{"product_id":"starring-mandela-and-cosby-1","title":"Starring Mandela and Cosby","description":"During the worst years of apartheid, the most popular show on television in South Africa - among both blacks and whites - was \"The Cosby Show\". Why did people living under a system built on the idea that blacks were inferior and threatening flock to a show that portrayed African Americans as comfortably mainstream? Starring Mandela and Cosby takes up this paradox, revealing the surprising impact of television on racial politics. The South African government maintained a ban on television until 1976, and, according to Ron Krabill, they were right to be wary of its potential power. The medium, he contends, created a shared space for communication in a deeply divided nation that seemed destined for civil war along racial lines. At a time when it was illegal to publish images of Nelson Mandela, Bill Cosby became the most recognizable black man in the country - and, Krabill argues, his presence in the living rooms of white South Africans helped lay the groundwork for Mandela's release and ascension to power.\nWeaving together South Africa's political history and a social history of television, Krabill challenges conventional understandings of globalization, offering up new insights into the relationship between politics and the media.","brand":"The University of Chicago Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54220021498200,"sku":"9780226451893","price":32.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780226451893_58ced52b-e1d9-45c8-a473-d26d9fbef223.jpg?v=1769758217","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/starring-mandela-and-cosby-1","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}