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History 103 Exam 3
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History 103 Exam 3
Group One, Question One
At the end of the Apartheid regime in 1994 when south Africa had its first democratic elections, there was a need for the country to heal as a way of transitioning to self-governance. The Apartheid regime had been marred with atrocities and injustices against native South Africans and had left deep legacies and problems among South Africans. Under apartheid, the majority of the South African population had viewed the government as a source of disorder, restriction, and violence. One of the ways the government tried to process these experiences was by setting out to unite the country and mend public opinion towards governance. A hallmark of these efforts was the drafting of a new constitution.
Work on a permanent constitution began on May 9, 1994, almost immediately after the transition to democratic rule. The constitution was drafted with apartheid experiences in the minds of the drafters and many of the provisions were to remedy some of the factors that enabled the Apartheid regime. Human rights, tolerance for divergent political opinions, and remedying the possibility of another authoritarian government were a significant fraction of the drafted constitution. For instance, the draft provided that the Constitutional Assembly, composed of 400 members and 90 members of the National Council of Provinces, approve a constitution by a two-thirds majority. This was to curb the National Party from vetoing constitutional changes since the national party alone could not make the two-thirds majority required. The constitution’s sensitivity to human rights was also demonstrated by comprehensive human rights provisions. With regards to the bill of rights, the South African constitution is one of the most comprehensive worldwide.
Additionally, still in the efforts to mend public opinion of the government, the government initiated a robust outreach program in the drafting of the constitution courting public opinion on what the people wanted to be included in the constitution. The process involved over 400 community workshops from which letters and petitions were about the constitution were garnered. The constitution was ultimately approved by President Mandela on December 5th, 1996. In as much as the constitution has had its shortcomings over the years, it was a massive attempt by the government to achieve healing for the people and move the country on from Apartheid legacies.
Group Two, Question One
Background
The end of the apartheid rule was facilitated by several factors. Internal resistance, political pressure from outside South Africa, international economic pressure, and coordinated efforts between south Africa and outside nations ultimately culminated in the end of apartheid rule. The hallmark of the fall of the apartheid regime was the period between 1990 – 1994. The period characterized by economic and cultural sanctions on the apartheid government, weakening white commitment, internal resistance, saw rapid developments in the struggle eventually leading to the formal end of the regime in 1994 when south Africa had its first democratic elections. Even though internal resistance over the years had weakened the apartheid government, it took international involvement to push out the regime that had over the years found new ways to impose themselves on the people. Internal efforts played a critical role, but international involvement in South Africa’s struggle got the job done. Outside forces were most responsible for ending the apartheid regime. Key contributions by international players that validate accreditation for the end of apartheid are discussed below.
Economic sanctions
Economic sanctions isolated the apartheid government significantly reducing the power that gourde the regime. In 1086 when economic sections were posed, south Africa was battling its neighboring nations and the country’s economy had taken a significant dip. Sanctions resulted in a further crumble in the economy forcing the apartheid regime to start negotiations around granting independence to South Africa (Clark et al. 2016). International nations that had relationships with the apartheid regime distanced themselves from any engagements with the government due to the global notion against the atrocities leveled against civilian black South Africans. The struggle received overwhelming support globally with the US congress even voting to overrule a veto vote by president Reagan which sought to shield the regime from economic sanctions. The apartheid regime was committed to controlling the South African economy, a crash in this critical aspect of government courtesy of international economic sanctions forced them into surrendering to the struggle. Economic sanctions were critical to the end of apartheid rule and were initiated by the international community.
International pressure for the release of Mandela.
Anti-apartheid activism throughout south Africa had achieved dismally over the years but gathered huge momentum once apartheid deeds took global attention. Despite dissenting voices and resistance forces, the regime had continued to stifle and oppress the blacks. Protests however started bearing fruits in the late 80s when anti-apartheid activism became a matter of global interest. International advocates and key political figures across the globe started advocating for the release of Mandela and other imprisoned freedom fighters. International political leaders also appealed to the government to allow exiled leaders back into the country. Courtesy of the boost from international pressure, Mandela was finally released in 1990. This revitalized the ANC and strengthened the internal struggle for independence. It was after the release of Mandela that formal negotiations to end apartheid rule began.
