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Event Recap

On March 19, BC sociology professor Zine Magubane, a native of South Africa, spoke at the Boisi Center about her home country鈥檚 contemporary challenges. The luncheon continued a conversation began at the Boisi Center鈥檚 advanced screening of the biopic 鈥淢andela: Long Walk to Freedom鈥� at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in early December, coincidentally on the very day Nelson Mandela died.

Magubane explained that South Africa鈥檚 most pressing issues concern the relationship of sexual equality, gender equality, religion, traditional culture, and public life. South Africa鈥檚 constitution seeks to protect both human rights and the rights of traditional culture鈥攇oals that sometimes conflict. Women鈥檚 rights are protected, for example, as are the rights of gays and lesbians. (In fact,South Africa legalized same-sex marriage before the United States did.) Yet in the name of traditional culture, these rights are being undermined. The practice of ukuthwala is a poignant example: what had been a rite of marriage negotiated between families has become a practice of kidnapping young girls and marrying them to adult men. Similarly, the widespread sexual violence against women and the 鈥渃orrective rape鈥� of lesbians (of which President Zuma has himself been accused) undermines the law鈥檚 efforts.

South Africa is in a position to act as a leader on these issues in Africa, where human rights are increasingly being trampled in the name of culture. Uganda recently declared homosexuality illegal; Senegal and Nigeria are contemplating similar steps. Traditionalists argue that听efforts to protect women and sexual minorities are impositions of Western values, but many South Africans have stood up for these protections鈥攔ural women who organize against the absolute rule of the traditional leadership councils, for example鈥攁nd there is the hope that these voices will win out in the next decade.