LAS 199 Global Studies: Diversity & Integration

Program Summary

This course focuses on the political, economic, cultural, and ecological challenges facing Cape Town after South Africa's transition from apartheid rule. You will engage with these diverse communities through two one-week field trips. Explore how the politics of fishing, fruit farming, and wine-making in a globalizing economy of free trade, cheap labor, and export commodities undermines the ecological basis of social transformation. Visits to urban communities will focus on how conflicts between residents of formal and informal settlements, townships, and new downtown residential developments drive urban restructuring policy. We will especially focus on the city’s urban renewal project and its ability to address the challenges of desegregation. Gain memorable insight into the complex dynamics of the institutionalized and social forces driving urban and rural restructuring of Cape Town after apartheid. Students will also have the final few days to enjoy the famous beaches, music scene, and cultural life.

Course Information