End of the cold war
The cold war had seen the US support the apartheid government, which was anti-communist, in a bid to keep South Africa from falling to communism. The fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the cold war left the apartheid regimes with no allies from the fact that no one was now fighting communism. The regime had also painted the ANC as communist puppets and used this as validation for their oppressive rule (Nixon, 2016). When the cold war ended, the regime was left with no allies to enable it. Furthermore, the justification often used that ANC was a communist agenda in South Africa no longer sufficed. The US, which was a leading champion for the freedom of black people but had been constrained by its preoccupation with limiting the spread of communism now took an active role in challenging the regime after the fall of the Soviet Union (Clark et al. 2016). The Congress facilitated economic sanctions against the apartheid government and civil rights movements voiced their concerns demanding freedom for the black people of South Africa. The end of the cold war made the regime devoid of allies and an agenda to justify their rule (Nixon, 2016). It also made the international community more united against the apartheid rule. Isolation of the regime and pressure by the international community ultimately made the regime submit.
Independence of other African States
Attainment of independence by other African nations throughout the years that apartheid reigned further reenergized South Africa’s struggle for freedom. Neighboring nations such as Zimbabwe and Angola empowered ANC leaders provided a safe space for ANC leaders to organize resistance and seek refuge in the course of the struggle to dislodge the regime. Battles with these nations further weakened the apartheid government giving internal forces the momentum to champion change. South Africans further drew inspiration from other African nations that had achieved independence over the years. This inspiration and support from neighbor states made the resistance a force to reckon with in the late 1980s and the 1990 years leading to the end of the regime. Neighboring nations helped battle the regime while other nations across Africa also inspired the resistance.
Conclusion.
Internal resistance to the apartheid regime had its achievements and contributions to the fall of the regime. It is impossible to overlook their contribution to the freedom of South Africa. However, the achievements of internal forces rank comparatively lower compared to the impact international forces made on the struggle. International forces gave the struggle the cutting edge that ultimately resulted in the end of apartheid rule. Economic sanctions, the fall of the Soviet Union and communism, international pressure for the release of Mandela, and support from South Africa’s neighbors all proved to give the struggle a decisive inch eventually seeing apartheid rule come to an end. Internal forces played a major role towards ending apartheid rule. However, forces from outside were most responsible for the end of the regime.
Work Cited.
Clark, Nancy, et al. South Africa: The rise and fall of apartheid. Routledge, 2016.
Nixon, Ron. Selling Apartheid: South Africa’s Global Propaganda War. Jacana Media, 2016.
Photographs Describing the World Today
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Photographs Describing the World Today
Introduction
In the present day, a lot evolved due to the transition in generations and technology and the pressure to keep up with trends in evolving world. Photographs are taken oftenly to symbolize various aspects of our lives and how we spend our day-to-day lives. However, some pictures are symbolic and intriguing since they are a mirror to what the whole world is experiencing, not to mention our regular habits that have formed part of our lives. Some photographers and artists have impeccably captured and written the memories down through their various artistic works, as indicated in the pictures in this descriptive essay.
1.Internet Is the New Norm
The picture above rolls out the society we are currently living in. A few people seem to enjoy life offline, while the rest are attracted to the online world. Well, let us blame this on the vast technology, available gadgets, and the nature of work. Nowadays, most corporates and companies heavily rely on the internet and technology items such as computers and mobile phones to get work done. If that is not the case, then we assume the organization is operating as incognito.
Social media is where we get to keep up with the latest gossip, fashion trends, and celebrities, which means that we would not miss a chance to be online. But lest we forget that the path less traveled is the right path and forget our connections formed offline are the most genuine bonds, it is time we moved back to the ‘old and boring’ offline modes of communication where we naturally bond and reconnect with each other.
