This Intro Seminar focuses on analyzing and interpreting the digitized Regina Twala archive at Stanford University, allowing students to engage in data mining of Twala's historical letters and photographs to create digital maps that narrate the history of racial segregation and apartheid in mid-20th century Johannesburg. By analyzing the rich personal documents of Twala, a key figure in South African history, students will extract data such as locations, dates, and social contexts to visualize the impact of apartheid on urban development in the city of Johannesburg. Tools like Python libraries (e.g., Pandas for data manipulation, BeautifulSoup for web scraping) will be used to process the archive's text, while geospatial applications like ArcGIS and QGIS will allow students to create detailed, interactive maps that overlay historical events with geographical changes, illustrating the shifting boundaries of segregated spaces in Johannesburg. In addition to the digital mapping work, Stanford students will collaborate with undergraduate students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in South Africa, fostering an international exchange of knowledge and perspective. This partnership will involve joint virtual workshops where students will share insights about their research and methods for analyzing the Twala archive. UJ students, with their deep local understanding of Johannesburg's urban landscape and history, will provide valuable context that helps enrich the maps, ensuring accuracy and cultural sensitivity. Together, the students will engage in co-creating their amps and presenting their findings at an end-of-quarter symposium. In this way, the course will blend technical expertise with firsthand knowledge of Johannesburg's communities, creating a richer, more nuanced depiction of the city's apartheid history through the lens of the Twala archive at Stanford University.
3 units · Letter (ABCD/NP)
This Intro Seminar focuses on analyzing and interpreting the digitized Regina Twala archive at Stanford University, allowing students to engage in data mining of Twala's historical letters and photographs to create digital maps that narrate the history of racial segregation and apartheid in mid-20th century Johannesburg. By analyzing the rich personal documents of Twala, a key figure in South African history, students will extract data such as locations, dates, and social contexts to visualize the impact of apartheid on urban development in the city of Johannesburg. Tools like Python libraries (e.g., Pandas for data manipulation, BeautifulSoup for web scraping) will be used to process the archive's text, while geospatial applications like ArcGIS and QGIS will allow students to create detailed, interactive maps that overlay historical events with geographical changes, illustrating the shifting boundaries of segregated spaces in Johannesburg. In addition to the digital mapping work, Stanford students will collaborate with undergraduate students from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) in South Africa, fostering an international exchange of knowledge and perspective. This partnership will involve joint virtual workshops where students will share insights about their research and methods for analyzing the Twala archive. UJ students, with their deep local understanding of Johannesburg's urban landscape and history, will provide valuable context that helps enrich the maps, ensuring accuracy and cultural sensitivity. Together, the students will engage in co-creating their amps and presenting their findings at an end-of-quarter symposium. In this way, the course will blend technical expertise with firsthand knowledge of Johannesburg's communities, creating a richer, more nuanced depiction of the city's apartheid history through the lens of the Twala archive at Stanford University.
Offered in Autumn 2025 at Stanford University.