I threw together this video for my final project in my African studies course. The prompt was to convey any theme of our class in a creative way, so my group chose to tie together themes of Forgiveness and Archives in a PostSecret like project where we asked all of the students in the study abroad program to anonymously send us secrets about their time in Cape Town and the country as a whole. Our idea was to bridge the gap between South African students and internationals because, believe me - there is such a gnarly gap. It's not that students here are unwelcoming or rude or anything like that, it's just that South Africa is such a complex and ever-changing developing country, that it's really difficult to understand it and it's people as an outsider. So, as the video shows, although this semester has been a romp, it's starkly juxtaposed with some heavy feelings, fears and ideas we've had.
I was shakin in my boots thinking that we would offend the South Africans in our class, but they ended up liking it almost more than the American and European students and it opened up an avenue for a lot of us to talk about our experiences dealing with the nuances of our cultures. So, all in all, this little video did exactly what it was supposed to: it exposed these secrets that we thought we had to hide and brought us together. After all, in order to truly move on, you have to know what you're moving on from.
Live in the open,
KG
