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General Description:
The University of Chicago's winter-quarter program in Cape Town, one of South Africa's most beautiful and dynamic cities, is devoted to the study of African history and culture. At the heart of the program is a three-course civilization sequence, "African Civilization in Africa," treating African history, politics, and cultural anthropology (with some emphasis on the modern South African experience) and buttressed by a series of excursions. The focus of the third course is Kruger National Park, an extensive game preserve that has become central to environmental and land management debates in South Africa. An extended visit to Kruger National Park is the chief component of this course. In addition to the civilization sequence students will take a fourth course, "South Africa: History to Cultural Literacy," designed to explicate the linguistic and cultural landscape of South Africa. Clearly South Africa itself, a liberal democracy coping with the legacy of an oppressive, racially discriminatory regime, is central to this program, and students will be afforded an opportunity, through a series of lectures and site visits, to observe and discuss its efforts at nation-building and social restructuring. Most class meetings will be at the Bo-Kaap Museum in central Cape Town.
Housing:
Students will be housed in shared rooms in small guesthouses in Tamboerskloof, a residential neighborhood near the City center. This arrangement includes daily breakfast and several dinners per week.
Credits:
As a participant in the Cape Town program you receive three credits for the civilization sequence. This sequence meets the College’s civilization requirement. If you have already met the civilization requirement, you may use these credits as electives. You also receive one credit for the "History and Cultural Legacy," which may be used in the anthropology major or as an elective. Course titles, units of credit, and grades are placed on your Chicago transcript.
Registration and Tuition:
You remain registered full-time in the College and pay regular College tuition plus a Cape Town program fee and the College's study abroad administrative fee. The Cape Town program fee covers accommodation, approximately half board (full board during the Kruger Park segment), and excursion costs. For precise figures, please see Study Abroad Program Fees. Apart from these fees you are responsible for round-trip travel to and from Cape Town as well as miscellaneous on-the-ground expenses including meals not covered by the program, books, and incidentals.
Financial Aid:
You retain your financial aid eligibility. However, two expenses--the study abroad administrative fee and the round-trip airfare to Cape Town--are not underwritten by College Financial Aid. On the other hand, since you cannot be expected to work part-time in South Africa, the self-help component of your financial aid package does not include a term-time employment factor.
Eligibility:
The Chicago Cape Town program is designed for undergraduates in good standing who are beyond their first year in the College. While the program stipulates no minimum grade-point average, applicants should present a transcript demonstrating that they are serious students who will make the most of this opportunity. Because the African Civilization course is taught in English, previous study of an African language is not required. Please note: Because of the considerable demand on the Chicago civilization programs abroad, no student may participate in more than one of these programs.
Application:
Applications are available on the study abroad website. To apply to the Cape Town program, a student submits a general study abroad application electronically, then downloads the supplementary application specific to Civilization programs and submits it on paper, normally in mid-winter quarter of the previous academic year.
In preparing the application and especially in composing the required personal statement, students should keep in mind that admission to Civilization programs are selective and that the number of places available is insufficient to meet the considerable demand. A student accepting an offer of admission is expected to secure his or her place with a $500 non-refundable study abroad administrative fee. (To begin the application process, click on the Study Abroad General Application.)
Further Information:
If you would like to discuss the Cape Town program and the possibility of participating in it, you are invited to contact Sarah Walter (Harper 207A; 834-3753).
Statements contained on this site are subject to change without notice.
