Culture and History of the Swahili Coast

On this two-week study abroad course, students will explore Zanzibar’s natural beauty and cultural history. The course, based in the city of Zanzibar’s historic Stone Town area, will also include field study of other parts of the city as well as several rural settings. Students will be housed in a comfortable guest-house that also serves as the classroom. Students can walk to dozens of affordable restaurants from the guest-house. Students will enroll in one course: AAAS 320/520 – Language and Culture of the Swahili Speaking Communities (described below). In class most days, with guest lectures from prominent local scholars, students will have several field course excursions to other parts of the Zanzibar islands. The beginning of the course coincides with the famous Zanzibar International Film Festival, providing students with a lively and valuable opportunity to understand the multi-cultural, cosmopolitan, and globalized character of Zanzibar today.

Zanzibar

Zanzibar consists of two main islands (Unguja and Pemba) and dozens of small islets a few miles off of the East African coast, inhabited by a bit more than a million people. Almost all Zanzibaris are Swahili-speaking followers of Sunni Islam. The Zanzibar islands have been central to the emergence and expansion of the Swahili world’s sophisticated Islamic civilization over the course of the last 1500 years. The city of Zanzibar (2008 pop. est. 432,000) was the seat of power for a major commercial empire that dominated the East African (Swahili) coast from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique from the 1690s until the coming of British colonial rule in 1890. Scarcely a month after obtaining independence from Britain in December 1963, the islands’ Omani-dominated Sultanate was overthrown in the January 11 Zanzibar Revolution. Four months after that in April 1964, Zanzibar’s new government formed a union with the newly independent country of Tanganyika on the African mainland, and the new state became known as the United Republic of Tanzania. In the last 44 years, Zanzibar has retained a semi-autonomous status with its own President, House of Representatives, and government ministries. It has also emerged as a major destination for international tourism, capitalizing both on its natural beauty and extraordinarily rich cultural history as a meeting ground of diverse influences from Africa, Asia, and Europe.

Program Director

Ashford Njogu has a Masters in Social Planning and Development and is a lecturer in the African and African-American Studies department where he teaches KiSwahili language and culture.

Courses Offered

AAAS 320/520: Language and Culture of the Swahili Speaking Communities
This three-credit hour course is designed to introduce students to the language and culture of the Swahili speaking communities of East Africa. The aim is to provide students an opportunity to build Swahili cultural competency and enhance their understanding and appreciation of the Swahili peoples’ ways of life. Using the socio-cultural landscape of East Africa as a case study, students will critically examine a variety of Swahili cultural aspects and other behavior as embedded in culture. Through selected readings the class will explore a wide range of topics: general concepts of culture and language, the geographical features of Tanzania/Zanzibar, Kenya and Uganda, the history and origins of Swahili; and the role that Swahili has played and continues to play today in religious, economical, historical, political and social terms for all East Africans, while in the cultural context of Zanzibar city.

Accommodations

Students will stay in guest houses in Zanzibar. Breakfasts will be included.

Dates

Leave US: June 30, 2009
Arrive Tanzania: July 1, 2009
Leave Tanzania: July 16, 2009

Eligibility

Open to students in good academic standing from any accredited US college or university. Minimum 2.5 GPA required.

Credit

University of Kansas undergraduate or graduate credit is granted upon successful completion of the program.

Cost

Program fee: Approximately $1,730 ($1,930 for non-KU students). The program fee includes fees, room, some meals, excursions, ground transportation, group cultural events and admissions, emergency medical evacuation and repatriation services, and administrative costs.

Tuition and Fees: Estimated tuition and fees for 3 credit hours (based on standard tuition rate): $620*

*Actual expenses for KU students will vary by the student’s individual tuition compact. Non-KU students will pay the standard tuition rate listed above.

Additional costs: Airfare, additional meals, passport, books, personal expenses and health insurance.

Note

All dates, costs, and program information are subject to change as necessary due to fluctuations in the exchange rate or other reasons.

Financial Aid

KU students who qualify for summer financial aid in the form of Stafford and/or other loans, Pell or SEOG Grants, and scholarships may apply the aid to the cost of a Study Abroad Program.

Limited supplemental scholarships are available to KU undergraduates. Applications are available at the Office of Study Abroad. You can also download the scholarship application. The scholarship application deadline is March 1.

Non-KU students should check into the financial resources available to them at their home institutions.

Application Procedures

Application Deadline: March 1, 2009. Early application is strongly encouraged.

Applications are available in the KU Office of Study Abroad. You can also download the application.

(Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to download an application. If your computer does not have Acrobat Reader you can download it for FREE.)

For more information contact:

Ashford Njogu, Co-director
African and African-American Studies
Phone: 785-864-1070
e-mail: anjogu@ku.edu

Kansas African Studies Center
Garth Myers
Phone: 785-864-4291
e-mail: gmyers@ku.edu

The University of Kansas
Office of Study Abroad
Lippincott Hall
1410 Jayhawk Blvd. Room 108
Lawrence, KS 66045-7515
phone: 785-864-3742
fax: 785-864-5040
e-mail: osa@ku.edu