Spring semester in DAAS!

With the spring semester in full swing, DAAS has begun its study abroad season. Creating study abroad opportunities in Africa and the Caribbean for students has been a long-standing curricular commitment in DAAS. The Department has a record number of study abroad programs this year: two trips to South Africa led by Professors Nesha Haniff and Damani Partridge, one trip to Tanzania led by Professor Nyambura Mpesha, and a trip to Ghana led by Professor Kwasi Ampene, who also serves as Director of the Center for World Performance Studies. In addition to taking undergraduate students abroad, DAAS has funded numerous Africanist scholars to do research through its African Initiative (AI) and South African Initiatives Office (SAIO) grants. Indeed, more than $90,000 has been awarded to support 14 researchers. These fellowship recipients hail from countries such as Cameroon, Nigeria, and Sudan, and they work in fields that range from history and anthropology to public health and social work.

Our stellar, socially-conscious undergraduate and graduate students are taking advantage of the department’s geographical and intellectual breadth and encouraging DAAS’s commitment to community engaged teaching and scholarship at the local and global levels.