In my short time in South Africa, few elements of US foreign policy in Africa have raised as much ire or confusion among the people I talk to as the new US Africa Command (Africom). Officially launched at the beginning of October, despite lingering scepticism both across the continent and in the US, Africom consolidates […]
Don Goodson
Don Goodson is a Fulbright Fellow based at the University of the Witwatersrand's Centre for Africa's International Relations. He was born and raised in New Mexico but has also lived in Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, DC, France, England, Botswana and South Africa.
After graduating from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, with a degree in International Affairs, he attended Oxford University, where he received MSc degrees in African studies and politics as well as international relations research. He has interned or worked on Capitol Hill and at US embassies in Paris and Gaborone, as well as for the NGO Kidsave International and a Washington-based consulting firm.
Don's current research at Wits involves analysing contemporary South African foreign policy with an emphasis on South African-US relations and youth perceptions of South African foreign policy.
Posted inNews/Politics
Entering fortress South Africa
I have had several South African friends and acquaintances complain to me about the difficulty of entering the United States since September 11. A friend of a friend was denied a visa just recently on the ludicrous fear that he would emigrate during his vacation to America. As much as I bemoan this situation and […]
Posted inGeneral
On identity in America
Catherine Parker’s blog a few weeks ago entitled “African-American: Meaning what exactly?” raised several interesting points and got me thinking. The blog reminded me of something that happened in my freshman (first) year of college. I was working in the scheduling and events office of my university’s student union, processing requests for room space for […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Quiet diplomacy: The new constructive engagement
One of the striking features of Thabo Mbeki’s quiet diplomacy is its remarkable similarity to the policy of constructive engagement the United States pursued toward apartheid South Africa under the Reagan administration.
Posted inNews/Politics
Where are all the Republicans?
Is the experience of coming to South Africa so life-changing that Republicans immediately become Democrats or independents upon landing in the Rainbow Nation? Or is it that Republicans are less likely to visit South Africa in the first place?
Posted inNews/Politics
Love in the time of unipolarity
I’ve heard it said that relations between the U.S. and South Africa are a lot like relations between the U.S. and France. Having lived in all three countries, I must admit that similarities in the two bilateral relationships are unmistakable.