University of Michigan - Flint

The trip was designed to open the door into Africa beyond the tourist experience.  Basically, this is a plan to study Africa in Africa through personal participation and observation.  The learning process was both systemic and spontaneous.  The study had two component parts;  the academic and cultural.  Besides spending time and doing things with cultural communities, participants were involved in some academic activities.  Prior to departure for Africa there were on-campus lectures on selected topics on African life, culture, literature, etc.  Lectures in Africa included:  "History and Slave Trade in Ghana," "Culture and Social Dynamics of Africa:  Focus on Ghana," "Politics and Development in Ghana," "Peoples and Cultures of Nigeria," "Health and Development in Nigeria:  The HIV/AIDS Syndrome," "African Womanhood:  Past, Present and Future," "Education and Development in Africa Today," "African Art and Music," etc.

On-site visits as well as discussions with students, youth leaders, artists, college administrators, business executives, government and non-government officials and civic leaders in the two countries were held.  In Ghana the legendary slave castles in Elmina and Cape Coast, Kente Weaving craft centers, and the local craft market were part of the course.  In Nigeria the National Museum in Calabar, the palaces of two Igbo traditional rulers, an oil palm factory, the scenic Kwa Falls were part of the itinerary.  Visits to the Alvan Ikoku College of Education Model Secondary School and Nursery School, observation of traditional masquerades and traditional dancing, and a walking tour of an Igbo village afforded students some contrast views of urban and rural Nigeria.