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Guiding Concepts
Globalization is the dynamic and complex process of interplay between the universal laws of science across diverse environments and the particular challenges confronted by local populations as they engage with the natural world in a specific setting. Characterized by its multiple and simultaneous movements, the concept and realities of globalization are used to help students better understand the world.
The second key concept for this project is Environment. This Consortium Program engages students in an exploration of the concept of the natural environment and how this has been expressed over time and across cultures, and on the connection between the human condition and the natural environment.
Core Seminar:
Globalization and the Natural Environment (4 semester credits)
This is the program�s required core course, organized in two parts, and conducted in January and February before regular UCT courses begin. It is trans-disciplinary in nature, focusing on both philosophical and abstract concepts, and on practical skills applicable to the solution of real-life environmental problems. In addition to the program participants, the core seminar includes full participation by two UCT graduate students to ensure inclusion of South African perspectives.
1. The first part of the core seminar includes an introductory reflection on the meaning, scope, implications of the key concepts, overall theme, and the pedagogy of the program. It will be presented principally by the 2009 Visiting Consortium Professor for the program, Professor Raymond F. Hopkins of the Political Science Department at Swarthmore College. This first part of the seminar includes discussion of the inter-relatedness of course work and field learning, the program structure and approaches to learning, and the reasons behind the choice of location. This part of the seminar draws on the pre-departure readings but students will be encouraged to explore the literature and construct a deeper understanding of the South African environment and the factors that have shaped it. Specific topics under consideration include:
- Economic globalization: International investment, link up with local realtors
- Environmental globalization: Environmental impacts of international tourism, link up with the Department of Environment and Tourism
- Political globalization: Southern African governance, Nepad and trade blocs
- Globalization of crime: Examining the links between crime across borders
- Prospects for Africa�s future: development, poverty, and marginalization
- Disaster vulnerability
2. The second part of the core seminar is presented principally by a selected University of Cape Town faculty member. The seminar will be cross-disciplinary and will entail university-based research as well as local non-academic specialists. Students are expected to draw on both direct academic resources as well as field experience in their written and oral presentations. Specific topics under consideration might include:
- Developing an understanding of South African environments: political, economic, social, cultural and biophysical background
- Human Environment interaction within the context of globalization
- Ecotourism, conservation and development
- Problematizing conservation in the South African context: National Parks and Peace Parks
- Land degradation and society
- Aliens, fire, urban development and local plant communities in Greater Cape Town
- Conservation and land management in the Sandveld and Cederberg of the Western Cape (field excursion)
- Globalization and agriculture in the Western Cape
- Smallhold agriculture and marginality
- Environmental justice, land reform and transformation in the countryside
- Marine conservation
- Fresh water use and conservation
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University of Capetown
UCT university courses (4 semester credits)
In addition to the core seminar and directed study project, two regular UCT courses are required. At least one of these courses must directly support the overall theme of the program (globalization and the environment). The second course may be from an area of the student�s choosing. Consortium students take these courses with regular degree-seeking students at the University of Cape Town. The on-site UCT Resident Director and Academic Affairs Coordinator provide students with academic counseling and guidance in final course selection after arrival in Cape Town. Students are most strongly urged to take UCT courses at the 3000 level. Students should consult the Resident Director if they are interested in 4000-level courses which may be available to students in certain instances. Students should bear in mind that most 3000-level courses have prerequisites and admission to particular courses is based on the relevant UCT course convenor or Head of Department decision in relation to the applicant�s background and experience.
Pre-selection of these courses must be accomplished by applicants at the time of program application (late September 2008). Individual Consortium schools will apply credits earned by students in this program in a manner consistent with their own accreditation methods. Please see the Consortium representative at your home college for more information.
More complete course descriptions and syllabi are available from UCT. Please note that the UCT academic year begins in the third week of February and ends in late June. Because UCT course offerings may vary from year to year, students should check with the UCT website for updates on specific course offerings and be prepared to be flexible.
For a list of courses that, among others, fulfill Consortium requirements to directly support the theme of the program, consult the syllabus.
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Independent Study
Independent Study Project (6 semester credits)
This unique component of the Consortium program engages students (or in some cases a group of students) in collaborative field-based directed study in selected areas of on-going research in South Africa. The independent study project is a required component of the program. Project topics should be focused on the program theme of globalization and the environment. Students who have questions about their project ideas should discuss them at length the Consortium representative at their home college before application. Final choice of topic will be made during the core seminar. Each project topic is further defined in consultation with the Resident Director, the Academic Affairs Coordinator, a home campus faculty, and/or local academics and practitioners. Each student or group of students is then assigned an on-site project advisor, and must demonstrate learning in a lucid, compact, intellectually acute, and well-documented paper and summary oral presentation.
For a list of topics approved for previous Independent Study Projects, consult the syllabus.
Samples
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Readings
Pre-departure Readings [No credit]
Given the trans-disciplinary nature of the program and the varied academic majors of student participants, it is essential that participants read selectively on South Africa, on the overall program theme, and on their particular academic interests. Although students may choose additional books, the Consortium requires that all students read the following references as background to South Africa, references which will be provided to program participants as pre-departure reading:
- TBA reading on South Africa�s environmental challenges
- Readings on globalization (will be provided)
- Mandela, N. Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela(Little, Brown and Company, 1994).
For a complete list of suggested pre-program readings, consult the syllabus.
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