South Africa

Begins: 1 Jun 2012
Ends: 31 Jul 2012
Supervisor: Sean Jacobs
Required course: Contemporary Africa

South africa updated

2012 Spring/Summer South Africa Syllabus

Revised Spring/Summer Schedule. ADDENDUM TO SYLLABUS!

The Context:

· Southern Africa covers 15 states forming the Southern African Development Community

· Our base will be in South Africa, economically and politically the strongest and most advanced in the country in the region.

· As a result, most of the internships will be based at organizations in Cape Town, South Africa's second city.

· At least four internships will be offered in two neighboring countries. They will most probably be based in the capital of Mozambique, Maputo, and the capital of Namibia, Windhoek. These have not been finalized, but should be by Monday, October 10.

· English the most common language used in the region in political and media work. Portuguese is the main language in Mozambique.

· All three countries share a recent and connected "liberation" history, i.e. they are governed by movements who led guerrilla wars against either colonialism and proxies of South Africa (Mozambique), occupation by South Africa (Namibia), or overthrowing Apartheid (South Africa).

· Predictably South Africa has the most vibrant media—though debates about their ownership and control as well as reach don’t go away—and most active civil society organizations.

· Cape Town: Set in a peninsula, Cape Town is physically very beautiful, flanked by mountains and with long coastlines. Film crews favor Cape Town as a cheap stand-in for more expensive European and North American locales. Cape Town is also the most segregated of South Africa's major cities. The legacies of Cape Town colonial and Apartheid (racist) past are easy to spot. Cape Town is the only major city governed by an opposition party.

· Maputo: It's a coastal city that reflects its Portuguese colonial legacy. It is also the fastest growing economy in the region, with Chinese and South African corporations dominating economic development in the wake of 25-odd year civil war that only ended in the mid-1990s.

· Windhoek: Namibia is a small, desert-like country with 2.1 million inhabitants on the southwest coast of Africa.

The Rough Guide introduction to Cape Town is very helpful. On Maputo, I’d recommend an interview I did early this year with a football writer who stayed in the city for a few weeks. As for Windhoek, I'd recommend its Wikipedia page.

Internships

The following organizations have confirmed that they’d be willing to take one or two interns:

In Cape Town:

· Abalimi Bezekhaya. Links a profile on CNN and a promotional video (shot by two American volunteers)

· Africa Unite, immigrants rights organization

· The Alternative Information and Development Centre

· The Transitional Justice Program at The Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation.

· “New Journalism Project” at The Community Media Trust

· The Open Democracy Advice Center

· Equal Education

· Institute for Security Studies

· Political Information and Monitoring Service of IDASA