Hutton Honors Seminars

The course itself asks students to trace the evolution of South African society, the clashes between European settlers and indigenous peoples, the development of both African and Afrikaner nationalism in the context of an industrializing society, the growth of white supremacy and apartheid, resistance to racial domination, the liberation of the country, and the post-apartheid efforts at racial and national reconciliation. The trip will begin in Cape Town and conclude in Johannesburg—a geographic itinerary that roughly mirrors the chronological narrative of the course, and gives students a rich sense of the country’s diverse populations and historical narratives (e.g., slavery in Cape Town; gold mining in Johannesburg).

This dramatic story will be greatly enhanced by travelling to South Africa in order to show students the crucial sites of history and to ask them to contemplate the process of heritage-construction, commemoration, and memorialization in a still racially-divided society committed, at least rhetorically, to the process of racial reconciliation. Such a trip will help students put present and past into dialogue as they seek to understand colonialism, racism, apartheid, resistance, and their multiple and contested legacies in an African context. It will also give them some analytical tools for thinking more generally about how history and heritage can be presented to the public through museums, battle-sites, memorials, and other interpretive displays.

Catalog Information: HON-H 251  HUTTON HONORS STUDY ABROAD

GenEd Information: Approved for the World Cultures requirement of the IU Bloomington General Education program.