Can racism and intimacy co-exist? Can love and friendship form and
flourish across South Africa's imposed colour lines?
Who better to engage on the subject of hazardous liaisons than the
students Jonathan Jansen served over seven years as Vice Chancellor of
the University of the Free State, in South Africa. The context is the
University campus in Bloemfontein, the City of Roses, the Mississippi of
South Africa. Rural, agricultural, insular, religious and conservative,
this is not a place for breaking out. But over the years, Jansen
observed shifts in campus life and noticed more and more openly
interracial friendships and couples, and he began having conversations
with these students with burning questions in mind.
Ten interracial couples tell their stories of love and friendship in
their own words, with a focus on how these students experience the world
of interracial relationships, and how flawed, outdated laws and customs
set limits on human relationships, and the long shadow they cast on
learning, living and loving on university campuses to this day.