Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
superficial, uninformative, and disappointing, June 4, 2001
By A Customer
This book was a tremendous letdown after the other excellent books in the Culture Shock series I have read - you can find just as much information in a good travel guide. I bought the book expecting insightful comments from a South African writer about 'customs and etiquette', as it is subtitled; instead the book is filled with trite comments and self-explanatory 'cultural tips.' In the 'cultural quiz' at the end of the book, there are questions like "You are invited to a dinner party by your boss at their home. Do you..." answers include "Say yes, and whoop around the office telling everyone, including those who may well have not been invited, that you are off to eat with the boss." In another book, this might have been a joke answer, but the level of 'cultural insight' in this book is so poor that it wasn't funny at all. Unlike some of the other books in the series, this book is clearly aimed for a audience planning to be in South Africa for the long-term, perhaps immigrating. It gives insufficient attention to shorter-term visitors, off-the-beaten track travellers, volunteer NGO workers, or people who might be living somewhere other than the rich white suburbs. Though the author has travelled to other countries, she doesn't seem to have a grasp on what situations are most 'culture-shocky' to new arrivals. An immigrant author from another country would probably have done a better job at pointing at what visitors will find most odd or difficult to adjust too. Dee Rissik does not even address the topic of gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender visitors or immigrants to South Africa, despite the fact that this is the only country in the world where sexual orientation is legally protected in the constitution. Her sections on women, lifestyles, marriage, nudity, pub culture, and even sex, never once mention GLBT concerns or interests. This is enormous heterosexist oversight is unforgivable. I was ready to give up halfway through the book, but pushed all the way to the end, hoping for some redeeming quality. The closest it comes is two or three pages of 'common south african words used cross culturally.' And that, in itself, is not sufficient to justify purchasing the other 200-odd pages of this book.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
irrelevant culture shock ... who knew?, March 23, 2005
In preparing for my six month stay in South Africa, I purchased a number of travel guides, including this one in the Culture Shock! series. Despite the foreboding cover, I had some hope that it might contain relevant information. Unfornately, it is a smattering of weird advice from a strange white woman who apparently has little to no understanding of the current state of South African culture today. Her most insane advice is to "try not to mention race at all when describing someone in South Africa," advice so absurd and inaccurate that it makes Afrikaner rugby players seem multicultural. Moreover, the book seems to be aimed at middle-aged businessmen settling in Jo'burg, so unless you fit that category, best to steer clear. Especially as a student studying at university in Pietermaritzburg, I find the content of the book to be transparently racist, classist, and decidedly unhelpful. It does say that you shouldn't bring your pets across the ocean with you when you move here because one of her friend's dogs died from the shock of the plane ride. Culturally shocking, no?
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4 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
You Won't Get it, March 2, 2004
American and European visitors to South africa won't really find this book helpful. It does not sufficiently explain the cultural diversity or political environment of the region. While white South Africans are essentialy from western culture and embrace western democracy, black (and other) South Africans have many different cultures and languages, and most embrace communist ideaology. The key is also understanding the polical landscape which overshadows everthing in South Africa. While Apartheid is long dead, racist oppression is not. The oppressor has simply taken a new form - that of the ANC government which clearly demonstrates contempt for the US and Western Democracy, which favours the individual.
The all powerful ANC monolith favours government intervention in the economy (the essence of communism)to ensure its' "Transformation" (a euphemism for the ethnic removal of whites).Scince coming to power the ANC has oppressed the white youth of South Africa by imposing racist legislation designed to re-engineer South African society with no regard for individual human rights. In response the true proponents of Democracy, South Africa's Democratic Party, have protested and been met with virulent critism by this evil regime.The ANC classes all white South Africans who do not agree with the Anc Regimes' Satalinist purges as being selfish "racists" who cling to "privilege. (i.e. to protest when your human rights are being violated by the state is a wrongful act.)Under the ANC the oppression of the white minority has been compounded by inter alia: total domination of the national mass media and "transforming" it into a nationalist propaganda tool, the undermining of political opposition rallies through state orchestrated violence, tne passing of the Internet Interception and Monitoring Act - designed to route out the last vestiges of contrary thought,the covert, state sponsored ethnic cleansing of white South African farmers, the passing of the racist Black Empowerment bill - which prevents large companies form doing business with small minority owned businesses, the heinous Employment Equity Act becoming even more stringent in enforcing racial discrimination and what is effectively a return to the apartheid days of job reservation, this time against a helpless minority (all done by using what was done during apartheid as justification - sheer hypocracy), government corruption and squandering of taxpayer and investor funds, a continuous, racist anti-minority propaganda message being broadcast to the international community and stregnthening of ties with known terrorist and oppressive regimes such as Zimbabwe, Algeria, Communist China, Iraq and Cuba (to name but a few).Anit-American sentiment may also be experienced by those tourist not on a "sanitized" tour.The facade of "non-racialism" may fool you if you are just visiting, but if you decide to immigrate, you and your children will then be faced with the harsh reality of living under a racist government.
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