I just got home following a 16 hour flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta, then another 5 from Atlanta to LA. I’m exhausted, but I need to write some of this down.
I never imagined I'd get to visit Africa. I never thought I'd go to South Africa.
I was first asked by Paul Prinsloo two years ago if I would be interested and willing to keynote at the ICDE conference in South Africa. I hesitated a little bit: there are places I simply won’t visit or speak because of the politics of the regime in power, a history of imperialism, my safety and speech as a woman, and so on.
I said “yes” to South Africa, particularly when I knew that Tressie McMillan Cottom would also be keynoting. But I thought “what have we got ourselves into?” when I learned the conference would be held in Sun City.
When the protest song “Sun City” was released in 1985, I don’t think I knew much about South Africa or apartheid. I learned about the boycott of the country, about South African music (Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Johnny Clegg), about Nelson Mandela, about Steve Biko, about the history and the present-day conditions of South Africa – I think this all played a significant part of shaping my politics as a teen.
This week, I played Sun City.
The resort and casino at Sun City first opened in 1979. It was built on the Black homeland of Bophuthatswana, where the apartheid government said it would allow gambling and topless performances – illegal in the rest of South Africa. Sun City is about two hours away from Johannesburg, making it a popular holiday and weekend destination.
The Palace of the Lost City, which according to its promotional materials was “inspired by the myth of a lost African kingdom,” opened in 1994, the year Black South Africans finally received the right to vote.
I wanted to give a nod in my keynote – subtly at the very least – to how out-of-sorts I felt coming and speaking to a group of international educators, including a sizable number that address education and development issues directly. I spoke about imperialism and tech.
I was called “the real imperialist” on Twitter for raising the topic.
Mostly (and thankfully), my talk on education technology and "the Silicon Valley narrative" was well received.
I tipped generously – for whatever that’s worth. (Everything and nothing.)
The price tag on everything was so ridiculously cheap. (People. Products.)
Tressie cited economist Thomas Piketty in her keynote:
60%-65% of South Africa's wealth is concentrated in the hands of just 10% of the population (compared to 50%-55% in Brazil, and 40%-45% in the US).
I spent a week in South Africa. I drank a lot of delicious red wine. I ate curry almost every meal. I had bunny chow twice.
Curry is my favorite thing about empire, I confess.
During the conference’s closing ceremony, a (almost entirely) white group of high school students performed songs from The Lion King.
The plane back to the US was full of white American Christian missionaries.
The land was breathtakingly beautiful.
On the road between the airport and the resort, one could see how people still live in corrugated metal shacks. There was very limited indoor plumbing. But sure, let’s head to Sun City to talk about “the Internet.”
I visited nearby Pilanesberg National Park twice. I went on two game drives – a 3.5 hour drive for R475 – that’s about $36. I saw elephants, impala, zebra, white rhinos, wildebeests, springboks, giraffes, warthogs, lions, waterbucks, vivid monkeys, tsessebes, hippos, a leopard, a black-backed jackal, and a fish eagle.
On the first game drive, which started at 6am, our truck broke down right in front of an outcrop of red rocks – leopard territory. Two flat tires. We could hear the leopard shouting (“growling,” I suppose, is the more accurate verb) at us as we sat and waited for almost 90 minutes in the baking sun for a replacement jeep. It was slightly terrifying and fairly reassuring thanks to our guide, Frasier, who regaled us with stories about all his bites (monkeys, snakes, spiders) and all his expeditions.
I almost cried every time I saw elephants. What beautiful creatures.
I saw elephants. I didn’t see Soweto.
