Historical Movement between 1860 and 1990 - Assignment Example

Course name: Professor’s name: University name: City, State Date of submission: Research a historical movement between 1860and 1990 and examine how the evolution of technologies and design practices of that time have influenced contemporary design today The Anti Apartheid Movement: The place is London. On the 26th of June 1959, a boycott movement was founded as a result of a meeting, organized by the Committee of African Organizations, also known as CAO. The meeting was graced by African Leaders such as the then president of Tanganyika, Julius Nyerere, Tennyson Makiwane who was in the South African Congress, Kanyama Chiune, and Vella Pillay who was from the South Africa’s Indian Congress and Trevor Huddlestone and finally Michael Scott. (Juckes,1995). It started out as a consumer boycott organization, as the date was coincidentally on the same date as when there was to be a boycott of goods that were made by firms that were sympathetic and were supporters of the Nationalist Party. More than a decade earlier, The Nationalist Party had won the all white elections in 1948 and had decided to declare that they aim for all white supremacy in South Africa. This of course did not sit well with the locals. This is because the nationalist party aimed to enforce their promise of white supremacy by any means necessary. They then introduced a system called ‘Apartheid’. In Afrikaans, it meant apartness. In other words, all south Africans were to identify themselves as either European, Asian or Indian, colored(if one was of mixed race) or finally as African (Beinhart, 1995). The aim of this was to segregate and separate these groups. This resulted in widespread relocation of Africans from areas deemed to be fertile and rich, revocation of their rights such as free movement and they were also barred from voting, pr owning property. Specifically land. The consumer boycott movement soon gave birth to the Anti Apartheid Movement in 1960, when the members of the earlier boycott felt the need to have a more permanent organization to fight apartheid. This is after the Sharpeville massacre when protesters of the Pan African Congress party (PAC) were shot dead by South African police. Earlier on, there was a defection of members from the main African party, African National Congress. They went on to form their own Pan African Congress Party .The number of people killed was 69 with many more injured. This killing fracas was much more public than the others that escaped the world’s sight because the media was able to capture the images and sent them all over the world. On 30TH March the South African government was fed up and declared a state of emergency, where the ANC and PAC members were detained in the thousands and later on even wanted to ban the two parties. The ANC a year later formed an armed wing called Umkhonto we sizwe dedicated to sabotage. This is where efforts to finish Apartheid from the inside only, were deemed insufficient and it was time to pressure the rest of the world i.e. The International Community. The Anti apartheid first got its vindication when South Africa was expelled from the commonwealth in 1961. It was shunned internationally as the United Nations declared apartheid a crime to humanity. This was done in 1966. A decade later, in 1976, there was another shootout by the South African authorities. This time it was against schoolchildren who were against studying in Afrikaans. An estimated 600 people were killed. This raised further uproar amongst the international community. This led to worldwide sanctions towards South Africa.: The commonwealth, The European Union and states slapped all kinds of sanctions on them in the 80’s, which made it even more difficult for South Africa now. (Juckes, 1995) Fredrick de Clerk took over in the year 1989, when things had taken a turn for the worse making the state unmanageable. The armed wing of the ANC was doing all it could to disrupt the Country’s activities, mobilizing people as protests started to become somewhat violent. Apartheid had to be stopped as soon as possible. Arrested leaders started being released as the ANC called off the armed struggle against the government to ensure smooth negotiations. An agreement was made in June 1993 and the elections towards a free nation done in April 1994. This was the first non racial discriminative election done where ANC president Nelson Mandela won and became the first president. (Turnley, 2008) The Anti Apartheid movement was dissolved in April 1994. Action for South Africa was born as its replacement to promote peace in the southern part of Africa. Examine how the evolution of technologies and design practices of that time have influenced contemporary design today Contemporary design refers to what is being designed currently or rather at this specific time (Mcdermott,2010). This has influenced the design today that the ANC or rather the government is using to build houses in these areas. According to (Ogbu, 2011), the government says that they are starter homes that should help them expand