Founded In    1999
Published   quarterly
Language(s)   English
     

Fields of Interest

 

Humanities and Social Sciences

     
ISSN   1543-1304
     
Publisher   Routledge (Taylor and Francis)
     
Editorial Board

Lead Editor:
Andrew van der Vlies - Queen Mary University of London, UK

Editors:
Shane Graham - Utah State University, USA
Karin Shapiro - Duke University, USA

Reviews Editors:
Derek Catsam - University of Texas of the Permian Basin, USA
Annel Pieterse - University of the Western Cape, South Africa
Monica Popescu - McGill University, Canada
Tiffany Willoughby-Herard - University of California, Irvine, USA

International Editorial Board:
Rita Barnard - University of Pennsylvania, USA
Louise Bethlehem - Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Kerry Bystrom - Bard College, USA/Germany
Carrol Clarkson - University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nadia Davids - University of Cape Town, South Africa
Michele Elam - Stanford University, USA
Norman Etherington - University of Western Australia, Australia
Jeremy Foster - Cornell University, USA
Albert Grundling - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Rick Halpern - University of Toronto, Canada
Stefan Helgesson - Stockholm University, Sweden
Jon Hyslop - Colgate University, USA
Tsitsi Jaji - Duke University, USA
Christopher J. Lee - Lafayette College, USA
Simon Lewis - College of Charleston, USA
Alex Lichtenstein - Indiana University Bloomington, USA
Peter Limb - Michigan State University, USA
Zine Magubane - Boston College, USA
Mandisa Mbali - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
David Chioni Moore - Macalester College, USA
Brenna Munro - University of Miami, USA
Dana Phillips - Towson University, USA
Peter Rachleff - Macalester College, USA
Pallavi Rastogi - Louisiana State University, USA
Stéphane Robolin - Rutgers University, USA
Steven Robins - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Christopher Saunders - University of Cape Town, South Africa
Thula Simpson - University of Pretoria, South Africa
Michael Titlestad - University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Hedley Twidle - University of Cape Town, South Africa
Robert Vinson - College of William and Mary, USA
Jennifer Wenzel - Columbia University, USA
Luvuyo Wotshela - University of Fort Hare, South Africa

Founding Editor:
Andrew Offenburger - Yale University, USA

Submission Guidelines and Editorial Policies
     
Mailing Address
     

Safundi Publications
P.O. Box 206788
New Haven, CT 06520
(203) 548-9155 / Phone
(203) 548-9177 / Fax
info@safundi.com

Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies

ALTTEXT

Safundi -- "S" represents "South Africa," "a" stands for "America," and "fundi" comes from the Xhosa verb, "-funda," which translates as "to read/learn."

Safundi is an online community of scholars, professionals, and others interested in comparing and contrasting the United States of America with the Republic of South Africa.

Our journal, Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies, is the centerpiece of our online community. We believe that analyzing the two countries in a comparative and transnational context enhances our perspective on each, individually. While new comparative research is the focus of the journal, we also publish articles specifically addressing one country, provided the articles are of interest to the comparative scholar. Furthermore, our subject matter is as permeable as any country's border: we will consider research addressing other colonial and postcolonial states in Southern Africa and North America.

Articles that Safundi publishes are academic in nature. Research papers are reviewed as they are submitted. Scholarly essays are welcomed. Any topic may be addressed. We hope to provide our readers with a diverse and insightful collection of articles in each issue.

We publish on a quarterly basis. Our journal is peer-reviewed. Submissions are vetted by the editors-in-chief and the editorial board before they are accepted for publication.

The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not of the editors or of Safundi itself.

 

» Visit Journal Web Site

April 2005, Issue 18

Immigration: The Forgotten Factor in Cape Colonial Frontier Expansion, 1658-1817


The paper argues that the immigration of single European males to the Cape throughout the Dutch period has been overlooked in the debate about the expansion of the frontier. The presence of these immigrants affected the demography of the settlement and accounts for the consistently high free male sex ratio at the Cape. The paper challenges the mythology of large self-perpetuating pre-1707 settler families using up available land and pushing the frontier forward. It also draws attention to the fact that the Dutch East India Company, while not actively supporting immigration, was favorably disposed to able-bodied single men in their service taking up residence at the Cape, as thousands of successful applications for burgher status indicate. These immigrants, drawn from economically depressed urban areas of northern Europe, cautiously entered the settler economy first as knechts, bywoners, hunters, traders, and graziers, before ultimately acquiring their own farms. It was they, who as early as 1702, made contact with the Xhosa. Moreover, they vied with Cape-born men for marital partners. Local women, both slave and free, showed a preference for the newcomers, demonstrating a tendency to exogamy not appreciated in the persistent mythology of a closed settler community, or a herrenvolk democracy.

Unbowed and Unbanned: The South African Freedom Charter at Fifty


Adopted in South Africa in 1955 by forces opposed to the regime, the South African Freedom Charter was one of the most important hortatory declarations of the post-Cold War era. The Charter was adopted by the largest multiracial assembly in the history of the country at that time. The campaign leading up to the Charter's creation introduced thousands to political activity and put to the test the ideas of the opposition movement about non-racial, non-sectarian politics and coalition building. The Charter also provided a lightening rod for the regime's attacks against the liberation movement. The document was the smoking gun in the 1956 Treason Trial--proof of the movement's "revolutionary" and "communist" aims. This article situates the story of the Freedom Charter in the ideological history of the South African liberation movement from the 1950s to the 1990s. It considers its role in shaping the constitutive instruments of the post-apartheid era, and it assesses the Charter's contribution to the global dialogue in human rights over the relationship between political and socioeconomic rights.

The Burden of Celebrating True Greatness: "A Response to Derek Catsam's ""Choosing the Wings on Which One Soars"""


The author, whose paper in Safundi Issue 16--"Soaring on the Wings of Pride: Martin Luther King Jr. and the 'New' South Africa"--prompted a response from Safundi reader Derek Catsam, counters the reader's criticisms and explains further why he feels Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy continued to have a significant influence on South Africa through the 1980s. Additionally, notes the author, "We need to continue [this] dialogue because the last remnants of apartheid in the United States and South Africa have not yet faded."

What’s Greatness Got to Do with It?: A Response to a Response


The author continues a discussion on Martin Luther King Jr.'s lasting legacy in South Africa in the 1980s, begun with the publication of Lewis V. Baldwin's article in Safundi Issue 16, "Soaring on the Wings of Pride: Martin Luther King Jr. and the 'New' South Africa."

Other Issues

July 2013, Volume 14, Number 3
April 2007, Volume 8, Number 2
January 2007, Volume 8, Number 1
Deterritorializing American Culture, 23
Safundi Issue 22, Issue 22
George Fredrickson's White Supremacy , Issue 21
October 2005, Issue 20
July 2005, Issue 19
January 2005, Issue 17
October 2004, Issue 16
July 2004, Issue 15
April 2004, Issue 13-14
October 2003, Issue 12
July 2003, Issue 11
April 2003, Issue 10
May 2002, Issue 09
February 2002, Issue 08
November 2001, Issue 07
July 2001, Issue 06
April 2001, Issue 05
January 2001, Issue 04
October 2000, Issue 03
July 2000, Issue 02