Course Descriptions

Students will be lectured on the cultural and sociopolitical environment in South Africa during the apartheid era and during the transition from apartheid to democracy. South African songs and dances of liberation and struggle will be taught and practiced by the students, and their content will be analyzed. The course will explore the role of music and dance in the social change that took place in South Africa during the civil war period in the province of KwaZulu Natal 1990–1994; the initiation of the Peace Train Project and implementation of this project countrywide around South Africa over a six-year period; and the role of the international icon Nelson Mandela in creating an atmosphere of peace and healing within South Africa. The impact of the Peace Train project is discussed in detail, along with its global implications. Finally, the celebratory songs and dances of the New South Africa are analyzed and taught in the South African languages of Zulu, Xhosa, and Sesotho. Teaching will be in the form of lectures, song and dance workshops, video presentations, and group discussion and planning. Students are invited to bring their voices, musical instruments, and dance shoes! The larger question to be answered by the students is how does music and dance play a role in social change and in national healing? In addition, students will be encouraged to find their own role as change agents using the expressive arts as their instrument for social change and will be given an opportunity to design their own arts and social change projects to be implemented in their communities or therapeutic environment. Priority to EXA students