Assignment 4: Module 7 & Module 8

Consider the list of key questions provided for both Module 7 and Module 8

Select any key question from Module 7, and any key question from Module 8 (two key questions in total).

Write a short essay in which you explain your own perspectives, thoughts, opinions and ideas about the two key questions that you have selected. In your essay you should refer to the reading material which you have read for these two modules, and discuss some of what you have learned from this reading material. You can also discuss whether you agree or disagree with the positions/views of the authors of each reading, and why.

In your assignment you should clearly state WHICH key questions you have selected to address in your essay. Your essay/assignment should be no shorter than 2 pages, and no longer than 4 pages.

Also, please include the following at the top of the first page:

  • The assignment number (ie. “Assignment 4”)
  • Your full name and surname.

KEY QUESTIONS for Module 7:

  1. In what specific ways can we say that the current economic system in South Africa is ‘post-apartheid’, or not?
  2. What does ‘financialisation’ of an economy mean and how has this benefited South Africa’s capitalists?
  3. Why do you think xenophobia has continued to be a major problem in South Africa?
  4. How has the increased commodification of land in South Africa impacted on social and economic conditions of rural workers/families
  5. Do you agree that a majority of South Africans are opposed to most of the socially progressive clauses in the constitution’s Bill of Rights (for example, the right to equality based on sexual orientation)? Explain your answer.

KEY QUESTIONS for Module 8:

  1. Do you think that South African society under the political rule of the ANC has changed much (since apartheid) in relation to violence, inequality and racial division?
  2. How do you respond to the argument that the general lack of transformation since 1994 cannot be blamed on the ANC but rather largely on apartheid and those outside of the ANC/liberation movement?
  3. Zuma regularly makes use of religious rhetoric to try and convince people into supporting and/or voting for, the ANC. Do you think this approach is appropriate or valid?
  4. To what extent is the militarisation of the police and the securitisation of the state linked to the ways in which the ANC government has responded to protest/dissent under the Zuma government?
  5. What do you think needs to happen for South Africa to ‘finish’ the revolution that was started by the workers and poor as part of the earlier liberation struggle?

Course Outline