Come Go With Me

(Links may have to be cut and pasted into your web browser.)

CIAFactbook South Africa Info at a glance:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sf.html

BBC Country Profile:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1071886.stm

This summer I’m traveling to South Africa as a prof. with our university's study abroad program. I’m very excited because I can’t wait to see the similarities and differences between Southern and West Africa where I’ve spent most of my time. South Africa’s history mirrors much of U.S. history from the Europeans (Dutch) who saw themselves as pioneers in an untamed land to British colonialism, apartheid (like Jim Crow), and the emphasis on the “Rainbow Nation” in post-apartheid SA, which emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism in a country with over 11 ethnic groups and languages. Although racism may be dead in the law books, there are many struggles ahead in terms of identity and economic concerns for all people of SA. Unlike the other 50+ countries in Africa, South Africa is extremely wealthy, but the wealth is unevenly distributed. I read that if you calculated the wealth among whites in SA it would be one of the richest nations in the world, but considering the impoverished areas in the townships (think US Indian Reservation) then the SA economy has many struggles ahead. Many of those struggles go towards providing equal access to quality education and jobs for graduates (again parallels to US problems).

We’ll be staying in a hotel that was a former white prison in the early 1900s (where whites were rehabilitated. Blacks, they thought, were incapable of rehabilitation and should just be punished). Enchanting locale (dripping sarcasm). I’m assured that despite the shared bathrooms, the accommodations are much improved from the prison era. I’ve never really believed in ghosts but I’ve watched a lot of Xfiles (Buffy/Angel/Charmed, etc.) so we’ll see if my imagination goes all Blair Witch while I’m there. On the plus side we’ll be near the waterfront where I can access the internet, shop, and eat. I’m told the tap water is fine, but given my past water borne illness experiences I will not be going there.

We leave from Augusta on Wed. morning and will spend a day in Heidelberg, Germany en route. A chance to get out of the airport. We can eat some German food for lunch, but I’ve never been a big fan. My taste buds have matured a lot since high school so I’ll see if I can find something I like now (random fact I recently read: children’s taste buds change as they get older so there’s a biological reason most kids don’t like brussel sprouts. I don’t know if I’ve outgrown that one though).

We’ll arrive in Cape Town on Friday after a very long two days or so where it should be in the 70s during the day and 50s at night. I bought an ipod this weekend to keep me entertained through the flight. The students in my class are specifically studying history (with only a brief prehistoric shout out to Australopithecus afarensis, an early hominid), gender/sexuality/health-AIDS, education and development, race/ethnicity/apartheid, economy: migration and tourism. It’s fascinating stuff!

Next week we’ll be visiting the Amy Biehl Foundation where we will be doing service learning:
http://www.amybiehl.org/

Also, here’s a link that summarizes something from last summer that ties in to this summer too (looking at the connection between tradition and modernity) go about ¾ the page down:
http://www.gcsu.edu/africana/default.html

As usual I don’t know how much time I’ll have to devote to complete thoughts and good grammar so I appreciate your patience with that. I look forward to hearing from you. I'm also aware that I have several different potential audiences.