American Perceptions and Knowledge of South Africa

Before I started researching South Africa, I have to admit that I didn't have a great deal of knowledge about the country.  Sure, I knew the basics, including its blatantly obvious geographic location and its longstanding AIDS epidemic, but my historical and political knowledge of the country was slim.  So when I set out to interview other Americans about their perceptions and knowledge of South Africa, I was unsure of what I’d find.  Would they have the same lack of historical and political knowledge about the country?  Or would they surprise me with the amount of information that easily flowed with their answers?

In order to get a wide set of responses, I interviewed six people of varying ages and backgrounds.  They included:

• Anne, 16, high school student
• Kathryn, 26, college student majoring in history
• David, 44, graphic designer
• Kim, 53, special education teacher
• Michael, 68, business professor
• Bonnie, 80, retired flight attendant

I started out with the easiest question of the bunch: what continent South Africa is located on.  Thankfully, all of them answered this first question without hesitation (of course, only after shooting me a look that suggested I was doubting their intelligence).  Just two of them, however, knew the capital city of South Africa, Cape Town.  Two others believed it was Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, and the remaining respondents were unsure.  

Like many other countries in Africa, South Africa is known for its wildlife.

My interviewees had a wide range of answers when asked my next question: what the first thing that came to mind was when they thought of South Africa.  The two youngest respondents, Kathryn and Anne, replied that the country made them think of safaris and its sunsets.  Another individual stated that they thought of the AIDS epidemic, while the remaining said that apartheid stood out to them when considering the country.    

“The fact that such a small portion of the population had power and control over the entire country simply because they were white is baffling,” Michael said. 

Mandela spent 27 years of his life in prison.

When I asked my interviewees more specifically about political or historical events that had occurred there over the past century, five of the respondents mentioned Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.  I was further surprised to learn that two knew the exact amount of time that Mandela had been in prison, as well as the specific prison he spent the majority of this time.  These individuals also pointed to the significance of Mandela’s release, accurately stating that he helped lead South Africa to a multi-racial democracy.  

When I narrowed down the question to historical events that had occurred in South Africa over the past five years, however, only two were able to answer.  Both of these respondents mentioned AIDS in their answer, with Kim stating that the AIDS epidemic had been growing and Bonnie recalling that the government had taken more proactive steps to fight the epidemic. 

My last question, which was perhaps the hardest of the bunch, was to narrow down historical events even further: only those that had happened within the past year.  Once again, only two answered and both of them accurately stated that the World Cup had occurred there last summer.  

Many of my interviewees were only able to correctly answer a few of my questions, but all of them demonstrated knowledge of at least one of the most important issues and events that surround South Africa: AIDS, apartheid and the freeing of Nelson Mandela.  Though Americans might have a long way to go to grasp a more complete understanding of the society, culture and politics of the country, my interviewees proved that they have basic foundational knowledge to get there.