UC San Diego Global Seminars: Cape Town - Change in Modern South Africa

Since the end Apartheid in 1994, Cape Town became and remains one of the most popular tourist cities in the world. The city is famed for its natural beauty, a distinctively relaxed cosmopolitan milieu, and the storied role it played in the decades-long struggle against Apartheid. Sporting several universities within its metropolitan boundaries, the Global Seminar offers an ideal environment for students to combine a deep acquaintance with South African history with a well-structured sojourn into the cultural life of a sophisticated African city.

Cape Town played a distinctive role in both South African history and in the social movements that emerged to oppose racial domination. Evidence of ambivalent relations between different racial and ethnic communities is everywhere present in the city today, two decades after Apartheid ended in 1994. On the other hand, post-Apartheid policies have indeed steadily chipped away at the legacies of the past, replacing the divisive core of Apartheid with a communal ethos that heralds a broad, inclusive nationalism. The Global Seminar therefore presents the city as a living embodiment and repository of post-Apartheid South Africa.