“South Africa: History and Culture” is a five-week school teacher institute for twenty-five participants, held at Port Elizabeth and other locations across South Africa, on that country's geography, history, and social institutions. During the first half (and final days) of the institute, participants reside at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth. There they study South Africa’s geography and history, and its cultural, religious, educational, economic, and political institutions with lectures by the project director and faculty from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and the University of the Western Cape. They visit sites around Port Elizabeth, including New Brighton Township; Red Location Museum, which examines the struggle against apartheid; Grassroots Soccer, an HIV/AIDS prevention organization; and Anglican and Islamic religious groups. Principal readings include Paul Bohannan and Philip Curtin, Africa and Africans; Leonard Thompson, A History of South Africa; Rita M. Byrnes (ed.), South Africa: A Country Study; Allister Sparks, Tomorrow is Another Country; Nelson Mandela, A Long Walk to Freedom; Alex La Guma, A Walk in the Night; and Nadine Gordimer, July’s People. These activities are followed by a seventeen-day study trip during which participants travel by chartered bus to historical and cultural sites around Cape Town, Grahamstown, Durban, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Kimberley; they also visit tribal lands and natural reserves throughout the country. Participants work with a master teacher on writing assignments and curriculum development, and they keep both personal and group journals.
