Centre College, Rhodes College, and The University of the South are proud to offer a semester-long faculty-led program in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in partnership with Nelson Mandela University.

Quick Facts

Where: Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa

When: Fall 2025

What: Studying at the remarkable Nelson Mandela University in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) will provide students with a life-changing opportunity to live and study in a historic city where coursework, university life, excursions, and even internships or service learning will immerse them in the vibrant and awe-inspiring culture of South Africa. This program takes up to 20 students from three partner schools (Sewanee, Centre, and Rhodes) on an unforgettable and transformative journey to the eastern coast of Africa’s southern-most country, led by a member of the faculty from Rhodes, Centre, or Sewanee. 

Prerequisites:  None. The program is open to all Sewanee students during their junior year. Sophomores and seniors can petition to join. 

Cost: Students pay Sewanee comprehensive tuition and fees and will continue to receive Sewanee aid and scholarships.

2025 Faculty Leader: Johann Van Niekerk (Centre College)

Contact for Additional Information: global@sewanee.edu 

How to apply: Set up an account and apply through Via.

Program Overview

Academics
  •  "Keeping it Real": Intercultural Borrowing in Africa and the African Diaspora (4 Credit Hours; Required). 
    • In an ever increasingly globalized world, contemporary US pop culture, and to a large extent Hip Hop culture, has enjoyed an extensive footprint, with outsized influence in societies around the globe. Concurrently many forms of Black Cultural Expression that shaped contemporary global pop culture traces back to the African continent, originally through the physical and philosophical movement into the Western Hemisphere through the Transatlantic Slave Trade, migration into Europe from the Caribbean, and more recently, through online forums, social media, and global entertainment forms, as witnessed in cultural expressions such as Afrobeats. This course will investigate the interplay between contemporary US pop culture, pop culture in other Black populations in the Western Hemisphere, and pop culture in countries from across the African continent. This dialogue will include investigations of genres and frameworks such as Afrocentrism, Afrofuturism, Afrosyncretism, Africana Womanism, Pan-Africanism and other surrounding fields. Cultural forms investigate will include art, fashion, film, food, literature, music, poetry. The course includes site visits in Port Elizabeth (Gqberha) and Cape Town.
Housing

Find a home-away-from-home in South Africa! Students on this program will live in Campus Key, a contemporary, private residence hall within walking distance to NMU. These self-catered residence halls are also used by other NMU students, whether locals from South Africa or other internationals from all over the globe, so you are sure to have an immersive experience in a global university setting. Students will have a private bedroom and bathroom and will share common spaces, including full kitchens, with their roommates. The city of Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) is small enough to feel like home, but large enough to offer all the metropolitan life and experiences typically requested by study abroad students. This coastal city boasts amazing beaches, world-class museums and attractions, and unforgettable nature walks and wildlife destinations. The people of Gqeberha are warm and friendly, leading to the Gqeberha’s nickname, “Friendly City.”

excursions

Programmatic excursions to Robben Island, Addo Game Reserve, and Cape Town are included.  

Student Support
  • Courses/instruction

  • Housing, standard multiple

  • Airport pickup in Gqeberha, South Africa

  • Programmatic transportation

  • International health insurance

  • Excursions to Robben Island, Addo Game Reserve, and Cape Town
DATES (tentative)
  • July 14 - November 26 2025