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A children's novel about apartheid
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Steve Hayes
Oct 19, 2017, 4:55:09 AM10/19/17
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"Of wheels and witches" is an adventure story for children aged 9-12.
The difference from most children’s adventure stories is that the
apartheid government is the villain of the piece.
It is set in 1964, when the apartheid regime in South Africa had been
in power for 16 years, and had been tightening its grip on power by
passing more repressive legislation every year.
It would have been unpublishable at the time, at least in South
Africa.
The children in the story range in age from 9-12, three white and one
black. The white children are largely unaware of the political set-up
in which they lived, as were most white children at that time. That
was part of “white privilege” — if you were white, you could be quite
unaware of the situation until it impinged directly on you.
The story also has a variety of other elements, some verging on
fantasy — witchcraft, ikons and hints of a spiritual world lurking
behind the outward appearances of things.
Read more about it here:
https://t.co/9x3i8iHWSo
and here
https://t.co/DZoHd3BTSC
--
Steve Hayes
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius
The difference from most children’s adventure stories is that the
apartheid government is the villain of the piece.
It is set in 1964, when the apartheid regime in South Africa had been
in power for 16 years, and had been tightening its grip on power by
passing more repressive legislation every year.
It would have been unpublishable at the time, at least in South
Africa.
The children in the story range in age from 9-12, three white and one
black. The white children are largely unaware of the political set-up
in which they lived, as were most white children at that time. That
was part of “white privilege” — if you were white, you could be quite
unaware of the situation until it impinged directly on you.
The story also has a variety of other elements, some verging on
fantasy — witchcraft, ikons and hints of a spiritual world lurking
behind the outward appearances of things.
Read more about it here:
https://t.co/9x3i8iHWSo
and here
https://t.co/DZoHd3BTSC
--
Steve Hayes
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/hayesstw
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/Methodius
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