About the ReviewerOut in the Cold: Academic Boycotts and the Isolation of South Africa.. By Lorraine Haricombe and F.W. Lancaster. Arlington, Va.: Information Resources, 1995. 158 p. ISBN 0–878–15067–6. $29.50.
The political situation in South Africa has changed dramatically in the past five years and the country is now a fully democratic one. Even so, the historical record of the damage done to the country by apartheid should be told and fully documented; the facts are an important lesson to mankind. The present study deals with one aspect in particular, namely the academic boycott of the country. The authors explain academic boycott as referring to any boycott elements employed by persons, organizations, or institutions outside South Africa to obstruct the interchange and free flow of information between academics in South Africa and academics abroad. A truly thorough and in–depth survey conducted by the authors revealed that the academic boycott had limited success; while many scholars were affected to some extent, actual impact on their research was slight. The boycott was more of an irritation than a real obstacle to research. In fact, very few scholars reported that the academic boycott interfered significantly with their activities. (However, the consensus did report that isolation from the rest of the world led to acrimony, tension, suspicion, lack of local communication, and lack of collaboration.) The authors also found that the academic boycott of research libraries in South Africa was very similar to the effect on the academic researchers themselves — a nuisance more than anything else. Libraries were able to use intermediaries to acquire research materials (with the exception of dissertations emanating from University Microfilms).
A more effective sanctioning device was the economic boycott of the country, which resulted in a dramatic devaluation of Rand currency, which persists to this day. This sanction played havoc with the budgets of South African libraries. The authors conclude that the fact “that most participants in our study considered the academic boycott as an irritant and inconvenience, rather than a significant obstacle to scholarly research, does indeed suggest that it was more of a symbolic gesture than an effective agent of change.”
With regard to libraries, the study was certainly not confined to acquisitions. The academic boycott had minimal effect on interlibrary loan services. Throughout the boycott period of some 30 years, South African requests continued to be serviced and filled by libraries in the United Kingdom, and to a lesser extent by institutions in the United States. Apparently, British libraries were less boycott–minded than their American counterparts: during the same period, South African librarians reported having good relations with British libraries, good access to computer databases, and relatively easy acquisition of information resources. The situation is best summed up in the words of one South African librarian, who stated, “I cannot think of one instance where we could not acquire what we needed. In some cases it took longer and cost us more, but in the end we were able to get it.”
Externally imposed academic boycotts were not the only challenges with which South African libraries were confronted. Even more devastating, ii some ways, was a draconian censorship system that Christopher Merret referred to as a massive and pervasive institution. During South Africa’s apartheid era, Merrett was more often than not a lone voice in a profession that did little to counter fundamentals of traditional censorship. His recent book A Culture of Censorship: Secrecy and Intellectual Repression in South Africa (Cape Town: David Philip, 1994) deserves to be read by all librarians and scholars in much the same way that the present study should be read by all concerned about the effects of a repressive regime.
Reuben Musiker retired in 1991 from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, where he had been University Librarian for 20 years. He is now Emeritus Professor of Librarianship and Bibliography. Among his recent books are Southern Africa Bibliography (in press), and A Guide to South African Reference Books (Sixth edition, in press). He is Chairman of the South African Music Libraries Association.
© 1996 Reuben Musiker.
Citation
Musiker, Reuben, “Review of Out in the Cold: Academic Boycotts and the Isolation of South Africa, by Lorraine Haricombe and F.W. Lancaster,” Third World Libraries, Volume 6, Number 2 (Spring 1996).