South Africa, with its diversity of geographies and people, provides the perfect platform to discuss how culture and history creates stories and influences South Africans’ understanding of health and wellness. During the prep course and travel, students will be able to experience those dichotomies and see how they play out in cultural contexts and in the stories that emerge. Students will see the nuanced and overt ways in which media controls and shapes the stories of health in South Africa and other parts of the African continent. As students explore South Africans’ stories, they will compare them to their own, reflecting on the way that modern health culture shapes individuals and communities’ collective stories and identities, as these relate to health and wellness.

Traveling abroad in May 2021, faculty and students will visit sites integral to the identities of South Africans, in the cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg, as well as on safari. The class will visit Table Mountain National Park, the Cape of Good Hope and Robben Island, sites that highlight apartheid and Nelson Mandela, as well as explore the flora and fauna that typifies African game reserves. As students learn about the impact of Apartheid on South African identity, they will explore how significant cultural events have deep and lasting effects on a nation’s health and well-being.

This course may be most appropriate for students interested in communication, intercultural interaction, emotional health, multimedia storytelling, and concepts of health and wellness in South Africa. The academic courses associated with this program are COM/HSS 398 and 399: Cultural Identity, Health, and Wellness: Exploring South Africa in the wake of Apartheid for 4 total credits. Students will elect to receive HSS or COM credit. It will be taught by Dr. Daina Nathaniel and Dr. Saundra Penn.

This is an OPEN program.
*all itinerary items are tentative and subject to change*