The Human Race Series
Post-apartheid South Africa is the best example of people struggling to overcome tribalism.

South Africa is struggling to overcome the legacy of racism and tribalism that plagues so many countries. Against a backdrop of ongoing violence, a new breed of South Africans are struggling to create a real democracy. Is the rest of the world prepared to relinquish its own tribes? Is there enough time?

South Africa isn't the only society where racial and tribal identity have profoundly marked the way people live together-it's just one very striking example. Against a backdrop of ongoing violence, a new breed of South Africans are rising above old tribal reflexes as they struggle towards real democracy. Initiatives in South Africa may well provide models to the larger world where old tribal politics of narrow self-interest continue to wreak havoc. But is the rest of the world prepared to relinquish its own tribes? Is there enough time? Some scenes contain explicit language. Viewer discretion is advised.

1994, 51 min 20 s

Closed Captioned

Directed by Torben Schiola
Produced by Catherine Mullins & Marrin Canell
for Green Lion Productions
Co-directed by Torben Schioler
Hosted by Gwynne Dyer

Directed by
Torben Schioler

Editing
Torben Schioler

Producers
Catherine Mullins
Kent Martin
Bob Culbert
Mark Starowicz
Darce Fardy

Executive producers
Catherine Mullins
Stephen Low

Script
Gwynne Dyer

Cinematography
Georges Archambault
Kent Nason

Sound
Yvon Benoît
Philippe Scultéty

Sound editing
Don Ayer

Re-recording
Shelley Craig

Music
Osvaldo Montes

Host
Gwynne Dyer


Grade Level: 10-12, College, Adult
US Release Date: 1995 Copyright Date: 1994
DVD ISBN: 0-7722-1220-1 VHS ISBN: 0-7722-0577-9


Reviews
"A fascinating story...a self-contained documentary that not only covers 500 centuries of South Africa's history - it also epitomizes the struggle of the human race with itself and its environment, and presents South Africa as a microcosm of urgent global issues that plague the globe today...The Tribal Mind is an effective teaching resource both at undergraduate and graduate levels on issues of diversity, conflict management and social mobilization towards common national and international development goals. I think the film prudently discusses the issue of race and ethnic tensions in relation to human development, a topic that is generally shunned by the public."
Fletcher Ziwoya, Ohio University, Anthropology Review Database

"The Tribal Mind looks at the danger of maintaining a we-they system (what Dyer calls Tribalism) which often leads to violence, if not outright war and genocide. To illustrate his argument that it is possible to change the'tribal mind,' the film examines post-Apartheid South Africa."
Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution