Today, outside investors, and not the residents of Bo Kaap, own much of the land that surrounds the neighborhood. The situation in Bo Kapp reminds me of gentrification in my own city of New York, especially in areas like Brooklyn and northern parts of the Bronx.
There is a growing tourism industry within Cape Town, because the rest of the world sees the area the way I first did, as a cosmopolitan city surrounded by beautiful beaches and mountains. As a result, many of the colorful houses within Bo Kaap have become tourist destinations. When I am on my way to classes with my homestay partner Asha each morning, we'll often see a tourist bus full of people who take pictures of the colorful houses and leave. My homestay mother describes it as infuriating that these people arrive and just extract what they want from the community, without getting to know the people who live there. The tourists leave as quickly as they arrive, elated that they falsely received a full South African experience.
The effects of gentrification in Cape Town and neighboring towns such as Hout Bay and Hangberd have stoked my interest in larger globalization trends. I am looking forward to continuing to tell you about the effects of globalization on different environments when we get to Brazil!
