COMM 419H is a comparative study of modern media systems of mass communications with focus on

the transitions [from colonial through post-colonial and contemporary periods] of media in the US and South Africa. Included in this course is a nine day tour of South Africa over spring break of 2018.

This tour, which includes day-trips to sites in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Soweto, is designed to give students first-hand exposure to South Africa – a country in which the mass media were actors in the apartheid political system and in the 20+ years post- transition transformation of the society. While in South Africa, students co-investigate the role of the mass media in the country’s post-apartheid transformation, meet and receive presentations by persons affiliated with academic institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and media houses – all involved in/engaged with ongoing transformation of South African media/society.