James A. Joseph is Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Public Policy at Duke University. Joseph served as the United States Ambassador to South Africa from 1996 to 2000, and as the Under Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior from 1977 to 1981. He was the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations, Vice President of the Cummins Engine Company, and served as Chaplain of the Claremont Colleges. He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Order of Good Hope, South Africa’s highest award to a citizen of a foreign country. Joseph is also the author of
Dismantling Apartheid: The Unfinished Agenda
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Published:August 2015
This chapter tells the story of the dismantling of apartheid, especially the development and signing of a new constitution described as the birth certificate of the new democracy. It examines the role of race in the country’s future as it seeks to move from the political empowerment of the majority to economic empowerment. The old pigmentocracy has disappeared, but the legacy of a pigmentology remains a constant presence. While the emphasis has been on reconciling whites and blacks, many of the so-called coloreds in the Western Cape are increasingly restless about their own identity and status. The chapter concludes with an examination of the fallacy of color blindness and the potential for the emergence of a new leadership class.
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