when the owners get the money. She says it is disturbing, that some of these houses are even smaller than those of the AAM period. Discrimination: Although the apartheid period of discrimination is over and is illegal. It is no secret that it is still rife in some areas of South Africa where Africans are denied entry are denied entry in white only establishments (Isilow, 2011). Discrimination is not only racial. Drawing from the recent Xenophobia attacks, where the discrimination was African on African. Discrimination is a reminder of the period pre independence which is yet to be completely eradicated. Infrastructure: The way apartheid worked was that the where the white Europeans lived were accorded first priority. The current design is still influenced by this haunting past. Despite the area of least development needing more attention, the government has not been able to eradicate underdevelopment in townships, yet some areas are very far ahead and still being developed. For example, drawing comparisons between Cape Town and the townships in South Africa, the differences are vast. From independence up to now, the gap should have been reduced more, instead it is growing. Compare contrast and demonstrate on the visible influences on design then and now, showing examples visually and referencing journal articles, books and scholarly websites that support the findings. You may take examples from architecture, interior design, industrial design, visual communications and fashion. Influences on design during the AAM period and now are bound to be very different while at the same time having few similarities. The influences during the early period were bound to have rubbed off from the Europeans that had settled here during that period. There were the British and the Dutch. (Walsh, 2000) Architecture: An example would be the “Cape Dutch Architecture”. This was a design that was very common in the 17th century in South Africa from the cape colony. The way the houses were built is very distinct and this style of building went on up to the 19th Century, during the apartheid period. This is in contrast with the designs in some places in South Africa, the new buildings still resemble townships Ogbu (2011). This influence is from the AAM period in the 20th Century. Even current housing policy sometimes seems not to consider the welfare, but in the neoliberal sense and the political aspect as well. (Anita Venter, 2015) But similarly, even now, in the 21st Century this building style can be seen in the western cape of South Africa. Another point of influence in design observation would be fashion. The visible influence on fashion from the period is different. Then, the Europeans and Africans (those involved in formal activities) were influenced by how the British dressed, with a slight influence of Dutch tradition. Distinctively, now as observed by the current South African traditionalists, they were influenced by their ancestors the Khoikhoi, Khoisan and Xhosa culture. But similarly, the culture of suits emanating from the British transcends both periods. Industrial Design: Influences on industrialization then, during the AAM (Anti Apartheid Period) were down from the period of slave trade in the 17th Century. The Dutch left their farms in the cape and migrated because the British had banned Slave trade in their colony Beinhart (1995) .They brought the mindset of Slave trade with them to mainland South Africa, shown clearly by the incident when the miners boycotted their work, they were shot and forced back. In Contrast, currently, the influences in industrial design do not share the same principles and do not originate from the AMM period because “all men are created equal and free” and slave trade is nonexistent in the 21st Century. Also, currently there are Local Economic Development Agencies. These LEDA strive to ensure that the small townships that were otherwise marginalized in terms of funding or strategy get what they need in promoting industrial development. (Rogerson, 2010) Visual Communication: Prior to the AAM period, the colonizers of South Africa had ways in which they amused themselves, keeping them busy at times. They had social gatherings where they drunk and also for entertainment, they watched plays being performed, sometimes in English, sometimes in Afrikaans. Similarly, as stated by Mandela, [Nel95]there were African Plays, as influenced by their colonizers, such as a 1974 piece by Motsotsi and the Soweto Youth that aimed to unite the Africans in their struggle. Even now the plays being shown such as Sarafina are as a result of that period. In contrast however, there was the use of graffiti in the AAM period, and also currently. This was not as a result of the AAM period Influence. Interior Design: The designs of the colonizers were influenced by their earlier ancestors of the 17th century who adored paintings, as illustrated by the Dutch Golden Age Painting. However, now there is no sign of this culture influencing current design as paintings are usually reserved by only the rich in Africa. Reference List Nel95: , (Mandela), Read More