Examine development issues in Cameroon in the context of culture, politics, and the economy.
16
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French
English, French
Jan 30 – May 14
Cameroon
France
Yaoundé
Development & Inequality
Identity & Human Resilience
Cameroon, an ethnically diverse and rapidly changing country, is an ideal setting in which to study development. Alongside Cameroonian college students, you’ll discuss project sustainability, funding sources, and beneficiary involvement in project design and implementation with development experts and high-profile political leaders. Focusing on three major socio-cultural groups—Bamiléké, Bagyeli, and Anglophones—you’ll discover the complex relationships between development, modernization, and social change.
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Cameroon is a microcosm of the continent’s major climates and geographic zones: mountains, desert, rain forest, savanna grassland, and the ocean coastland. During this program, you will travel to various regions and experience daily life, traditions, customs, and historic and cultural sites of diverse communities. Each thematic module includes an excursion or field trip to allow you to experience firsthand issues discussed in class.
In addition to taking part in this rural homestay, you will learn about the role of the diaspora and elites in community development and the important role of endogenous institutions in health, culture, economy and politics. Additionally, you will also have the privilege to meet with the King of Batoufam to learn his views on nation-state issues, as well as the changing cultural landscape of Batoufam.
In Kribi, which is between the Gulf of Guinea and the edge of the tropical rainforest, you will learn about the Bagyeli, an indigenous group of nomadic hunters and gatherers who are struggling to preserve what remains of their rich customs and traditions due to the realities of modernization and globalization. You will examine sociocultural transformations in the group, as a result of the progressive industrialization of the area. Witness firsthand how development projects can be contradictory to their discourse by disempowering communities where they settle.
Please note that SIT will make every effort to maintain its programs as described. To respond to emergent situations, however, SIT may have to change or cancel programs.
Upon successful completion of the program, students will be able to:
The following syllabi are representative of this program. Because courses develop and change over time to take advantage of dynamic learning opportunities, actual course content will vary from term to term.
The syllabi can be useful for students, faculty, and study abroad offices in assessing credit transfer. Read more about credit transfer.
Modernization and Social Change in Cameroon – syllabus
(AFRS3000 / 3 credits)
An interdisciplinary course taught predominantly in English, exploring Cameroon’s complex social history and postcolonial national identities in one of the most ethnically and geographically diverse countries on the continent. In addition to lectures and discussions, the course integrates multiple learning methods including required readings, excursions to relevant sites, group discussions and processing sessions, participatory workshops, student presentations, and independent or self-structured learning.
Development Studies – syllabus
(SDIS3000 / 3 credits)
An interdisciplinary course taught predominantly in English, examining foundational concepts, principles, and paradigms of development studies for the purposes of critically engaging with specific topics and issues relating to the Cameroonian context. Through formal lectures, assigned readings, group discussions, and integrated field visits, students explore the ways in which development initiatives ‘ in local, regional, and national contexts ‘ seek to become agents for changing structural relationships in society.
French for Development Studies – syllabus
(FREN2003-2503 / 3 credits)
French for Development Studies – syllabus
(FREN3003-3503 / 3 credits)
French for Development Studies – syllabus
(FREN4003-4503 / 3 credits)
This language course focuses on the acquisition of the French lexicon used in the areas of development and social change to equip students with the language tools needed to work with NGOs and local and international development associations. Students are immersed in course materials designed to build their capacity in comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing skills to support the course’s focus on engaging students with discourses, vocabularies, discussions, and readings centered on development issues in Cameroon. Based on in-country evaluation, including oral proficiency testing, students are placed in the appropriate level, with additional language practice in homestays and on field visits.
Beginning French: French in Cameroonian Contexts – syllabus
(FREN1003-1503 / 3 credits)
This intensive course is designed to prepare students with little or no previous instruction in French to confidently use the language in daily communications in Cameroon. Another major aim of the course is to facilitate access to the Cameroonian host culture, particularly in the urban homestay. The course emphasizes the development of speaking and comprehension competencies. Cultural context is built into the course and introduced through audiovisual materials and experiential activities accompanying the text.
Research Methods and Ethics – syllabus
(ANTH3500 / 3 credits)
The Research Methods and Ethics course provides students with the essential tools required to conduct an independent study or internship in either the public health or social research domains in Cameroon. Material includes cross-cultural adaptation and skills building; project selection and refinement; appropriate methodologies; field study ethics and the World Learning/SIT Human Subjects Review Policy; developing contacts and finding resources; developing skills in observation and interviewing; gathering, organizing, and communicating data; and maintaining a field journal.
In addition to taking the above courses, students will also need to enroll in one of the following two courses:
Internship and Seminar
Internship and Seminar – syllabus
(ITRN3000 / 4 credits)
International development became firmly established as a field of study and practice with an extensive apparatus that spans international borders, driven by an agenda of closing the global wealth gap at the onset of decolonization. Compared to most countries in the region, Cameroon has, since independence, had relative political stability, which has permitted investments in agriculture, transport infrastructure, petroleum, and timber. In this sense Cameroon provides an excellent setting in which to study mainstream development at play and the transitions that occur as society gets increasingly integrated into modern lifestyles. This internship experience is intended to place students in organizations at the center of this transition, as a way to enable them to appreciate the drivers and goals of mainstream development practice and how they have been structured.
Sample internships:
OR
Independent Study Project
Independent Study Project – syllabus
(ISPR3000 / 4 credits)
Conducted in Yaoundé or in another approved location appropriate to the project in Cameroon. Sample ISP topics: political opinions among Cameroonian youth; Chinese and American development efforts and perceptions in Cameroon; gender roles and standards of beauty in Cameroon; traditional and modern healing: people’s preferences; usages and practices of bilingualism in Cameroonian schools; influences of Westernization on the Bikutsi style of music; oral history of the Bamiléké people; land grabbing and its local impacts; microfinance and women’s empowerment.
Sample ISP topics:
Browse this program’s Independent Study Projects / undergraduate research.
You’ll live with a Cameroonian family in the bustling capital Yaoundé. Your homestay family will have an understanding of life in the West through children or close relatives who live in Europe or the United States, or having experienced it themselves. You’ll see how this connection has affected their economic status and way of thinking. This experience will give you an opportunity to further explore program themes in a relaxed and informal setting.
In this rural community, you will be placed with a Bamiléké family and experience their culture, traditions, and arts. You’ll be immersed in your host family’s daily activities. Discussions at mealtime and other activities will illuminate lectures and field visits. You will appreciate an ethnic group that maintains strong ties to its culture despite the pressures of globalization.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to making international education accessible to all students. Scholarship awards generally range from $500 to $5,000 for semester programs and $500 to $3,000 for summer programs. This year, SIT will award nearly 1 million in scholarships and grants to SIT Study Abroad students.
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Fall 2017 SIT Study Abroad student Maria Cortes, George Washington University talks about her experience on excursion in Paris
Spend a semester abroad studying development and social change
