| MSU
develops partnerships at workshop on South Africa
As South Africa confronts the heritage of apartheid
in the process of national reconciliation, South African and U.S.
cultural and educational organizations are forming partnerships
to build resources, infrastructure and networks within South Africa
for the new millennium.
Earlier this month in Durban, South Africa, the
workshop "International Partnerships for South African Culture,
History and Education" brought together a diverse, binational
group to review the status and make recommendations to improve existing
archival resources, training programs, and heritage outreach and
education efforts in the new democratic South Africa.
Coordinated by a core team of MSU faculty - from
the Consortium for Inter-Institutional Collaboration in African
and Latin American Studies (CICALS), the African Studies Center,
the MSU Museum, H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences OnLine, and
MATRIX: the Center for the Humane Arts, Letters and Social Sciences
OnLine - and representatives from the Chicago Historical Society
and the Smithsonian Institution's Center for Folklife Programs and
Cultural Studies, the workshop was prompted by discussions with
South African partners over the past three years and was shaped
by the results of wide-ranging needs assessment survey conducted
in recent months.
"That MSU played a leading role in this development
is not surprising," said David Wiley, director of MSU's African
Studies Center. "As the first U.S. university to divest its
holdings in apartheid South Africa, MSU has a profound commitment
to working with the new South Africa.
"This project grows out of the University's
strong ties to South African educational and cultural institutions
and builds upon the University's internationally recognized African
studies, museum and folklife programs, and humanities-based technology."
More than 60 representatives from major repositories
and documentation centers; existing South African heritage training
programs, museums and universities in the United States and South
Africa; U.S. foundations; and South African education and cultural
ministries participated in the workshop.
Priorities identified for international partnerships
include:
workshops and short courses in both the United States
and South Africa;
use of information technologies and Internet communications to build
connections among South African institutions and with colleagues
worldwide;
outreach through travelling and virtual exhibits, radio, festivals
and interpretative programs to both rural and urban South Africa;and
oral history and curricular projects that produce electronic materials
for use in primary/secondary schools.
"Opposition to apartheid isolated American educational and
cultural institutions from South Africa," said John Eadie,
director of CICALS. "This project provides a unique opportunity
to re-engage. Americans, as well as South Africans, have much to
gain from this partnership.
"In sharing our technical expertise, our citizens
will acquire a firmer grasp of South African history and culture
and a more nuanced understanding of the 20th century's premier struggle
for freedom and human dignity."
Supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
the workshop launched a three-year collaborative training and technology
initiative that will be binational and multi-institutional in scope.
Representatives of the Ford Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation attended the workshop and indicated that these foundations
will provide support for the project over the next three years.
Lisa Acheson, MSU News, 11/24/99
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