Humanities Express

Humanities "International"

Summer is a time when the thoughts of many turn to travel. Undergraduates in the Humanities are no exception; in fact, among college students generally, they take a lead. Every year hundreds set their sights on travel and study destinations in twenty countries across the globe. In partnership with the Office of International Education and educational institutions abroad, faculty in the Humanities offer discipline-based, credit-bearing programs in many formats to ensure time for travel and study overseas without extending time to graduation. Students seeking learning experiences overseas may pass the summer making progress toward degrees in majors offered through the College, immersing themselves in the cultures and literatures of the peoples and places that have captured their imaginations and drawn them abroad.

In addition to the opportunity to hone foreign language skills and soak up the ambience of everyday life in diverse locations including Argentina, China, the Czech Republic, and Russia, for example, students may participate in non-language based programs in countries such as England, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Tanzania. Indeed, the Department of African American and African Studies offers excellent examples of opportunities for study and travel intimately linked with programs of study at home including an intensive Swahili Language and Culture Program combining language training with an introduction to the rich heritage of East African culture, music and art. Professors Walter Rucker and Lupenga Mphande present upper-division spring courses which examine the impact on the contemporary black world of social, political, cultural, and economic issues related to West Africa’s role in the slave trade, and its post-colonial condition, as well as recent political, social, and cultural transformations that have taken place in the post-colonial era in South Africa. Professors Rucker and Mphande lead subsequent study tours to Ghana and South Africa where students explore African culture first-hand, visit sites of historical significance and participate in social, cultural, and artistic events which represent and express the multiple dimensions of the African experience.

For seasoned or first-time travelers, study overseas means broadened horizons, life-changing encounters and deepened intercultural understandings. To our many student-travelers – best wishes for the experience of a lifetime, and bon voyage!