Reclaiming Home: Diary of a Journey Through Post-Apartheid South Africa

(Paperback)

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Reclaiming Home is the diary of Lesego Malepes travels in South Africa in 2004, the 10th anniversary of South Africas democracy. The book begins with Malepe taking the bus from Pretoria, where she grew up, to Cape Town, where she visits Robben Islandthe prison where her brother served a life sentence during apartheid days. She interrupts her travels to return to Pretoria, where she attends the ceremony marking the official settlement of land claims for her parents property and her grandmothers property in Kilnerton, Pretoria, which were confiscated by the apartheid government when Malepe was four, forcing her familyalong with the rest of their communityto move to Mamelodi township for Africans. Over the course of her travels, Malepe traverses much of her home country, visiting locales including Pietermaritzburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, Thohoyandou, the University of Venda, and Giyani. Ultimately, hers is a sprawling, revealing journey that illuminates the ways South Africa has changedand the ways it has remained the samesince the end of apartheid.

Reviews

Praise for Reclaiming Home "In lyrical language brimming with insight, Malepe provides an insider's view of post-apartheid South Africa. She describes beautiful landscapes, cites large and small, and the people in all their hues, diversity, and complexity. She skillfully interweaves her personal story with historic events, current challenges, and pithy profiles of individuals-famous and ordinary-who resisted, assisted, or endured the implementation of apartheid."
-Brenda Randolph, Director, Africa Access, and Outreach Director, Center for African Studies, Howard University

"Reclaiming Home offers readers of all ages an entertaining and intimate look at Lesego Malepe's process of reconciling her experiences under apartheid with her desire to acknowledge the progress made since independence. Malepe deals with complex issues of identity, politics, and history that are anything but simple. An excellent addition to any study of apartheid and its lingering legacies."
-Breeanna Elliott, Outreach Specialist, African Studies Center, Boston University

"You can go home again. Lesego Malepe has written a different kind of travelogue, one that tells the story of an odyssey through the eyes of a South African woman who left her homeland during the time of apartheid South Africa and is visiting it again after apartheid's demise. Malepe has provided a guidebook for South Africans, other Africans, and visitors who want to experience another kind of tourism."
-Cheryl Smith, author of Market Women: Black Women Entrepreneurs

"Malepe travels throughout the new South Africa, connecting with family, friends, and welcoming strangers. She confronts memories, both painful and joyful, through the lens of her new US citizenship. Join her as she experiences political and cultural changes and enduring values."
-Jo Sullivan, independent scholar

Author Bio

Lesego Malepe left apartheid South Africa with a Fulbright scholarship to study in the US in 1978. After completing her graduate work in political science at Boston University, she taught political science at a college near Boston for many years. She is the author of the novel Matters of Life and Death, published in 2005, about the family of a high school student who was sentenced to life on Robben Island in 1963. She has also contributed op-ed articles to national newspapers, including USA Today, the Baltimore Sun, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Malepe has served for many years as a judge for the Childrens Africana Book Awards of the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association, and leads workshops for teachers about how to teach about Africa in general and how to use African literature in the classroom.