African and African American Studies Hosts Third Study Abroad Program to Ghana

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African and African American studies students touring Black Star Square in Accra, Ghana

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Fourteen students studied in Ghana, West Africa, as part of the African and African American studies program’s bi-annual study abroad program, “Ghana:  Kingdom, Slavery, Colonialism, Independence and Modern Development.” Calvin White Jr., the program’s director and associate professor of history, and James Gigantino, assistant professor of history, co-led the course.

“Our study abroad to Ghana is a key component of not only the program’s curriculum but also the mission of Fulbright College, following the legacy of J. William Fulbright,” said White. “Encouraging students to see through an international lens is critical for our students as many have embarked on careers with international businesses such as Tyson Foods and Walmart or pursued graduate study.” 

As part of their study abroad experience, students enrolled in six hours of intensive coursework, meeting first on campus in Fayetteville for two weeks before their departure for three weeks in Ghana. The group traveled from the northern border with Burkina Faso to Cape Three Points on the Atlantic Coast, covering more than 2,000 miles across nine of the country’s 10 administrative districts. 

“Helping our students understand the history, culture and modern development of Ghana is critical to the future of Arkansas and the United States,” said Gigantino. “West Africa has played, and will continue to play, a major role in international affairs.  Ghana was at the center of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the 18th and early 19th centuries and its independence movement in the 20th encouraged both civil rights leaders in the United States and leaders from across Africa to fight against colonization.  It remains a hub of commerce as trade between Africa and the United States will continue to grow in the coming years.”

As part of the “Ghana and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade” course, students participants traced the route slaves took from the far north to the coast, visiting important sites of the slave trade along the way before touring Cape Coast and Elmina castles—European-built trading outposts on the coast that helped facilitate the trade. 

The second course, “Colonialism, Pan-Africanism, and the Development of Ghana,” focused on Ghana’s colonial experience and its modern economic development, especially in the last few years with the discovery of oil off the country’s coast.  Students compared economic development across the regions they visited and studied factors that spurred and impeded that growth.

Students found the experience crucial to their academic growth, and many remarked that it had changed their perceptions of Africa and their own lives. 

According to Will Pohlman, a Sturgis Fellow and honors animal science and biochemistry major, the study abroad experience “taught me the importance of branching out with an open mind ... and has taught me the necessity of diversity, even within one’s own life.” 

“I’ve learned entirely too much to fairly explain it in one day, let alone a few words,” said Ayana Gray, honors African and African American studies and political science major.  “The best way I can do just that is to say that my study abroad experience taught me that no matter how wide open you think your eyes are … open your eyes wider and see more.”

History and African and African American studies major Janet Shields echoed the idea of keeping an open mind and said the experience taught her “that when looking at other cultures we must be careful not to put other people of the world into the mold of our own culture.” 

In addition to the Ghana course, the African and African American Studies Program helped negotiate an exchange agreement with the University of Cape Coast. The agreement, established in 2011, allows for the exchange of faculty and students between the two institutions making the University of Arkansas the first school in the Southeastern Conference to reach a formal agreement with Cape Coast.

The June 2014 trip marked the third summer the program has sponsored a study abroad program in Ghana. For more information may be found on the program’s website.

The African and African American studies program expands on the core disciplines of a traditional liberal arts education.  Through interdisciplinary study, students may explore the legacy of the African diaspora and African-descended people’s global experiences and the importance of race with a focus on Africa, the United States and the Caribbean.