New off-campus programs will bring students in the African and African-American studies and Native American studies programs to Ghana and Santa Fe, New Mexico, respectively, in fall 2015. Participants on the African and African-American studies program will spend their term at the University of Ghana, Legon Campus in Accra, while students on the Native American Studies program will travel to the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Santa Fe is close to diverse tribal communities, noted Bruce Duthu, Native American studies department chair. The city further serves as a hub of political relations between Native and non-Native populations, he said.
“We felt that landing in one specific tribal community would certainly give us proximity, but would also be probably too intrusive to local rhythms of that community,” he said.
Executive director of off-campus programs John Tansey said that the African and African-American studies program has worked on its Ghana FSP for about four years. Participants will enroll in one course taught by the program’s faculty director and two courses taught at the University of Ghana, he said.
When former African and African-American studies professor Antonio Tillis, one of two faculty members to lay the groundwork for the proposal, left the College, the department sought a new faculty director for the program, Tansey said.
African and African-American studies professor Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, the other faculty member who Tansey said planned the program, did not return requests for comment by phone or email on July 20. African and African-American studies program chair Gretchen Gerzina could not be reached for an interview before the close of business hours.
The 15-week program, which matches the length of a semester at the University of Ghana, will include excursions, cultural activities and a break in the middle of the term, Tansey said.
Students in the Native American studies FSP will also take three courses — one taught by the program director and two by local scholars.
Along with the host institution’s resources, students in the program will have access to libraries at the School for Advanced Research and the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Duthu said. Participants can count the three course credits toward a major or minor in Native American studies.
The program will also reserve at least one day per week for mandatory excursions to explore nearby communities, Duthu said.
A maximum of 16 students can participate in the program at one time, Duthu said. The program will first run every two years, but if demand for the program increases the program may be offered more frequently, he noted.
The launch of this program, Duthu said, is significant because it demonstrates the maturity of the Native American studies program and aligns with College President Phil Hanlon’s emphasis on experiential learning.
Morgan Talty ’16 stressed the importance of physically visitng the American Southwest while studying its history and culture. Talty added that the Native American studies program will provide an experience to the participants that would be otherwise impossible to gain in the Northeast.
Cade Cross ’15 said that the program will allow students with a Native American heritage to explore the society, history and culture of different tribes across the nation. Had the program been established earlier, he said, he would have applied to participate.
Six other students majoring in African and African-American studies or Native American studies were contacted but could not be reached for comment by deadline.
In 2012-13, the last year the figures were available, the College graduated four African and African-American studies majors and eight Native American studies majors.
