Explorations in Leadership

ITGS 400

Explorations in Leadership

NEED RESPONSES FOR TWO STUDENT’S POSTS

This related for Module 8 (Read Mandela Part 9)

Response Posts: Respond to the posts of at least 2 other students. Each response should be at least 150 words. Statements like "I agree/ don't agree" are not helpful unless they are supported with arguments and reasoning. Remember everyone's right to freedom of speech and the importance of ensuring a safe environment by being respectful: we don't criticize people, we argue thinking.

STUDENT’S POST #1

Geena Miles,

If I could pick out a theme for our materials this week, it would be a combination of some kind of mystery hunt for the truth. This theme is more obvious in our movie, searching for sugarman, which I will go into in a moment, but first let me share how I think it can be applied to our book part. Mandela, having been in prison for roughly 10~17 years now, appears to be faded among the new African youth. This is not to demean all of Mandela's contributions, but rather that his name along with the original principals of the ANC were becoming obscure in the newer generation; indicated by the youth that were being brought to Robben Island with little knowledge of the ANC. This is what ultimately spurred the creation of classes taught by ANC leaders on the island, to renew the cause. Although the direction of the struggle was becoming very militant, it need not keep them from learning where and when the struggle started.

Similarly, Searching for Sugarman involves looking for a man who had a mass impact on the population, yet no one knew who he was other than being American. His few albums were the national anthem for both Africans and sympathetic Afrikaners who were upset at the height of apartheid. I found this movie to be awe-inspiring; a man who was a total flop in his own land became prime inspiration for a struggle elsewhere, and through pure determination of the crew of people shown in the movie, they were able to find out the truth and deliver Rodriguez his good news.

STUDENT’S POST #2

Louise Eatherly,

Within all of our past sources I was able to find many similarities between Mandela and the individuals within the films, but this week I think there were more differences between Rodriguez and Mandela than similarities. While both the used their gifts to express their beliefs, they went about it very different ways. While Mandela focused his life around freedom fighting from becoming a lawyer to one of the heads of the ANC and the head of MK, Rodriguez lived more modestly. His music, which often touched on social justice topics, was not dedicated to fighting for civil rights nor were his life decisions. After releasing his two major albums, Rodriguez dropped out of the music scene to become a family man and work as lawn renovator. In many ways he gave up his passion for his family. This was a much different path than Mandela's. While he did his best to be present and look after his family, they were not his first priority. He chose the movement and his passions over them. Not that I am attempting to shame his decisions, I think the time he sacrificed with his family was very much worth the benefits. Seeing the different paths these two chose to take brought up a lot of thoughts. It would have been interesting to see the amount of lives Rodriguez could have continued to impact if he had chosen to not only continue making music but also creating songs that could resonate with his South African fan base even more. The choices these two men made worked to drastically change their lives and it was interesting to see where these paths led them.