2. Let the Rich Be Rich
The gap between the rich and the poor is vast and widens as days go by. Looking into the details of the image, the poor have very little or even no food to devour, the middle class has a share of the pie, while the rich have the largest share and are still getting more. Food is just a symbol of the worlds of the rich and poor in terms of wealth, taxes, income, and living standards, to mention a few aspects of living.
In a world where satisfaction and happiness are attached to monetary and material wealth, everyone is struggling to have something for themselves. Since the rich have more access to such, they continue to get more for themselves, stagnate in top positions in employment while the poor continue to serve as their servants. The rich enjoy low taxes while the poor are heavily taxed, yet they have very little to offer, and such is life. Corruption favors the rich, and they get away with it very quickly with the arm of the government protecting the rich’s social interest. We hope that the gap will get narrower, but for now, it remains a dream.
3. Health over Wealth, No Way!
Many companies and organizations would strive to make more profits than mind the consumer’s health. Who wouldn’t enjoy seeing their products fast move in the restaurants, chemists, or even grocery stores? Not me. That is the same case for many producers and suppliers. They are struggling to remain afloat in the market, and the only way is to please the consumers; however, there is more to what meets the eye. Plastic rice and noodles are some of the common examples and the ingredients used to make some of the foods and beverages. The surge of lifestyle diseases implies how many of these organizations do not care about people’s health.
Some pharmaceutical companies produce substandard drugs, especially fast-moving ones such as birth control pills such as the postinor-2, commonly known as the pill taken the morning after sex as an emergency pill. It is supposed to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Sometimes the pharmaceutical drugs dispense a fake batch of drugs, which are detrimental to the general health of individuals, including the kidney, besides failing to achieve the said purpose.
The images summarize the world we are living in and resonate more with what is happening with the current generation and culture. Looking at the images, it was easy to interpret their meaning and understand whatever was going on. There are more symbolic images, and they speak a thousand words for society and the entire world.
Work Cited
Hawk. “Our Nations, Ourselves: A Conversation with Robin Hemley.” World Literature Today, vol. 94, no. 2, 2020, p. 31, 10.7588/worllitetoda.94.2.0031.
Student Developmental Autobiography
Student Developmental Autobiography
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When I reflect about how long I have struggled to find myself, I cannot help it but wonder at how much I have grown since the time my mother left me in that scary kindergarten class years ago. It is true that I have learnt numerous things and I have grown and developed immensely, as each year I realize I am not the same person anymore. What contributes to this continuous change as I think about it now is more than just learning new things and growing older. No, this change has been contributed to by something else more intriguing than just learning and growing, and this something is development. It is the notion of active learning, growth, pursuit and overcoming challenges, all of which are facilitated by the idea that I have developed a lot from the time I was that little girl. I have gone through kindergarten, middle school and now I am currently studying at the university. My whole being is made up by all of the experiences I have had in all these levels of learning.
Each level of study has come with its own challenges, but the most difficult time of this journey is high school. I experienced most of the changes in my development in high school, events that proved to be exceedingly difficult to handle. At college, I have realized the experience is more pleasant, and easier as it is the time for me to refine those skills that I learned in the lower levels and pushing my limits, especially when it comes to my thoughts and intelligence. All these levels of my growth have been influenced by a number of developmental stages that we must all come by so as to develop into well- rounded individuals of some meaning to the society.
This paper, therefore, is a short history or an autobiography of specifically four experiences that have happened to me through my life stages. The paper will also relate these life experiences with a number of developmental theories proposed and developed by a number of scholars, with the main theorist being Kathleen Berger.
My very first significant experience as an individual was when I joined the kindergarten. This was my first step in the long journey of learning new things and gaining knowledge. Needless to say, the experience was extremely difficult for me because I had just been introduced to new environments filled with strangers and strange surroundings. I remember I was exceedingly scared and I clutched at my mother’s hand without wanting to let go. When she walked me to the door and gently pushed me inside my new class, I was scared and I started to scream hysterically. I looked around and I could not locate a single familiar face, except my mother’s, which was turning around a corner going the way we had come. The fact that I was going to be all alone with all these strangers distressed me immensely.
