When humans have trouble walking, they can get help with orthopaedic shoes or prosthetics. What happens when an animal has a problem? San Diego Zoo in California fitted one of its penguins with customised shoes to help with a degenerative foot condition. Lucas, an African penguin, developed a chronic condition called bumblefoot, which occurs in … Continue reading “Happy Feet”
Winging its way to you if you teach in 4e, the latest addition to our Shine Bright textbook collection: Shine Bright 4e. Check out the introductory video! You can see an extract of Shine Bright 4e online and find more information and a full specimen here. Don’t miss Our webinar on Wednesday 24 … Continue reading “Something Shiny is Coming: Shine Bright 4e”
William Kentridge’s work draws on South African culture and history as well as classical influences. He plunges his audience into a multi-sensory experience combining theatre, dance, music, film, drawing and animation. His show Sibyl is presented at Châtelet in Paris. Kentridge used his art to oppose apartheid and since the birth of the Rainbow Nation … Continue reading “South African Theatre, Music and Dance”
South African photographer Zanele Muholi describes themself as a visual activist. For the last 20 years, Muholi has explored the depiction of black women and the LGBTQIA+ community. Muholi’s photos are included in several modern art collections around the world and the major exhibition of their work at Tate Modern in London from 2021 has … Continue reading “Zanele Muholi: Visual Activism”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu had a unique role in the opposition to apartheid and transition to democracy in South Africa. Because he was not a political figure, but an activist and church leader, he was able to speak out when others were censored. He died at the age of 90 on 26 December. Desmond Tutu was … Continue reading “South Africa Mourns Desmond Tutu”
F.W. De Klerk, South Africa’s last President of the apartheid era, and instrumental in ending it, has died aged 85. Frederik Willem De Klerk was born into an Afrikaner political dynasty and after a short career as a lawyer became a career politician. He was elected an MP in in 1972, scaling the ranks of … Continue reading “Death of F.W. De Klerk: Last Apartheid-Era South African President”
Damon Galgut had been shortlisted twice before but 2021 was third time lucky. His novel The Promise mixes the history of a family and his country over four decades. The titular promise shows up power, class and racial divisions in South Africa. Galgut, who was born in 1963, explicitly connects the novel to the political … Continue reading “A South African Author Wins the 2021 Booker Prize”
Ready for some reading? The 2021 Booker Prize shortlist has been published and, despite eliminating Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s longlisted Klara and the Sun, contains plenty of intriguing titles. Britain’s premier literary prize opened up in 2013 to books written in English by authors of any nationality, which sparked worries of it being dominated by … Continue reading “Booker Prize 2021 Shortlist”
Our article on the South African Springboks’ first black captain Siya Kolisi is great addition to Shine Bright 1e File16 “Born-Free South Africa” . It can also be used in conjunction with Shine Bright 2de File 13 “Running for Africa” (South Africa’s team spirit). You can read it here.
South Africa’s rugby captain was born one day before the official end of apartheid in 1991. Yet he is truly part of the “born-free generation”. The first black captain of South Africa’s emblematic rugby team, Siya Kolisi was the third Springboks skipper to lift the Webb Ellis Cup, after his team won the 2019 Rugby … Continue reading “Born Almost Free”