This is an excerpt from the student-assigned blog for our Southern Africa semester, which can be found on the website “blog spot” at: cgenamibia.blogspot.com. 

Week Two: The Unseen Colors of the Rainbow Nation

by Imani Briscoe, St. Joseph’s University & Kitty McGirr, Univ. of California, San Diego

… it is very intriguing that, even with the acknowledged importance of the history of South Africa’s “Rainbow Nation”, discussions surrounding the indigenous people and colonization of what is now known as Cape Town rarely occur. Most of what we find in the American education history books regarding the changes Cape Town has gone through seems to focus on the racial issues of blacks and whites. Continue reading “Southern Africa Fall 2016: Week 2 Reflections” →

This is an excerpt from the student-assigned blog for our Southern Africa semester, which can be found here. 

Week One: Reflections on the Motherland

Apartheid ended 22 years ago when the first democratic elections were held in 1994, the same year I was born. For a nation that experienced so much horror in throughout apartheid these elections marked a new era of possibility and prosperity. That hope was shared throughout the world, when the message of a newly united nation travelled half-way across the world to the classrooms and schools I attended. However as residents and students in the United States, we should be well aware that change, especially social change, may take years and even generations to truly happen. Therefore, we were exposed to the realities of post-apartheid South Africa and the continuously growing economic challenges and disparities faced by South Africans, particularly the black citizens still facing severe effects from Apartheid.

Continue reading “Southern Africa Fall 2016: Week 1 Reflections” →