West German and Western European reactions to the system of apartheid in South Africa

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Axel Schildt (†)
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2013 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 227820122

The project focuses on the perception of the South African system of apartheid by West German and Western European societies and the way apartheid was dealt with between 1948 and 1994, with special emphasis on the period from the 1960s to the 1980s.The topic of „apartheid“ is particularily suited to do research on a) the negotiation of the self-concept of Western European societies in relation to questions of ethnicity and racism as current problems; b) the rise of the discourse on human rights in the cold war; c) the role of the debate on apartheid in the development of a „moral economy“, a global media society, and the growing interpersonal confrontation with global conflicts.The focus will be on questions of communication history: How did West German and Western European societies - the general public, the political establishment, institutions such as churches and unions, new social movements - react to the apartheid in South Africa? What social conflicts are revealed in these reactions? To what extent did personal encounters in Europe or South Africa change the perspective of Western Europeans involved? To what extent were in these debates questions asked and strategies developed that became relevant for the range of values of „postindustrial“ societies?

• DFG Programme: Research Grants