Race and reconciliation in South Africa: A multicultural dialogue in comparative perspective.

Source: (2000) Lanham, MD: Lexington, Books.

In January 1999, scholars from Europe, North America and Africa assembled at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) for a conference on race and reconciliation in South Africa. The conference was inspired by the collapse of apartheid in 1994, Nelson Mandela’s rise to the presidency, and the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which has now revealed to the world some of the awful reality of the apartheid era. While the TRC sought truth as a basis for racial reconciliation in South Africa, the conference at the UWC sought to create a multicultural, scholarly dialogue on the history, theology, philosophy, and politics of race and reconciliation in South Africa. Our aim was to enhance our understanding of South Africa’s past and the important issues that the new South Africa faces in the future. This book is the product of that conference. (excerpt)