#14 The Cradock Four with Zikhona Valela
04/17/22 • 60 min
The following twitter post accompanies this episode of The Cradock Four.
https://mobile.twitter.com/valavoosh/status/1276826105740169218
The historian, Zikhona Valela, joins us to talk about the Cradock Four and, more specifically, misinformation around the supposed famous photo of the Cradock Four. Zikhona tells the story of the four men who were murdered on June 27th, 1985. How did it happen that two of the four men, and the trauma of their families, were actually erased from the historical record? Why do we continue sharing convenient narratives that are, on closer inspection, inaccurate and untrue? Zikhona helps us to piece together some of the missing parts of the Cradock Four. We also consider some of the failures of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Some of the questions asked:
- Who were Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli?
- What motivated Zikhona to fight misconceptions about the past?
- Is the South African public apathetic about their past?
- How should we go about dispelling misinformation about the past?
- What is missing from the conventional narrative of the Cradock Four?
- How do we do the story of the Cradock Four justice?
- Is the 1980s a turning point in South African history?
- How did the United Democratic Front (UDF) come into existence?
- Is the murders of Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli a case of mistaken identity?
- How does the supposed photo of the Cradock Four perpetuate a false narrative?
- How did it happen that Mbulelo Goniwe and Madoda Jacob were erased from history?
- Who took the photograph of the Cradock Four? When was it taken?
- The importance of crediting photographers
- What did the families of the Cradock Four know before truths were revealed at the TRC?
- Would the truth about the Cradock Four have come to light without the perpetrators testifying before the TRC?
- Why did the Mbeki government not proceed with TRC recommendations?
- Why was the late 1980s and early 1990s more violent than earlier decades?
- Why would some people think of Nelson Mandela as a sell-out?
- What were some of the failures of the TRC?
- What should the lesson be that we take from the story of the Cradock Four?
Follow Zikhona Valela on twitter @valavoosh. Send questions and suggestions to William H Palk at @WilliamHPalk and Colin du Plessis at @C_duPlessis.
The following twitter post accompanies this episode of The Cradock Four.
https://mobile.twitter.com/valavoosh/status/1276826105740169218
The historian, Zikhona Valela, joins us to talk about the Cradock Four and, more specifically, misinformation around the supposed famous photo of the Cradock Four. Zikhona tells the story of the four men who were murdered on June 27th, 1985. How did it happen that two of the four men, and the trauma of their families, were actually erased from the historical record? Why do we continue sharing convenient narratives that are, on closer inspection, inaccurate and untrue? Zikhona helps us to piece together some of the missing parts of the Cradock Four. We also consider some of the failures of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Some of the questions asked:
- Who were Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli?
- What motivated Zikhona to fight misconceptions about the past?
- Is the South African public apathetic about their past?
- How should we go about dispelling misinformation about the past?
- What is missing from the conventional narrative of the Cradock Four?
- How do we do the story of the Cradock Four justice?
- Is the 1980s a turning point in South African history?
- How did the United Democratic Front (UDF) come into existence?
- Is the murders of Sparrow Mkhonto and Sicelo Mhlauli a case of mistaken identity?
- How does the supposed photo of the Cradock Four perpetuate a false narrative?
- How did it happen that Mbulelo Goniwe and Madoda Jacob were erased from history?
- Who took the photograph of the Cradock Four? When was it taken?
- The importance of crediting photographers
- What did the families of the Cradock Four know before truths were revealed at the TRC?
- Would the truth about the Cradock Four have come to light without the perpetrators testifying before the TRC?
- Why did the Mbeki government not proceed with TRC recommendations?
- Why was the late 1980s and early 1990s more violent than earlier decades?
- Why would some people think of Nelson Mandela as a sell-out?
- What were some of the failures of the TRC?
- What should the lesson be that we take from the story of the Cradock Four?
Follow Zikhona Valela on twitter @valavoosh. Send questions and suggestions to William H Palk at @WilliamHPalk and Colin du Plessis at @C_duPlessis.
Previous Episode
#13 Reevaluating World War II: Stalin's War with Prof Sean McMeekin
Join us for a conversation with Prof Sean McMeekin on his new book Stalin's War: A New History of World War II. This is a very timely discussion in light of the unfolding war in Ukraine.
Some of the points of discussion:
- How is Stalin’s War different from the conventional Hitler-centric account of World War II?
- How is it possible to even write a new history of World War II 77 years after the fact?
- Is the way we teach World War II unbalanced?
- How likely was the Hitler-Stalin pact?
- What are the main differences between fascism and communism?
- How much of a surprise was it when Germany invaded the Soviet Union?
- How much of the Nazi defeat can be attributed to Stalin’s planning?
- What are the gaps in the conventional Hitler-centric account of the lead-up to the outbreak of World War II?
- Are there similarities between the invasion of Poland before World War II and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine?
- What about Japan’s role in the outbreak of World War II?
- What are the circumstances around “Poland’s betrayal” at Tehran?
- What did Stalin want to get out of World War II?
- Is Stalin a model for Putin?
- Is Putin trying to establish the Soviet Union?
- Why didn’t NATO seize to exist when the Soviet Union collapsed?
Next Episode
#1 The Science of Learning with Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel
In this first episode of our fifth season, we explore the field of learning. Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel is a cognitive psychologist who specialises in how we learn best. She is part of an inspiring initiative called the Learning Scientists. She shares some of her valuable insights with us.
Questions we explore:
- Is there a trick or a secret to communicating "science"?
- What motivated Carolina to take up a specialisation in learning?
- How do we find a balance between what and how we teach and how people learn?
- Briefly, what are the six learning strategies? The strategies include retrieval practice, spaced practice, elaboration, interleaving, concrete examples and dual coding.
- Do we remember visuals better than words?
- Are then any pitfalls to using the six learning strategies?
- How important is routine in learning?
- What is the importance of testing the learning strategies?
- How should we go about finding evidence-based content on the subject of learning?
- Books mentioned: Powerful Teaching by Pooja Agarwal and Patrice Bain, Uncommon Sense Teaching by Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky and Terrence Sejnowski, How Learning Happens by Carl Hendrick and Paul Kirschner, Small Teaching by James Lang, any book by Kate Jones
- Blogs mentioned: The Learning Scientists (of course) and The Effortful Educator by Blake Harvard
- Podcasts: Besides The Learning Scientists also Exam Study Expert by William Wadsworth or The HippoCampus Podcast by Lisa Quinn
- How do the Learning Scientists decide on which topics to cover?
- A quick question on intersectionality...
- Are there different learning strategies for content and skills?
- Is scaffolding retrieval practice good practice?
- How does a learning expert design a lesson?
- Is the school model compatible with the research findings on how we learn best?
Find Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel on Twitter @pimpmymemory and the Learning Scientists @AceThatTest. Visit www.learningscientists.org and listen to their podcast at The Learning Scientists Podcast.
Please send your comments and suggestions to @WilliamHPalk or @C_duPlessis.
Thanks for listening!
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