Department of Geography, Environmental Studies and Tourism

News and Events

The department is proud to announce the following: On April 25, 2025, twenty five students and staff took the train from Unibell station to Cape Town for a fieldtrip. We visited the Castle of Good Hope  and learned a great deal from Sonwabile, who described how it attempted to erase hundreds of thousands of years of history at the Cape that came before European settlement; how mercantilism and militarism were intertwined in an attempt to claim South Africa as a vitally important trade route; how it has long signified histories of colonial and racist oppression; and how it remains a site of struggle in the city even today. 

We then took in the view of Table mountain from the roof of the Homecoming centre and visited the District 6 museum. Our returnee tour guides led us on a walking tour of what has been rebranded as the "East City." They did not show us "where to eat and drink" as per tourist guides, but the streets where they used to play, the houses where they used to live and the hospital where their kids were born. While looking at a parking lot, we toured through their memories to understand the richness of life that happened there. 

                                                                                                                                Fieldtrip Leaders: Dr. Erin Torkelson & Prof. Bradley Rink                                                                                                                               Fieldtrip Leaders: Dr. Erin Torkelson & Prof. Bradley Rink