This post is a day late because yesterday was a pretty busy day. After reading anthropological articles all morning, we went to class at noon and went on a tour of Cape Town. What was very interesting was that our tour guide lived in Cape Town during apartheid and was actually relocated to "colored neighborhood." The idea of apartheid splitting up families really came into play when she said that her mother and aunts had the option to "try to be white," meaning try to pass the crass test that determined your race (if you stick a pencil in your hair and it gets stuck, you are colored or black, but if it falls to the ground, you are white. what a load of crap...) to get the better opportunities that whites had during the time. Of course, mothers who could pass for while could choose to be "colored" and live with their children but oftentimes, apparently, they turned their back on their husbands and children and started a new life.
On a nicer note...
Our first stop was near the city center at the Castle of Good Hope, Kasteel die Goeie Hoop in Afrikaans. It is the oldest colonial building in South Africa, built between 1666 and 1679 by the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch were in South Africa, specifically at the Cape to use it as a fueling station for their large ships that were going from the Netherlands and the "Dutch East Indies," which is now Indonesia.
The Cape was an opportunistic place for imperial powers because it is situated at the very tip of Africa, which was a good place for sailors to stop off as well as a good place to run a trading port.
The front of the castle
The inner courtyard of the castle.
The dolphin pond inside one of the courtyards of the castle
Many people were tortured in brutal conditions by colonial Dutch, and later English, government.
Natalie trying out the effectiveness of the chains in the torture chamber. They would put people in the chains facing the wall and whip them until they would give them the information that they wanted from them.
Another way of getting information out of people was hanging them upside down and waiting for them to give in and tell them.
The boys, James Amr and Mike, checking out the holding cell.
The only source of light and air in the chamber where as many as 18 people would be held, meaning that everyone would just be about able to sit upright on the floor of the cell. However, its likely that they didn't do that because the water used to come up to the walls of the castle and the water would flood the floor of the room, allowing germs, etc. to grow and live in the cell.
The view from the castle
One of the dungeons
A cannon built into the wall of the outer walls of the castle
Steps to the dungeons
The castle's front door.
So, after this, we went to The Slave Lodge, which is a slave museum downtown, actually next to the house of Parliament, and interestingly, is also a Dutch structure. The Slave Lodge is where the Dutch used to house their slaves. They all lived together in one very large building.
Old wooden flutes shown in the museum (there aren't any more pictures because I wasn't even allowed to take this picture). Interestingly, before this museum was a slave museum it had all these interesting pieces, including old harps, old toys, old watches and silver; what they did was change the first floor into a slave museum and left the rest of the museum the way it was.
After this, we went to the Green Market Square, which used to be where people would go to sell their fresh produce. Now, there are a variety of handmade crafts and vendors. I saw a Zulu headband worn by women during pregnancy and was intrigued by it, and got a small bit of history from the man who owned the stall. Let me explain:
Zulu people are the largest ethnic group in South Africa that lost their homeland and citizenship under apartheid. They have a separate language and have very specific customs, some that relate specifically to dress. Women will dress a certain way depending on whether they are single, engaged or married, and then if married, pregnant. A single woman puts her body on display, only wearing a short grass skirt that is usually decorated with beads and keeps her hair traditionally short. When a woman is engaged she covers her breasts in decorative cloth out of respect for her new family and to show that she is taken, and begins allowing her hair to grow. A married woman covers her entire body to show that she is taken, and on her breasts wears a decorative beaded cover with a message that only her husband understands. During a woman's first pregnancy, there is a special decorative cloth that is worn over her front, that is highly decorated and is directly correlated to her husband's status, so it is worked on for a long time and is extremely important. Another feature of specific pregnancy clothing, a woman wears a headband across her forehead as an indication.
Where slaves moved when they were emancipated. Because they were so excited about the emancipation (obviously) they painted their houses bright colors. Because these are historical landmarks, people are not allowed to change their houses before three meters into the property. These houses, due to their close proximity to the city center, now go for a could of million rand each. Interesting how they go from emancipated slaves homes to some of the most wanted property there is, no? At this point, this is a Muslim community predominantly.
The view from the muslim community
More of the view
More of the houses
At night time, we went out in Rondebosch, which is the closest town to campus, and it was a lot of fun. It was a bar full of locals and the atmosphere was pretty nice, we played pool and all of that cool stuff:
Nathalie, myself, Erin and Racheli.
Myself, Nathlie, Erin and Racheli
Erin and Racheli
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