[Full Name]

AFRI 222 – African Cultural Traditions

Professor Haas

WD-part 1: Community Service Component

Type of event: Exhibition of South African Post-Apartheid Novels and Epics

Summary of the Project

My event will involve hosting an exhibition of South African Post-Apartheid novels to be held at Boys & Girls Club of Muncie, Muncie, Indiana. This will be a one-week exhibition, running for five days of a chosen week. The evened will be designed to commence on a Wednesday and end on a Sunday / The specific dates are subjects to further confirmation by the event management committee, but is tentatively scheduled to kick off on Wednesday November 18 of 2014 , run consecutively the next four days, and then end on the Sunday 23 November of 2014. This should allow those who do not have the opportunity to view the exhibitions over the weekday to do the same over the weekend. There will be no entry fee chargeable; rather entrants will be required to pay $10 registration fee once for the entire event, and a certificate of registration in form of a ticket will be issued as an evidence of registration. The exhibition will consist of various South African Post Apartheid novels, dramas that have adapted Post-Apartheid novels as well as selected South African epics. The exhibition will avail wide range of post apartheid novels for the readers to go through, and to aid reading, there will be a list of the available novels to be issued to the participant by means of a poster. Each novel’s main themes will be summarized in a sentence to guide the readers. The adapted drama of selected novels will help enhance audio-visual presentation of the novels. The Post-Apartheid epics will be presented by the high-school students who will have prepared and mastered them in advance, to entertain the viewers. Alongside the main exhibition, there will be light refreshments and snacks will be available, slightly above the market rate to cover the costs and raise small profits for the host, Boys & Girls Club of Muncie.

Objectives

The primary objective of the exhibition is to increase awareness of South African literatures, culture and contemporary issues in the Post-Apartheid South Africa. The post Apartheid literatures have got myriads of thematic issues that would most probably be interesting to the audience , considering that most of them are contemporary issues, or are closely related to the sociological issues in some of the world’s most developed states such as the United States. Some of the contemporary themes include homosexuality, Aids and HIV spread within the country and the continental Africa, Unemployment, Poverty, racial and political issues, Western-influenced materialism, discrimination, democracy, sociocultural changes, national building and violence. Racial relations and disparity among people of different races, which remains an issue in the US to date, is an equally prevalent theme in the novels and epics. The exhibition is therefore aimed at fostering greater appreciation of South African literatures as well as enhancing understanding of the African continent, South Africa as a nation, South Africa as a member of global community facing contemporary global challenges.

Context

The intended audience of my exhibition includes youthful audience, aged between 18 and 40, especially those studying African literatures or have interests on African literatures and heritage. The thematic issues raised in the post-apartheid literatures are generally complex issues, and need adult who can engage with the authors; children may not be able to understand them. It is expected that students of literatures will gain greater insights from the mix of themes portrayed in the same. They would also enlighten the youths, as potential career professionals, on some challenges faced elsewhere in the world, with a view to inviting them to work towards solutions. Boys & Girls Club of Muncie is a well established venue for exhibitions, is spacious accessible and have sufficient facilities, making it suitable. The gains from the event will be of mutual good, in helping them raise more revenues for expansion and refurbishment.

Community Connections

I will work closely with the key stakeholders, particularly the management of Boys & Girls Club of Muncie and various institutions of learning. Working collaboratively with the management of Boys & Girls Club of Muncie will help ensure adequate preparation, setting of suitable dates, arranging for suitable equipment and security needs. Close collaboration with

Budget

The event will operate on a low budget, considering that we will mainly be using the facilities already established at Boys & Girls Club of Muncie. Using donations from friends and fans of South African literatures, we will make prior arrangements. Further costs will be met from registration fees, and the leftover be donated to the host.

Outreach and Promotion

To popularize the event, I will approach the management of various high schools and colleges in Indiana to announce the event. I will also distribute posters to be posted in the schools and major public areas. Further, I will collaborate with the management of Boys & Girls Club of Muncie to announce the same in their notice board, face book page and local daily and a radio station. The cost of advertisement will be borne from preparation amount collected from fans and well wishers.