Academic and sociologist Kogila Moodley has had a nomadic life, moving from South Africa, where she was raised during apartheid, to the US, Germany, Canada and Egypt.

This has given her a wealth of knowledge about how racial and cultural tensions exist in contemporary societies. Her new book, Race, Culture and Politics in Education, can also be used as a guide by teachers who want to incorporate a more multicultural approach into their lessons.

Every nation has its own complex and nuanced relationship with racial politics, even though race is often presented as a monolith. Moodley’s book goes on a deep dive, investigating racial and cultural tensions in a number of countries to produce insightful wisdoms and lessons about how race and culture operate in different systems of oppression.

Moodley is a published academic and a professor emerita at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. She is also the first holder of the David Lam Chair in Multicultural Education, a position given to distinguished scholars “with extensive expertise related to multicultural and social justice studies in education and a commitment to anti-oppression, anti-racism, intersectionality and decolonisation”.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the only formal way in which we were provided a window into the trauma. But those stories were only about gross human rights violations.

It [the TRC] exposed to people what was going on under the normalcy of our daily lives… But what it didn’t do was take that further.

The book is written partly as an autobiography, with Moodley providing anecdotes and personal observations of race relations in every country she has lived in. Her nomadic life, which can be attributed to her academic inclinations, has allowed Moodley to experience for herself how race relations differ in various societies and not just theorise about it – a fact that makes her writing so much richer.

Memories of oppression

She starts by describing her family background and what it was like to grow up in an Indian family in South Africa during apartheid. Her personal memories not only provide details of how apartheid operated but also convey a sense of the emotional reality of racial segregation – what apartheid felt like.

Stories of how her family was forced to move from a house that had been home for many decades because of the Group Areas Act, or how co-workers had to hide their children to avoid being stereotyped, give the reader a peek into how psychologically traumatic everyday life could be.

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In one touching anecdote, Moodley shares the trauma and anxiety of her father who, in a fragile state towards the end of his life, still panicked about his family having a safe place to live.

She notes that South Africans still have much work to do in processing the trauma of their history.

Moodley told DM168: “I think that, actually, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was the only formal way in which we were provided a window into the trauma. But those stories were only about gross human rights violations.

To me, anti-racism education needs to be broadened to include all kinds of racism. For example, anti-Semitism differs from anti-black racism.

“They were recorded and played daily for over two years for about an hour a day. And it exposed to people what was going on under the normalcy of our daily lives. It informed us. But what it didn’t do was take that further.

“It didn’t deal enough with the psychic wounds of systemic violence which was operating at an ordinary level. This systemic violence of people being humiliated, facing a loss of dignity and being seen as inherently less capable; inherently not gifted with intellect. I mean, colour and class operated together to really inferiorise people. And those are psychic wounds.”

Political literacy

Beyond its autobiographical element, the book also integrates academic interpretations which allow the sociopolitical workings found within her anecdotes to be revealed. It is in these more academic reflections that Moodley hopes teachers will be able to gain knowledge about systemic oppression and be able to pass on to their students a sense of “political literacy” – a main tenet of her philosophy.

For Moodley, political literacy is the key to remedying widespread racism and bigotry in an ever-globalising world.

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Moodley had this to say about the term: “When I think of political literacy, it’s more than voter education. What I’ve been thinking about is anti-racism education, which is very popular now everywhere. There are so many variants or variations of it and I am very cautious about the way in which anti-racism education actually gets instrumented and taught.

“To me, anti-racism education needs to be broadened to include all kinds of racism. For example, anti-Semitism differs from anti-black racism. And the kind of stereotyping that is used is different in each case.”

Having lived in many countries, Moodley is able to account for different racisms and discriminations that allow for a nuanced understanding of how oppression works.

She first left South Africa for postgraduate studies in the US in 1963. This coincided with the black civil rights movement, which affected her significantly.

She went on to live in Germany, Canada and Egypt – which make up the rest of the five countries Moodley examines.

Her comparisons of countries adeptly outline the complexity of racial and cultural tensions. She is able to explain how the struggle of a racial majority in South Africa and a racial minority in the US, for example, result in unique manifestations of racial and cultural dynamics in each country.

Moodley explained the importance of unpacking racism not only in South Africa, but globally: “There is the issue of basic knowledge that we all need through a critical reading of how institutions function, how democracy works at the local level, how democracy works at the national level and then also at global levels.

“You know, what we’re seeing now is a threat to democracy not only in South Africa but in many places in the world, even those we consider the First World… This is more than South Africa, this is a much, much wider call for education.”

Broader scope

Racial relations are not the only things dealt with in this book. Moodley makes sure the reader understands that race is merely one identity factor that influences an individual’s life experience.

“These questions are not black and white. They include race, they include class, economics, access to goods and services, locations of people,” she explained.

The thematic concerns within this text are incredibly relevant in an increasingly globalised world, a world that cannot afford simplistic or monolithic understandings of race and culture.

Moodley takes it upon herself to educate her readers in a way that feels accessible and profound.

Her personal voice and memories provide an emotional connection to topics that are usually intellectualised.

With the inclusion of family photos and vivid descriptions of each chapter of her life, the book manages not only to teach about race and culture but also captures the fullness of Moodley’s life as a daughter, parent and scholar.

The South African edition of Race, Culture and Politics in Education will be released soon. DM168

Alinaswe Lusengo is a UCT Film & Media Studies graduate from the class of 2022.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.