Quick parable: Once upon a time, a woman was completing her ethnography in Indonesia and found that the people she was living with were unusually anxious about her moving back to the United States. Upon further investigation, she realized that they were convinced that she would be either killed by John Wayne in a shootout or would be poisoned by a relative a-la Dynasty. Moral of the story? Don’t believe everything you see on TV. Just like every American doesn’t duel for their honor or have the privilege of calling a horribly dysfunctional family theirs, not every African lives like the !Kung.
For better or worse, natural population growth shaped by the forces of colonialism, imperialism, and (now) globalization, has made South Africa into a country that in many ways looks quite European. The country is a little bigger than Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico combined and is home to about 47.9 million people.
I will be flying into Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, and staying there for the first week of my trip. There we will have an orientation and take the (long) van ride to Durban where the majority of the program is housed.
Durban has about the same population as New York City, but is quite spread out (a little less than twice as big as NYC). It’s a popular vacation destination for South Africans, while Cape Town is usually the go-to vacation spot for non-South African tourists. As the program is home stay centered, we will not have beachfront property, but will be staying in Cato Manor and taking vans to our lectures housed at the University of KwaZulu Natal (KZN being the province). More fun facts to come!
If this isn't painfully self-explanatory, what you are reading is the tales of my journeys abroad. On January 22nd, I will be rocking out to Durban, South Africa for fifteen weeks to study Community Health. Although I have no clue what my packing list will include, I can assure you I will bring a pink camera and a trusty pair of Keds. And, as I'm not convinced that I will have internet every second of every day, I'll try to update as often as possible. Enjoy!
