This document provides information about a January 2015 theological reflection course in South Africa titled "AIDS, Apartheid, and the Arts of Resistance." The course was led by Rev. Richard Cogill and Dr. Kimberly Vrudny and examined the interrelationships between apartheid and AIDS in South Africa through analyzing works of artistic resistance. Students explored theological themes through engaging with various art forms from their historical context and participating in service work. The course involved travel to sites in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Guguletu to learn about the arts of resistance through tours, lectures, and experiences.

1. Theological Reflection in South Africa
January 2 – 27, 2015
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul, Minnesota
Instructors:
Rev. Richard Cogill
Dr. Kimberly Vrudny
AIDS, Apartheid, &
the Arts of Resistance

2. THE TEAM
Rev. Richard Cogill
St. George’s Cathedral
Cape Town
Dr. Kimberly Vrudny
University of St. Thomas
St. Paul

3. Rev. Cogill’s PREPARATION

4. Dr. Vrudny’s PREPARATION
112
Introduction
On June 5, 1981, the Centers for Disease Con-
trol (CDC) published a report about five cases
of a rare strain of pneumonia among previ-
ously healthy men in Los Angeles. The CDC
assigned a team to investigate the cause of the
outbreak.1
Within months, the CDC was aware
Preface
The close of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first centuries were marked by
perhaps one of the greatest humanitarian tragedies in recorded human history. At the time of
this writing, well over 25 million people globally have died from AIDS and more than 33 mil-
lion men, women, and children are currently living with an HIV infection.The direct effects of
HIV/AIDS on families and communities continue to be felt by millions around the globe, often
disproportionately among the poor and marginalized. So why is the next generation learning
so little about HIV/AIDS? In this chapter, KimberlyVrudny provides readers with a foundation
for understanding why HIV is concentrated in the poorest regions of the world, as well as
religious foundations for responding to HIV/AIDS as an issue of social justice.
Chapter Goals
• Provide a scientific overview of HIV/AIDS
in poverty, women, and people of color
HIV/AIDS
Religion, Ethics, and AIDS
KIMBERLY VRUDNY
University of St. Thomas
5C H A P T E R
1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,“Pneumocystic Pneumonia—Los Angeles,”MMWR Weekly, 30, no. 21 (June
5, 1981): 1–3, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/june_5.htm.
From Religious and Ethical Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century,
Paul O. Myhre, editor (Winona, MN: Anselm Academic 2013.)
Copyright © 2013 by Anselm Academic. Used by permission of the publisher.

5. The Course of Study
AIDS, Apartheid, and the Arts of Resistance, January-term 2015, page 1
THEO. 489
AIDS, APARTHEID, AND THE ARTS OF RESISTANCE:
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg • Pretoria • Cape Town • Guguletu • Hermanus
University of St. Thomas
J-term 2015
Instructors:
Richard Cogill, Priest in the Western Cape South African Diocese of the Anglican Communion
Kimberly Vrudny, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, University of St. Thomas
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
Through analysis of works of artistic resistance, students in this course will examine the interrelationships between two catastrophes of the modern era in South Africa: Apartheid and AIDS,
especially attentive to the impact of the correlation between the two on the lives of women. Students will approach works of art with theological lenses to explore such themes as lament, imago
Dei, prophecy, theodicy, justice/charity, memory, storytelling, kairos, covenant, forgiveness, reconciliation, and hope. Artistic examples will be drawn from the visual arts (both “fine-” and “folk-“
styles), music, literature (novel and poetry), and film. Students will learn about the arts of resistance through studio tours, guest lectures, and site visits in Johannesburg and Cape Town and
their surrounding areas. Students will participate in the arts of resistance by service work conducted at the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, the Scalabrini Center in Cape Town, and St.
Luke’s Hospice in Guguletu. Students will integrate the dimensions of the course by reflecting on a theological theme by reference to works of visual art, music, literature, and film.

6. ACADEMICS

7. COURSE TEXTS

8. Community

9. ACCOMMODATION

10. St. Peter’s Lodge

11. Kolbe House

12. Homestays

13. Volmoed

14. THE ARTS

15. it is said
that poets write of beauty
of form, of flowers, and of love
but the words i write
are of pain and rage
i am no minstrel
who sings songs of joy
mine a lament
I wail of a land
hideous with open graves
waiting for the slaughtered ones
balladeers strum their lutes
and sing tunes of happy times
I cannot join their merriment
my heart drowned in bitterness
with the agony of what
white man’s law has done
Literature | Poetry:
JAMES MATTHEWS

16. Literature | Novel: ALAN PATON

17. Music | Documentary: AMANDLA!

18. Visual Arts: SUE WILLIAMSON

19. Visual Arts: DIANE VICTOR

20. Visual Arts: KIM BERMAN

21. Film:
BEAT THE DRUM | YESTERDAY

22. ITINERARY

23. Regina Mundi Church

24. Hector Pieterson Museum

25. Walter Sisulu Square

26. Voortrekker Monument

27. Freedom Park

28. Nizamiye Masjid Mosque

29. Constitution Hill

30. Central Methodist Mission

31. Liliesleaf

32. District 6

33. Cape Point

34. Boulder’s Penguin Colony

35. Sunny Cove Manor

36. Zwane Center

37. Guguletu

38. Philani Weaving Project

39. St. Luke’s Hospice

40. These Numbers Have Faces

41. Scalabrini Centre

42. Table Mountain

43. Truth and Reconciliation
Commission

44. Archbishop Desmond Tutu

45. Monkeybiz

46. Streetwires

47. Bokaap, Cape Town

48. Kirstenbosch Gardens

49. Institute for the Healing of Memories

50. Robben Island

51. HOPE Cape Town | Tygerberg
Hospital

52. Film School Africa

53. Aquila Safari

54. Volmoed Retreat

55. Franschhoek | Moyo

56. Fees and Tuition

57. QUESTIONS?

58. FINAL THOUGHTS . . .
There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist
fighting for peace by non-violent methods most easily succumbs: activism
and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the
most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried
away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many
demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone
in everything is to succumb to violence. More than that, it is cooperation in
violence. The frenzy of activists neutralizes their work for peace. It destroys
their own inner capacity for peace. It destroys the fullness of their own work,
because it kills the root of inner wisdom which makes work fruitful.
—Thomas Merton