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SUMMARY:Zonk! Magazine\; Black Modernity and the Marketplace in South Afri
 ca  - Dr Nicholas Grant\,  University of East Anglia
DTSTART:20141020T160000Z
DTEND:20141020T170000Z
UID:TALK55564@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Judith Weik
DESCRIPTION:Focusing primarily on the wonderfully named Zonk! magazine\, t
 his paper will explore the production of black modernity in South Africa t
 hroughout 1950s. First published in 1949 and employing large black writing
  staff\, Zonk! produced distinctive visions of black South African moderni
 ty that were often mediated by specific references to black American cultu
 re. African American figures such as Joe Louis\, Lena Horne\, Louis Armstr
 ong and Marian Anderson all appeared in articles and advertisements within
  the publication and were regularly held up as inspirational figures in So
 uth Africa\, models of black achievement in a white supremacist world. Whi
 lst at times offering highly problematic representations of black American
  life\, Zonk! nevertheless played an important role in terms of forging an
  international consciousness amongst black South Africans. Through a detai
 led discussion of how black life in the US was constructed in Zonk!\, I wi
 ll examine how black American culture ‘travelled’ and was invested wit
 h a broader political significance in South Africa throughout this period.
  Finally\, this paper will seek to question the extent to which African Am
 erican culture was used to sell an unattainable vision of black life in So
 uth Africa\, one that closely reflected the National Party’s belief in s
 eparate economic and racial development. White companies used the populari
 ty of African American culture to sell their products in South Africa\, an
 d with this\, worked to obscure the structural inequalities and white supr
 emacist forces that shaped the history of both countries.
LOCATION:Seminar Room S1 Alison Richard Building\, 7 West Road\, Cambridge
  CB3 9DT
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