A number of theorists have carried numerous studies to explore and explain this behavior. Kathleen Berger in her books has explored different kinds of theories to try and explain why children (as I came to know later, a lot of kindergarten children behave like this when their parents or caretakers leave them alone in their new environments, one can only imagine the relief I felt when I found out I was not the only hysterical toddler in kindergarten) behave like this when left in unfamiliar environments. Kathleen’s book looks at a number of theories on development and assimilation of new schemas or knowledge that helps individuals create or form new behaviors.
According to one of the theorists the author looks at, Piaget, children have to undergo cognitive development, which involves changes in cognitive abilities and processes. In his view, early cognitive development has to do with processes based on progresses and actions into changes in operations of the mind. In his theory, Piaget addresses a number of issues which have to do with development including schemas and assimilation. A schema is both a physical and mental action that is involved in knowing and understanding. Schemas are knowledge categories that aid individuals understand and interpret the world. In the view of Piaget, a schema has to do with the process of attaining knowledge and a knowledge category. As experience increases, this new information or knowledge is used to change, add or modify previous schemas (Smith, 1993). For instance, when my mother left me in that class, the only knowledge I knew of the world was of my home and staying around familiar faces. With the new environment, I was bound to be frightened because I had been forced into a new schema without warning.
Assimilation, on the other hand, is the process of taking new information into schemas that existed before. The process is in most cases subjective because most individuals tend to modify information or experience somehow to fit in with beliefs that are preexisting (Smith, 1993). When my mother introduced me to the new environment I had not been allowed time to assimilate and accommodate the new information and knowledge about my new knowledge. As a result, I had to be scared, and, therefore, fight back the new experience until at least I became familiar with the new environment (Smith, 1993).
From the accounts above it is claer that I had to form new schemas first then accommodate within my mind and assimilate the new schemas with my preexisting knowledge for me to be comfortable with the new environment. The fact that I showed fear at my first day in school is just one way of showing that children and even adults need to be allowed some considerable amount of time for them to assimilate to new knowledge so as to be confortable with it.
Another significant experience in my life was starting high school. Many would know that high school is one of the most difficult and harsh environments any teenager can experience. It is in high school where we start to know whom we are, and whom we identify with. The transition from middle school to high school is also difficult, not to mention the adolescent issues that usually come at this stage. The reason why I put high school as one of the most significant experiences of my life is that it is during high school when I started to transition from a child to a young teenager. The transition was extremely difficult and I felt that at all times everyone was against me, and that no one ever understood me or my feelings, or my wants or needs. At this stage, it became easier for me to become isolated than to spend time with the family that was so dear to me only a few years back.
After school, I would stay in my room as I could be allowed and I just wanted to be left alone. According to a number of researchers, transitions from one stage to another can be extremely difficult, especially when one does not seek guidance and advice from experienced individuals in their lives. One of these researchers is Piaget who talked and believed in the ideology that all individuals and especially children have to try to strike a balance between accommodation and accommodation, which one can attain through a mechanism the theorist called equilibration. According to his studies, as children progress through different stages of cognitive development, it is crucial to maintain a proper balance between changing behavior to explain and account for knew information and knowledge or accommodation and applying past knowledge, which is assimilation. The idea of equilibration is one way to explain how children have the ability to move or progress from one stage of thought to another without challenges (Piaget, 1977). My experience of feeling marginalized began with my dressing and other petty things that matter to developing girls in high school like wearing bras and make up. Not having quite a number of what the popular girls had made me feel a lot more marginalized than I had ever felt before. I could not talk my parents to give me permission wear certain clothes or wear makeup, things that all the popular girls wore. The fact that I could not assimilate and accommodate the information that these things are not essential and that I did not need them is what made me behave the way I did prior to my understanding that I was fine even without these insignificant things.
