In partnership with Dickinson College and open to all students, this program examines development and social change in Cameroon in the context of culture, politics, and the economy.
16
None, open to all students
French
English, French
Jan 18 – May 2
Cameroon
Yaoundé
Required
Development & Inequality
Identity & Human Resilience
SIT and Dickinson College have partnered to create a one-of-a-kind, interdisciplinary study abroad program in Cameroon that is open to all students. This program examines critical issues in development from decolonial and African perspectives. SIT and Dickinson’s long presence in Yaoundé and dynamic on-site staff and faculty offer students opportunities to develop an intersectional understanding and appreciation of Cameroonian and West African culture and society. Students may choose an intensive French- or English-language program track with no language prerequisites.
Cameroon, an ethnically diverse and rapidly changing country, is an ideal setting to study decolonial approaches to development. Alongside Cameroonian college students, you’ll visit NGOs working on a variety of social issues in Cameroon and learn from development experts and grassroots activists. Through excursions to visit the Bamiléké and Bagyeli ethnic groups and through modules on gender, dis/ability, Indigenous culture, language, and religion, you will discover the complex relationships between identity and development.
Spring semester students of French may enroll at Catholic University of Central Africa where you’ll have the opportunity to explore cocurricular university activities with Cameroonian students. Both spring and fall students may request a Francophone or Anglophone homestay, depending on French ability.
None, open to all students
Students studying on this SIT semester-length program can choose to simultaneously complete a minor, with no additional coursework or cost. At SIT, a minor is a minimum of 16 credits taken within a content area. This standout credential can help boost your future job or graduate school applications.
SIT’s program in Cameroon offers the opportunity to earn a minor in Africana studies or development studies. Through this program, you’ll examine development and social change in Cameroon in the context of culture, politics, and the economy. You may choose an intensive French language track or an English language track with no language pre-requisites.
Known as “Africa in miniature” and more recently as “Le Continent” (the continent), Cameroon is a microcosm of the continent’s major climates and geographic zones: mountains, desert, rainforest, 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 organization visits to allow you to experience firsthand issues discussed in class.
In addition to being part of 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 Chief of Batoufam to learn his views on nation-state issues, as well as the changing cultural landscape of Batoufam.
During a visit with the Bagyeli people, an Indigenous group in the south of Cameroon, you will see the firsthand impacts of large-scale development projects, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, on Indigenous communities. Through an ethical engagement with the Bagyeli community, you will learn about sustainable use of forest resources, Indigenous health practices, and the resilience of a vulnerable community confronted with a development industry whose power base is global capital.
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. Students may choose an Intensive French-language track or an English-language program track with no language pre-requisites. 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.
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON COURSE PATHWAYS
Intersectionality in African Contexts – syllabus
(SOCI3000 / 3 credits)
This course will encourage students to analyze how Cameroon’s colonial legacy (shaped by both French and English influences) affects contemporary social structures, exploring the intersections of ethnicity, age, religion, physical ability, gender, race, class, and sexuality in this complex African context. With over 250 local languages and strong patriarchal norms, special attention will be paid to women’s experiences across different social contexts, from urban centers to rural communities. The course critically examines how various forms of marginalization and privilege intersect, particularly in relation to family law, gender roles, religious freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and disability access.
The course combines theoretical frameworks with practical field experiences, including excursions to Batoufam and Northern Cameroon. Through thematic seminars on women, sexuality, ethnicity, religious diversity, disability, and culture, students will gain insights into the dominant and varied within-group differences in identities and societal dynamics, exploring how intersectional understanding can translate into meaningful social change.
Decolonizing Development from African Perspectives – syllabus
(SDIS3000 / 3 credits)
Cameroon, also known as “Africa in miniature” and more recently as “Le continent,” provides the ideal setting for students to explore hierarchies of power and the challenges of decolonizing development in Africa. This course centers a variety of African philosophies including concepts such as Ubuntu, which emphasizes mutual respect and human dignity, the program interrogates dominant development paradigms through the lens of Afrocentric epistemologies. Students engage with theories about development and de/coloniality, the role of global capital in perpetuating patterns of dominance and learn about the relevance of Cameroon’s current development agenda from academics and policy makers.
Through case studies and site visits in Yaounde and Kribi, students will engage with NGOs and the local community to explore African based development practices, including language and cultural orientation. During the experiential visit with the Bagyeli people, an Indigenous group in the South of Cameroon, students see first-hand impacts of large-scale development projects, such as the Chad-Cameroon pipeline, on Indigenous communities. Through an ethical engagement with the Bagyeli community, students learn about sustainable use of forest resources, Indigenous health practices, and the resilience of a vulnerable community confronted with a development industry whose power base is global capital.
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.
PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION ON COURSE PATHWAYS
Intersectionality in African Contexts – syllabus
(SOCI3000 / 3 credits)
This course will encourage students to analyze how Cameroon’s colonial legacy (shaped by both French and English influences) affects contemporary social structures, exploring the intersections of ethnicity, age, religion, physical ability, gender, race, class, and sexuality in this complex African context. With over 250 local languages and strong patriarchal norms, special attention will be paid to women’s experiences across different social contexts, from urban centers to rural communities. The course critically examines how various forms of marginalization and privilege intersect, particularly in relation to family law, gender roles, religious freedom, LGBTQ+ rights, and disability access.
The course combines theoretical frameworks with practical field experiences, including excursions to Batoufam and Northern Cameroon. Through thematic seminars on women, sexuality, ethnicity, religious diversity, disability, and culture, students will gain insights into the dominant and varied within-group differences in identities and societal dynamics, exploring how intersectional understanding can translate into meaningful social change.
Social Science Methods and Ethics in Global Contexts – syllabus
(RSCH3500 / 3 credits)
This course is designed to introduce you to the methodological tools used by social scientists to conduct empirically grounded, theoretically engaged research. The course will cover the basic elements of research design, the role of theory in empirical research, and the ethics for social scientific research, with particular attention to the complex ethical considerations that arise when conducting research in international and cross-cultural contexts. Students will gain hands-on experience with both basic quantitative and qualitative methods, with the flexibility to emphasize their preferred methodological approach in their final work. Using this project-based approach, the course will prepare you to design and execute social science research projects while developing competency across methodological traditions.
OR
Global Organizational Culture and Ethics – syllabus (GOCE3500/3 credits)
This course equips students to engage meaningfully and ethically in internship experiences across diverse sociopolitical, cultural, environmental, and global contexts. Using a critical, practice-based approach, students examine the nature and purpose of internships as transformative experiential learning opportunities that connect to the program’s Critical Global Issue theme. Emphasis is placed on navigating workplace and organizational cultures, reflecting on identity and positionality in professional settings, and applying ethical principles to working globally with communities, individuals, and environments—particularly in collaboration with vulnerable populations and in sensitive ecological or habitat settings.
Intermediate French in Cameroonian Contexts – syllabus
(FREN2003-2503 / 3 credits)
Advanced French in Cameroonian Contexts – syllabus
(FREN3003-3503 / 3 credits)
French Literature in Cameroonian Contexts – syllabus
(FREN4003-4503 / 3 credits)
Taught in French for students who have completed two semesters of French. 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.
3-credit Course at Catholic University of Central Africa
Coming soon
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. Internship and coursework will be completed in French.
Sample internships:
OR
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. Coursework and final project completed will be in French.
Sample ISP topics:
Browse this program’s Independent Study Projects / undergraduate research.
Social Science Methods and Ethics in Global Contexts – syllabus
(RSCH3500 / 3 credits)
This course is designed to introduce you to the methodological tools used by social scientists to conduct empirically grounded, theoretically engaged research. The course will cover the basic elements of research design, the role of theory in empirical research, and the ethics for social scientific research, with particular attention to the complex ethical considerations that arise when conducting research in international and cross-cultural contexts. Students will gain hands-on experience with both basic quantitative and qualitative methods, with the flexibility to emphasize their preferred methodological approach in their final work. Using this project-based approach, the course will prepare you to design and execute social science research projects while developing competency across methodological traditions.
OR
Global Organizational Culture and Ethics – syllabus (GOCE3500/3 credits)
This course equips students to engage meaningfully and ethically in internship experiences across diverse sociopolitical, cultural, environmental, and global contexts. Using a critical, practice-based approach, students examine the nature and purpose of internships as transformative experiential learning opportunities that connect to the program’s Critical Global Issue theme. Emphasis is placed on navigating workplace and organizational cultures, reflecting on identity and positionality in professional settings, and applying ethical principles to working globally with communities, individuals, and environments—particularly in collaboration with vulnerable populations and in sensitive ecological or habitat settings.
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. Internship and coursework will be completed in English.
Sample internships:
OR
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. Coursework and final project completed will be in English.
Sample ISP topics:
Browse this program’s Independent Study Projects/undergraduate research.
You’ll live with a Cameroonian family in the bustling capital of 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.
You may choose to live in a student residence in Yaoundé. Your residence will be furnished and include a private room, a desk, linens and kitchen facilities. Rooms may be singles or doubles and apartments are about 03 – 05 minutes commute from the learning center. Please note that specific housing locations and amenities are subject to change
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.
SIT Study Abroad is committed to ensuring that international education is within reach for all students. We believe in the transformative power of immersive, intercultural experiences and are dedicated to supporting students in their educational journey.
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A critical step in preparing for your study abroad program is planning how you will maintain your health and wellbeing. Please review the following information carefully and contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
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Students are required to obtain a visa for this program. Your admissions officer will provide you further guidance on the process and support documents. Please do not apply without instructions from your admissions officer.
