3rd Year Abroad: Luna and South Africa, an "Obvious Choice"

My name is Luna and I am an undergraduate student from Sciences Po's Reims campus, Africa minor.
Choosing Sciences Po was the first step in the long process of becoming a journalist, photographer and filmmaker. It was important to me to understand the topics I need to discuss, before learning how to talk about them. The possibility to study the world through multiple angles was a great opportunity, and seemed necessary to get a wide perspective on socio-political dynamics. Being able to focus on Sub-Saharan Africa was also an important incentive to study on the Reims campus, as I was already sure that I’d focus on this continent in my work. 

South Africa was my obvious choice to learn more about critical race theory and postcolonial studies. Unfortunately, European universities often don’t treat these topics with enough depth. Studying them from the perspective of a country that was  are really concerned was really important to me.

South Africa, being the most recently decolonised country in the world, enabled me to explore these topics not only through Wits University (in Johannesburg), where people talk freely about these issues and reference authors of colour. My everyday life also taught me a lot about postcolonial dynamics, as they structure every part of society.

Johannesburg is an extremely artistic, dynamic and intercultural place. I knew I wanted to do art and meet other artists, so this city became an evident choice. I don’t remember any negative experiences to be honest. Despite the obviously complicated security context, if you follow certain rules, you can navigate the city easily. I loved Johannesburg for the incomparable openness of the people, the cultural intensity and the tremendous creativity of its artists. 

I spent my free time there shooting a documentary and a short film while also taking photographs. The short film became a long term project. I worked on the script for a year after my departure, with two of my friends who are both poets like me. I recently went back to South Africa to shoot the final version.

The photographs I took during my 3A also brought me my first ever exhibition. Hence, the art I produced and the multiple inspiring artists I met in this city enabled me to grow creatively and to push my artistic career further. After my master's degree, I want to move to Johannesburg to settle down as an independent journalist, photographer and filmmaker. 

I want to encourage people to try other destinations than Europe or North America. We study issues of the Global South, yet we rarely confront our sometimes Eurocentric perspective to the local ones.

Living in a country rather than visiting it is an experience on a whole new level. It enables you to connect with the day to day realities of people living there. You will talk to, rather than about, people who have a lot more to teach you than what you would have learned by staying in your cultural comfort zone. That is if you decide to go out of the expat bubble, because I have seen many staying inside of it, which is understandable, but also a waste of great opportunities. For some it might take more courage than for others, but it is always worth it. 

There is nothing more urgent than life.