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Transforming Cape Town: Education Activists and Social Change

February 19, 2009
Catherine Besteman professor, chair, anthropology, Colby College
Allistair Witten interim director, Principal's Center, HGSE
Susan Moore Johnson professor, teaching and learning, HGSE

Catherine Besteman, chair of Anthropology at Colby College, speaks about her new book, Transforming Cape Town, which explores the emotional and personal aspects of the legacy of apartheid and the transition to black majority rule in South Africa.

Allistair Witten, interim director of the Principal's Center and former school principal in South Africa, joins Besteman to discuss the role of grassroots activism in effecting social transformation. Through stories about families, schools, and communities in Cape Town, Besteman and Witten highlight the ongoing struggles and victories around race and reconciliation in a young democracy.

Susan Moore Johnson, Carl H. Pforzheimer, Jr. Professor of Teaching and Learning, provides an introduction.

This forum is co-sponsored by The Harvard Committee on African Studies, Facing History and Ourselves, and The University of Cape Town Fund.

WGBH
Harvard Graduate School of Education
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