A Bridge Between

From her days of seeing apartheid in South Africa to her study of the Zulu language at Yale, Meta Schettler's life has been about understanding struggle and how to overcome it

By Laban Pelz

When a chasm forms between two peoples, it often takes the work of individuals to erase the divide and reunite the groups.

Meta L. Schettler works to be one of these individuals.

As a professor of Africana and American Indian Studies at Fresno State, Schettler, 35, has dedicated herself to bringing about understanding between cultures disconnected by struggle.

“ I consider myself a bridge, bringing together two separated groups,” Schettler said. “Africana studies helps address racism and race relations.”

Though she knew what she wanted to do at a young age, it was her experiences in Africa that guided her toward a more distinct goal.

“ At 19, I knew I wanted to be a professor before I knew what I wanted to teach,” she said.

In 1993, Schettler traveled to South Africa with three other student teachers. Two went to Cape Town , while Schettler and another settled into Mmabatho. There she taught 7th and 12th grade at a multiracial school in a nation of apartheid. That tumultuous year—a year before elections were to take place in South Africa—was her first time teaching.

“ It was challenging, and complicated. Multi-party negotiations were being conducted, and there was a lot of political violence, but I was grateful to be there,” she said. “It gave me my mission in life.”

Influences came to Schettler in other forms as well. She read “The Autobiography of Malcom X,” and studied the Zulu language from a white South African professor at Yale University. It was from Yale she earned her master’s degree in African American studies.

Schettler received her bachelor’s degree in political science in February 1990, at the same time Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

“ It was such a surprise,” she said. “Everyone thought he was going to die in prison. It was exciting. It felt like the opposite of an assassination.”

In 1996, Schettler returned to South Africa to conduct interviews and archival research for her dissertation, which focused on the role women played in the arms struggle.

“ Young people in South Africa left for Angola and Tanzania in protest of the 1976 Soweto Uprising,” Schettler said. “Many young people were killed. These same women, who were in trenches in the 1980s, now were members of parliament, occupying luxury offices.”

These women belonged to the African National Congress, Mandela’s party, which is the party now in power in South Africa.

“ I am pro-Mandela. He is a giant in global diplomacy. If there was no Mandela, there would be more violence. He is on par with Dr. (Martin Luther) King.”

Schettler said she has come to understand African culture better by living in it.

“ South Africa has a long memory,” she said. “It doesn’t forget. We have a quick memory (in the United States). The war in Iraq was less than a year ago, and it’s already being forgotten about. We have a short attention span.

“ On the 10th anniversary of the uprisings in South Africa we had to close the school down for a week. There was tension, everyone was walking on eggshells. It was a violent year.”

In keeping with her desire to not forget the past, Schettler did point out a truth she said is often brushed aside.

“ Mandela was leader of the Youth League (of the ANC), and he did start the armed struggle. People don’t realize that.”

Schettler also has some very personal memories of South Africa. A fellow student teacher, Daniella Malin, was assaulted during their 1993 trip.

“ She was attacked on a school campus, stabbed in the chest and left for dead,” she said. “She dragged herself to a nearby neighbor’s house. Two weeks later she was back teaching. I was amazed she survived.”

This violence was often on the mind of Schettler and those like her.

“ It was a copycat attack,” Schettler said, noting that an American, Amy Biehl, was murdered just weeks before Malin was attacked.

“ It all just made me think, ‘we really shouldn’t be here. They don’t want us to participate. How much can an American really do?’

“ I guess being there made me less idealistic and more pragmatic about life.”

Schettler’s experiences in South Africa have given her the credibility to teach courses in her department, according to James Walton, chair of the English department and former chair of the ethnic studies program.

“ Schettler’s going to Africa was like Malcolm X going to Mecca,” Walton said. “Her travels there qualify her to teach what she does.

“ She is the only person I have ever met who holds a Ph.D. in African American studies.”

Schettler earned her Ph.D. from Temple University in 1999. The chair of African American studies department at Temple was Molefi Asante, who Schettler hailed as the founder of Afro-centrism, the movement which shifts the focus of African studies back towards Africa.

Though “not everyone adheres to Afro-centrism,” said Schettler, it has in recent years changed where the emphasis lies in her department. There is a difference between African American, and Africana studies.

“ African American pertains to black history in the U.S., while Africana is about the influence from Africa and the African Diaspora on African American culture,” she said.

Also, the Ethnic Studies Department at Fresno State was recently renamed the Africana and American Indian Studies Program.

“ The switch both broadens and clarifies our mission,” she explained. “The term ‘ethnic studies’ implied an inclusion of all cultures. Now the focus is more narrow, and exclusively about Africa and African American culture.

“ Our mission is to teach the history and culture of Africa and the Diaspora, from the international perspective. It is so important for all cultures to identify with African American culture.”