Kaffir+Boy

=Teaching the Consequences of Violence and Racism in //Kaffir Boy//=


 * Synopsis / Description:** //Kaffir Boy// is the true story of a black boy growing up in Apartheid South Africa. Mark (Johannes) Mathabane tells his story from the age of four to eighteen, specifically relaying his family's struggle to survive and his own struggle to get an education. Students will likely be profoundly affected by the consequences of a policy of racial separation on all of the people, both black and white, in South Africa.

It's important to take into consideration the racial make up of your class and school prior to introducing this book. For black (and possibly other minority) students, Mathabane's story may echoes stories from their past. For white students, this novel will likely bring about a sense of white guilt for the mistakes of the Europeans during their race to claim land and colonize people. The issue of white superiority and black oppression is impossible to ignore. While there are no easy solutions for racial tensions, it is important to be aware of the backgrounds of students and be thoughtful about how to openly discuss these issues in class. The best way to deal with the difficult topic of racism is to be prepared. Ask students to look at the issue from more than one viewpoint in order to combat narrow-minded thinking.
 * Challenge #1: Black vs. White: Racial Relations and //Kaffir Boy//**


 * idea:** Ask students to write journals about an event that occurred in the book, but let them randomly draw a viewpoint or a character. Then they must journal about their experience in the shoes of that character.


 * idea:** Show students an example of a poem in two voices ([|Reinventing English: Teaching in the Contact Zone,] by John Gaughan, has a great example of a poem in two voices comparing the experience of a Jewish girl in the holocaust and a Mormon persecuted for her faith in the United States). Ask them to choose two characters from the book and write a poem in two voices about one experience in the novel (for example: students choose Johannes and the son of the white woman his grandmother works for and write about their meeting with both perspectives side by side). Another option is to use the voice of a character from the book alongside someone who may have gone through a similar experience (for example: the voice of Johannes alongside the voice of the child of a black slave in America).


 * idea:** Ask students to write letters to each other, either as themselves in this society, or taking on the persona of a character in the novel. If possible, trade the letters among students so they can also read and respond to what other students have written.

[|A review by Publisher's Weekly]: "Mark Mathabane was weaned on devastating poverty and schooled in the cruel streets of South Africa's most desperate ghetto, where bloody gang wars and midnight police raids were his rites of passage. Like every other child born in the hopelessness of apartheid, he learned to measure his life in days, not years. Yet Mark Mathabane, armed only with the courage of his family and a hard-won education, raised himself up from the squalor and humiliation to win a scholarship to an American university. This extraordinary memoir of life under apartheid is a triumph of the human spirit over hatred and unspeakable degradation. For Mark Mathabane did what no physically and psychologically battered "Kaffir" from the rat-infested alleys of Alexandra was supposed to do — he escaped to tell about it.
 * Challenge #2: Violence and Abuse**

As described by Publisher's Weekly, Mark Mathabane suffered incredibly during his childhood in South Africa, and his memoir describes in detail the degrading and violent actions of the police, the gory details of gang wars, sexual and physical child abuse, and the ugly face of unchecked racism. The sick feeling I felt while reading parts of this book will undoubtedly be shared by many students. In fact, the first section of //Kaffir Boy,// which details Mathabane’s life as a child in the woes of extreme poverty, would probably turn many students away from the book. The first 120 pages of the book are very dismal and disheartening. After stopping at the end of the first section, I really didn’t think students would have any interest in the book; it was one bad situation after another with no relief in sight. However, after continuing on through the second and third sections, I loved the book. Its message is powerful, and it’s a story students will not soon forget. For this reason, it's important to encourage students to keep reading to get to the novel's message about survival and success through education and the kindness of good people.

An important concept for students to understand is that violence often begets violence. In the novel, the child Johannes (Mark Mathabane) is physically abusive towards his siblings, but he has experienced nothing but violence in his short life. In his own lifetime, he has learned over and over that the lives of black humans are worthless and disposable. As a black child, Johannes is as starved of love and affection as he is starved of food and clothing. He learns survival by any means, and that means silently suffering through the cruel punishments inflicted on him by both blacks and whites in South Africa.
 * Understanding Violence in the World:**

Literature gives us a chance to present violence in a way that encourages student sensitivity. Part of our job as educators is to be an example for students in our own reactions to violence, cruelty, racism, etc. Another part of our job is to help students express their own feelings toward violence in their world. My colleague Jeff Patterson and I both feel that we would be sending students the wrong message by not addressing scenes of disturbing violence. If we ignore them, assuming students will deal with them on their own, or assuming that students are accustomed to it, we're normalizing the presence of violence. Instead, we need to send the message that violence is both upsetting and unacceptable.

One way to help students deal with descriptions of violence and cruelty is to warn them in advance to help students mentally prepare to read text that may affect their emotions. This, again, sends the message that we should, in fact, be disturbed by violence against a human life. Taking the time to write after reading is also a good idea. Writing forces students to purge their emotions on the paper, and also prepares them to share and discuss how cruelty and violence affects them. When students care about the individual or characters who experience violence, reading texts with violent portrayals can be sensitizing rather than dehumanizing. Writing and discussion can help students who are feeling traumatized by what they've seen / read deal with their feelings, and it shows other students that sensitivity is important.

[|The National Institute of Mental Health] has a page of information and links about helping children cope with violence and disasters.

[|Stop the hate.org] contains quotes and poems based on the theme of equality and love for all of humanity.


 * Additional Resources:**

South Africa-travel.net's article "[|South Africa, a Society in Transition]" provides excellent background information about the history and make-up of the population in South Africa. Students would benefit from reading this article before reading //Kaffir Boy.//

[|Witness to Apartheid] is a 10-minute clip which includes interviews of black and white people on the issue of Apartheid in South Africa. The clip also includes information on the attacks on schools discussed in //Kaffir Boy.//

The author, [|Mark Mathabane], has an impressive website with information about //Kaffir Boy// as well as his other novels. The website also includes information on how to contact the author for lectures and links to other resources.

Our high school has included [|Cry, the Beloved Country]by Alan Paton in our English 12 curriculum for the past five years. It would be great to teach this book side by side with //Cry, the Beloved Country// to look at a white South African’s portrayal of Apartheid and the portrayal by a black South African boy. Students would undoubtedly see connections in their experiences, but would also see the contrasts in experiences. It would open up a great discussion on point of view.

by Lindsay Steenbergen