.
Assessment 2: Oral Presentation, 1,5 hp. This examination assesses intended learning outcome 3.
The assessment criteria will be made available by the course leader at the start of the course.
All assessments are based on individual performance.
The Global Anti-Apartheid Movement, 7.5 credits
Module contents
This course focuses on the global anti-apartheid movement. It features case studies from the UK, Sweden and the German Democratic Republic (among others) to examine how the apartheid system affected people beyond South Africa’s borders. The creation of a global resistance movement is analysed using theoretical perspectives such as social movement theory.
Module learning outcomes
After completing this course, students will be able to:
1. describe how a global movement emerged to protest against apartheid regime in South Africa;
2. discuss connections between global trends and local contexts in the creation of the anti-apartheid movement;
3. discuss, contextualise and problematise various source materials created during the struggle against apartheid across the world.
Module learning activities
This course contains a range of teaching methods, including lectures and seminars. Students are expected to actively contribute with reflections, knowledge and perspectives. The course contains compulsory elements that will be communicated at the start of the course.
Module assessment
Assessment 1: Take-Home Exam, 6 hp. This examination assesses intended learning outcomes 1 and 2.
Assessment 2: Oral Presentation, 1,5 hp. I This examination assesses intended learning outcome 3.
The assessment criteria will be made available by the course leader at the start of the course.
All assessments are based on individual performance.
Course literature
South Africa During Apartheid, 7.5 credits
Beinart, William. 2001. Twentieth-century South Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapters 5-10, 114-285 (171 p)
Biko, Steve. 1987. I Write What I Like. London: Heinemann. (160 p.)
Cherry, Janet. 2007. “We were not afraid”: The Role of Women in the 1980s’ Township Uprising in the Eastern Cape. In Gasa, Nomboniso (ed.). They Remove Boulders and Cross Rivers: Women in South African History. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 281-313 (32 p)
Dubow, Saul. 2014. Apartheid 1948-1994. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chapter 1-2, 1-73 (72 p)
Gasa, Nomboniso. 2007. Feminisms, motherisms, patriarchies, and women’s voices in the 1950s. In Gasa, Nomboniso (ed.). Women in South African History: They Remove Boulders and Cross Rivers. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 207-232 (25 p)
Horwitz, Simonne. 2010. Black nurses’ strikes at Baragwanath Hospital, Soweto, 1948-2007. In Dawson, Marcelle C. & Beinart, William (ed.). Popular Politics and Resistance Movements in South Africa. Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 207-226 (19 p)
Mager, Anne K. & Mulaudzi, Maanda. 2011. Popular responses to apartheid: 1948-c.1975. In Ross, Robert, Mager A.K & Nasson, Bill (ed.). The Cambridge History of South Africa Vol.2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 369-408 (39 p)
Posel, Deborah. 2011. The Apartheid Project, 1948-1970. In Ross, Robert, Mager A.K & Nasson, Bill (ed.). The Cambridge History of South Africa Vol.2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 319-368 (49 p)
Schalkwyk, David. 2014. Mandela, the emotions, and the lessons of prison. I Barnard, Rita (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to Mandela. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 50-69 (19 p)
Swanson, Maynard W. 1995. The Sanitation Syndrome: Bubonic plague and urban native policy in the Cape Colony, 1900–09. In Beinart, William & Dubow, Saul (ed.). Segregation and Apartheid in Twentieth Century South Africa. London: Routledge, 25-42 (17 p)
300 pages of journal articles will be added to the course literature list at the start of the course.
The Global Anti-Apartheid Movement, 7.5 credits
Boehmer, Elleke. 2008. Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 51-81 (30 p)
Christiaens, Kim & Goddeeris, Idesbald. 2019. Solidarity or Anti-Apartheid? The Polish Opposition and South Africa, 1976–1989. In Konieczna Anna & Skinner, Rob (ed.). A Global History of Anti-Apartheid: Forward to Freedom in South Africa. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 291-315 (24 p)
Della Porta, Donatella & Diani, Mario. 2020. The Symbolic Dimension of Collective Action. In della Porta, Dontatella & Daini, Mario. Social Movements: An Introduction. 3rd edition. Bridgewater: John Wiley, 64-88 (24 p)
Nuttall, Sarah & Mbembe, Achille. 2014. Mandela’s mortality. In Barnard, Rita. The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 267-290 (23 p)
Reddy, Enuga. 2008. The United Nations and the Struggle for the Liberation of South Africa. In South African Democracy and Education Trust (SADET). The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 3: International solidarity, Part I. Pretoria: UNISA Press, 41-140 (99 p)
Sellström, Tor. 2008. Sweden and the Nordic countries: Official solidarity and assistance from the West. In South African Democracy and Education Trust (SADET). The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 3: International solidarity, Part I. Pretoria: UNISA Press, 421-532 (111 p)
Shubin, Vladimir & Traikova, Marina. 2008. There is no threat from the Eastern Bloc. In South African Democracy and Education Trust (SADET). The Road to Democracy in South Africa. Volume 3: International solidarity, Part 2. Pretoria: UNISA Press, 985-1066 (81 p)
250 pages of journal articles will be added to the course literature list at the start of the course.
Course evaluation
Malmö University provides students who participate in, or who have completed a course, with the opportunity to express their opinions and describe their experiences of the course by completing a course evaluation administered by the University. The University will compile and summarise the results of course evaluations. The University will also inform participants of the results and any decisions relating to measures taken in response to the course evaluations. The results will be made available to the students (HF 1:14).
Interim rules
If a course is no longer offered, or has undergone significant changes, the students must be offered two opportunities for re-examination based on the syllabus that applied at the time of registration, for a period of one year after the changes have been implemented.
Additional information
In order to achieve a passing grade (G) on the course in its entirety, the grade of Pass (G) is required for each examination. For the award of the Pass with Distinction grade (VG) for the course in its entirety, the grade Pass with Distinction (VG) is required on 2/3 (10 hp) of the course.
If a student has a Learning support decision, the examiner has the right to provide the student with an adapted test, or to allow the student to take the exam in a different format. The syllabus is a translation of a Swedish source text.