Mandela and Beyond: Thinking New Possibility in the 21st Century

Abstract

This essay probes the value of Nelson Rohihlahla Mandela's career and life's work as an ongoing object lesson or theory-in-practice. Using two case studies - of the 2019 'Official Exhibition' and of a poem by Koleka Putuma referencing Mandela - the essay asks how South Africa's first democratic president's way of doing politics and his facility of interacting even-handedly with political enemies and friends lay down models for the country in the future. In particular, what might Mandela's story continue to teach us about social justice, empathy and political transformation?