Study Abroad in Ghana: SUNY Brockport

Cultural & Political Change in Africa

Overseas Program in Ghana

Students can earn six upper division credits. For more information about joining the Ghana experience contact the Office of International Education.

Group of Brockport students at Ghana posing for the camera

Program Objectives

To introduce participants to various aspects of life in Africa as seen in the history, economy, the arts, culture, social changes and political developments in the country or countries visited.

To enable professionals and students interested in African affairs to pursue their interests through direct contact with the mother continent of all humanity.

To offer a non-traditional educational experience as the best means of dispelling some, if not all, the stereotypes developed in Western societies about life and culture of Africans.

To provide an educational alternative for realizing personal growth and accepting the responsibility of a member of the human race.

A critical term paper of not less than 12 typed pages on any topic of the student’s choice. (Must be related to Ghana- See Academic Content below.)

Group of Brockport students dancing with people from Ghana

Academic Content

There are three parts to this course. The first part consists of a field trip to Ghana, West Africa, which includes visits to areas of cultural, political, educational, social, and historical significance to students, scholars, researchers and other members of the academic community. Participants in this course will also, in Ghana, participate in lectures from African Africanists from various departments of the University of Ghana at Legon.

Most of the lectures will be presented in the mornings; the afternoons will be devoted to discussions, meetings,field trips and social affairs, giving seminar participants ample opportunity to interact with Ghanaian citizens and other denizens of our world’s second largest continent.

The participants’ second part of the course consists of summaries of Devine and Braganti’s African Customs and Manners (pp. 65-80), Appiah’s In My Father’s House, and Whitaker’s How Can Africa Survive? These summaries must note the significant cultural, political, economic and technical forces currently impinging on Africa in general and Ghana in particular.

Seminars & Lectures

Land and Economic Development

The Evolution of Modern Africa

The Economy and Education of Ghana

The Social Structure of Ghana

Drumming and Dancing in Ghana

Change and Continuity in Africa

Politics in Africa 1945 to 2008

And more!