WE ARE BASOTHO – the diplomacy focused small group within a larger South African Study Abroad program through Elon University.
What do we do?
Our focus in Basotho is is diplomacy focusing on the relationships between internal issues in South Africa and external forces/relationships with the country. Our main questions is: What were the effects of shifting race relations in the fields of education, women’s issues, and diplomatic relations during and after apartheid in South Africa?
Why this topic?
Why education, women’s issues, and diplomatic relations? Because those were the issues we found most interesting!
Who are we?
WE are Valerie, Jenna, Hannah, Lauren, Amanda and Ryan! We’re all Elon University students in various years. All of us, along with twenty-four other students and three professors will be traveling to South Africa in January 2016 to not only see the country, tour around, see penguins, but also work on social action projects as well.
This South African experiential learning program focuses on the struggle of the South African apartheid and the lasting effects that still endure in the country today. We’re preparing for our journey to South Africa by reading a collection of books and excerpts including Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane, A Bed Called Home: Life in the Migrant Labour Hostels of Cape Town by Mamphela Ramphele.
We also are preparing by watching a variety of films. The first film we have viewed is The Road to Brown, detailing the experience of Brown v Board of Education and produced by California News Reel.
Other films we have avalible for viewing are You Have Struck A Rock!, a film about the female protest movement against gender discrimination in South Africa, Invictus, about the release of Nelson Mandela from prison and the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Yesterday, a film about a mother with AIDs and many others.
Elon University is a Southern liberal arts university located in Elon, NC. Opening it’s doors originally in 1889, and after surviving a couple fires, has since established itself as a leading educator in international educational opportunities. The Institute of International Education named Elon University as the leading program in master’s-level international education.
Keep checking back for more updates on our projects, social action work, and fun info about South Africa!
