Examine historical and contemporary multiculturalism, ethnicity, and identity in South Africa.
WHY STUDY HEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICA?
South Africa has made legislative strides in righting the wrongs of apartheid, but significant challenges remain. Historically, colonial and apartheid racial discrimination policies categorized people according to race, including Bantu (Black), Coloured (those who were not categorized as Bantu or white) and the minority white. Law created a racial hierarchy with white people at the top of the pyramid, and diminishing rights, access and “human-ness” moving down the hierarchy, which placed Coloured people as a buffer between those categorized as white and black. The cleavages of this legacy remain evident in the lived realities of South Africans.
Starting from your base in Cape Town, you’ll learn how race relations continue to be shaped by a range of contested histories, politics, resistance, activism, and the deployment of rights-based rhetoric. Journey to key sites such as the Steve Biko Centre, where you will study the Black Consciousness Movement, and Robben Island, the prison that held the late South African President Nelson Mandela. You will experience South Africa through the eyes of diverse homestay families in city and rural locations.
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
MONEY MATTERS
SIT is an all-inclusively priced study abroad program – including academics costs, excursions, accommodations and meals, airport transfers, and health insurance. Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor and read the website for more specific information.
SCHOLARSHIPS
SIT has awarded an average of over $1.3 million in scholarships and grants to SIT Study Abroad students in the past three years. All scholarships and grants are need-based. Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
CONTACT SIT STUDY ABROAD
Major Topics of Study
- The historical background to South Africa's apartheid system, how apartheid shaped and continues to impact social policy in South Africa, and the visions for post-apartheid South Africa
- Social change in education, language use, land, social justice organizations, party politics, rural development, social welfare NGOs, and tourism in three cultural contexts: Xhosa, Coloured/Khoe, and Afrikaner
- Critical identity markers beyond race — such as gender, sexuality, class, or generational or political affiliation — which cut across cultural contexts in post-apartheid South Africa
- The political, economic, and social structure of the future South Africa
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
There is no "typical day"on an SIT program. Activities may take place on any day of the week and at any time of day to be in accordance with according to local norms and to take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities. Thus, the schedule and structure of the program are likely very different from what students are used to on their home campuses. The semester progresses in phases:
- The program begins with a thorough orientation.
- During the first two and a half months of the program, students are engaged in foundational coursework, including:
- thematic seminars, including education excursions,
- language instruction focused on improving practical communication skills, and
- a field research methods and ethics course that prepares students to conduct independent research.
- For the last month of the program, students conduct an Independent Study Project (ISP) on an approved topic of their choosing.
- Finally, students present their project, participate in program evaluations, and prepare to return home.
- SIT Study Abroad offers a field-based, experiential approach to learning.
- Each program has a small group of students (typically 10–35).
- On an SIT program, students gain high levels of access to many different stakeholders and experts relevant to the issues the program is examining.
- While some learning will be conducted at the SIT program center, extensive learning is done outside the classroom — in host communities, field stations, NGO headquarters, ecological sites, health clinics, and art studios.
- Many students go on to use their Independent Study Projects as a basis for senior theses on their home campuses. Others use their undergraduate research and overall study abroad experience to successfully apply for fellowships such as Fulbrights and Watsons.
Money Matters
Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.
SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:
- All educational costs, including educational excursions
- All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
- Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
- Health and accident insurance
Scholarships:
- SIT awards nearly $1.3 million in scholarships and grants annually.
- All scholarships and grants are need-based.
- Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
- The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.
- Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
Contact SIT Study Abroad
