Society, Politics and Culture in South Africa

The Eastern Cape of South Africa has a rich cultural tradition (Xhosa, Afrikaans and British) and a fascinating pre-colonial, colonial, and postcolonial history. It also boasts incomparable natural beauty and a wide variety of ecosystems: lush coastal areas with stunning beaches, the austere dry Karoo, and thickly forested mountain ranges. Founded as a garrison in 1812 on the old Eastern Frontier where the British Empire met the Xhosa people, Grahamstown is a charming, historic town. Today it is a major education and legal center. Grahamstown is close to the Addo Elephant National Park and is surrounded by a range of Game Reserves. The town offers the visitor a snapshot of South Africa—its history of splendor and misery, human achievement and suffering.

Rhodes University

Rhodes University is one of the oldest South African universities, celebrating its centenary in 2004. It strongly resembles a premier U.S. liberal arts college: it is both small, with just over 6000 students, and boasts an impressive faculty in terms of both teaching and research. The student body is racially mixed, even as the university has the highest percentage of foreign African students (i.e. not from South Africa) in a South African university (25%). The University is set in a beautiful and safe campus and offers comfortable accommodations and modern facilities.

Program Director

Garth Myers is a Professor in Geography and African/African-American Studies and Director of the Kansas African Studies Center. His major areas of interest include urban and environmental planning and development geography for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Academic Program

The International Summer School at Rhodes University offers a rigorous study abroad program with the following features: an intensive introduction to recent South African history, politics, and culture combined with focuses on special topics such as Environmental Education and Sustainable Development, hands-on field experience or service learning, and the opportunity to see inaccessible parts of South Africa. For a detailed overview of the program, please visit the website at http://www.ru.ac.za/international/

Courses Offered

Students earn a total of six credit hours in the following subjects:

AAAS 320: Topics in African Studies: Understanding South Africa Today (3 credit hours)
Taught by Rhodes University faculty, this course will provide an historical background to South Africa’s current situation. It will include seminars on issues such as identity and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, problems with which the country has struggled and still seeks resolution in an ever-changing political, social, and economic environment.

AAAS 320: Topics in African Studies (3 credit hours)
Also taught by Rhodes University faculty, this course will consist of a choice between two modules. The first explores anthropological approaches for understanding issues such as culture, religion and ritual, urbanization trends, livelihoods, and conservation in the countryside, within their local context. During the second module students will learn approaches for assisting communities to address issues they face such as using local knowledge and the environment to secure income through art and traditional medicine. Both modules include an excursion to experience life in a local community and provide some research and in-service training.

Cultural Activities

Integrated into the courses taken at Rhodes University are several excursions in and around Grahamstown. During the first week of study, students will visit a Game Reserve. The second week will comprise a week-long immersion in South African Art and Culture through participation in the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. During the third and fourth weeks of study, site visits will vary depending upon the chosen program module.

Accommodations

All accommodations in Grahamstown consist of single rooms in student residences on campus. During excursions, students will stay in bed and breakfasts. While in the student residences in Grahamstown, full board is available in a dining hall. While on excursions, meals will be provided.

Dates

Depart US: June 25, 2009
Arrive Grahamstown: June 26, 2009
Depart Grahamstown for US: July 24, 2009

Eligibility

Open to students from accredited U.S. colleges or universities in good academic standing. Minimum 3.0 GPA required.

Cost

Program fee: Approximately $4,800.
The program fee includes tuition and fees at Rhodes University, transportation to and from Port Elizabeth, housing, meals, excursions, local transportation, cultural programs, emergency medical evacuation and repatriation services, orientation, and administrative costs.

Additional costs: Airfare, passport fees, incidental personal expenses and health insurance.

Note

All dates, costs, and program information are subject to change as necessary due to fluctuations in the exchange rate or other reasons.

Financial Aid

KU students who qualify for summer financial aid in the form of Stafford and/or other loans, Pell or SEOG Grants, and scholarships may apply the aid to the cost of a Study Abroad Program.

Limited supplemental scholarships are available to KU undergraduates. Applications are available at the Office of Study Abroad. You can also download the scholarship application. The scholarship application deadline is March 1.

Non-KU students should check into the financial resources available to them at their home institutions.

Application Procedures

Application Deadline: March 1, 2009. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Applications are available in the KU Office of Study Abroad. You can also download the application.

(Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to download an application. If your computer does not have Acrobat Reader you can download it for FREE.)

For more information contact:

Garth Myers , Director
Kansas African Studies Center
University of Kansas
10 Bailey Hall
Lawrence, KS 66045
Phone: 785-864-3858
e-mail: gmyers@ku.edu

The University of Kansas
Office of Study Abroad
Lippincott Hall
1410 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 108
Lawrence, KS 66045-7515
phone: 785-864-3742
fax: 785-864-5040
e-mail: osa@ku.edu