This was tremendously intricate for me as all I wanted was to fit in and be more like the other girls at school. Most of the time I felt left out and there was no one to fit in with. I felt like a loner. With time, I found my place and I think I found my identity. Finding my identity was the most superlative thing to occur to me in high school. This is because I knew who I was, what I wanted, how I wanted to be seen, and how I wanted to see myself. Dressing in fancy clothes was soon a thing of the past and I stopped worrying about fitting in with certain groups of people. I became comfortable with whom I was and I instead started to focus my attention to my studies and my friends. This experience in a way identifies with the learning theory. In this case, the constructivism theory is one of the most essential ones among the three. The learning theories of Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, John Deweyy and Lev Vygotsky serve as a basis of constructivist learning theories. This theory sees learning as a process in which the student actively builds or constructs new concepts or ideas based on past and current experience or knowledge. Learning is an activity that involves building an individual’s own knowledge from his or her own experiences. This, therefore, is an extremely personal endeavor in which case internalized rules, concepts and general principles may be applied consequently in a practical context. This is also what is referred to as social constructivism. This ideology posits that knowledge is usually developed when people are introduced to new cultures. Constructivism on itself has numerous variations like discovery learning, active earning and building of knowledge (Devries and Zan, 2003). These are clearly some of the things that helped me come by my new experience or knowledge or being a more secure and confident person with myself.
Physical development was also another essential experience in my life. Physical development is usually difficult for all children, whether female or male, and it was to me too. Physical development came with a number of issues for me. I developed extremely low self esteem because I did not understand or like that my body was changing. According to the minitheories in development, children experience and show narrow behavior when developing physically like low self esteem and marginalization. These theories are usually based on the theories established by grand theories, but they do not look to explain and describe the whole of human growth and behavior (Santrock, 2008).
Another exceedingly significant experience or event in my life was learning to interact with people of the opposite sex, and having a close friend, who was a male. This is one of the most significant events in the lives of most girls. This event colludes with theories developed by Lev Vygotsy referred to as sociocultural theory. The theorist believed that caregivers, parents, culture and peers generally were responsible for the development of the higher functions of an individual. According to Lev, every function in the cultural development of a child comes about twice on the individual level and on social level. The first development is between people (interpsychological). The sociocultural theory emphasizes on how attitudes and cultural beliefs affect how learning and instruction take place and also on how peers and adults influence individual learning (Vygotsky, 1986). The culture at the school was that everyone important had to have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, and this highly influenced the fact that I wanted one for myself.
The sociocultural developmental theory explains my other experience in life better. This experience is when I finally found myself, and understood myself better and when I finally came to understand who I am. Coming into this familiarity is among the most valuable things in my life because it is through self- discovery that I came to be secure in me and what I stand for. It is true that the adolescent and teenage stages can destroy one’s identity and confidence in themselves. However, after these stages were over, I was able to find the sense of self, and like it. An essential concept in the sociocultural theory is referred to as the proximal development zone. According to the theorist, the zone of proximal development is the space amid the level of potential development as developed through solving problems under the guidance of adults od in cahoots with peers that are more capable and the actual level of development as determined by independent solving of problems. As it follows, I was able to develop into an independent person with scarce help from my more experienced peers and parents.
One usually is obligated to accept voluntarily to lose or cut themselves from the support group and struggle for their goals in life and expressing their own views and opinions. One only is able to attain interdependence when they gain the ability to organize their activities and solve their own problems (Vygotsky, 1986). When I went to college, it was awfully tricky for me as I had to a different college from all my friends and my parents were miles away. There was no one I could speak with, and I was still trying to find new friends. Before I could find a new support group, I had to learn how to depend on myself. This helped me to become independent.
References
Devries, B. & Zan, B. (2003). When children make rules. Educational Leadership 61 (1): 64–67.
Santrock, W. (2008). A topical approach to life-span development. (4 ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill.
Smith, L. (1993). Necessary knowledge: Piagetian perspectives on constructivism. Hove, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Piaget, J. (1977). Gruber, H.E.; Voneche, J.J. eds. The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.
Vygotsky, L. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.