Male students from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences and Business Sciences in Dubai traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, in December 2011 for a study abroad program organized by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences.  Initiated by the students, the program set out to discover different strands of urban life in Cape Town, one of Africa’s most diverse, fast-changing, and segregated cities. 

Over the course of a busy week, ZU students met with student leaders from the University of Cape Town, spent time with the residents of Cape Town’s oldest black township, Langa, and visited the District Six Museum, a community museum commemorating a vibrant and mixed Muslim, Jewish, and Christian neighborhood that was demolished in the 1960s as part of apartheid’s urban segregation.  Students and faculty also sailed to Robben Island to visit the political prison where Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the African National Congress were imprisoned, drove eastwards to Stellenbosch University, and hiked to the summit of Table Mountain.  We had the exhilarating chance to cage dive with great white sharks in Gansbaai, in the Indian Ocean, on our final day.

Through the program, students deepened their understanding of the history and consequences of apartheid in South Africa, learned as part of Global Awareness and International Studies courses.  Exposing students to the diverse economies, cultures, and communities that comprise contemporary South Africa, the program also helped ZU International Studies students develop critical and personal perspectives on a society and nation very different to their own.  Future HSS study abroad programs for male students are planned for Fall 2012.