YBG x University of Ghana

Young Black and Global hosts a study abroad program to give students of the African diaspora the experience of traveling to new nations to study and immerse themselves in new cultures, while exploring how these communities relate to themselves and their future. There is a fundamental need for students to have a strong historical and contemporary context about their own history and the history of Africa, combined with elevated critical thinking techniques and deep deconstruction of our own colonial and western ideologies. Our goal is to offer a solid historical foundation around Africa, the African diaspora, and world history while equipping the next generation with the skills and cultural development necessary to evolve into global change agents.

Young Black and Global (YBG) has produced a robust study abroad program in partnership with the University of Ghana (UG), the top accredited institution in Ghana, West Africa. The YBG study abroad program is a part of the University of Ghana’s Ghana to the World initiative, a 3-in-1 program that allows students to study, volunteer, and visit historic sites around the country.

The program will be offered annually and will be split into two sessions: a Spring session and a Summer session. The first Summer session is from June 1-30th, 2023. The first Spring cohort will take place from January 1st through May 15th, 2024; Both cohorts will host 20 collegiate students. 

The Spring cohort follows a rotational format in which 10 students will spend seven weeks in Accra taking courses; while the other 10 students will be doing Independent Study in Kumasi, working in partnership with Brilliant Minds, and an established Ghanaian-based NGO for experiential service-learning. Students will be tasked with creating solutions that improve the issue of urban planning and tourism development in Kumasi. After seven weeks the two student groups will swap cities.

For both cohorts, students will receive a transcript from the University of Ghana for 12 credits for the coursework completed; and a certificate of participation from the University of Ghana. Students enrolled in the Spring cohort will also receive a brief synopsis of the service-learning outcomes achieved during the program.

 

Courses

YBG has carefully selected a set of courses that give students a full picture of Africa, as well as their relation to the issues around the continent. YBG & the University of Ghana will offer 4 Africana Studies courses. These courses will be administered by University of Ghana professors, offering students an African-centered lens on history.

COURSE CODE AND COURSE TITLE

UGRC222: Africa in the Contemporary World (Dr. Nana Yaw Sapong)

UGRC223: Africa and the Diaspora (Dr. Edem Adotey)

UGRC231: Gender and Development (Dr. Doris Boateng)

UGRC234: Philosophy in African Cultures (Dr. Chika Mba)

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

UGRC222: Africa in the Contemporary World 

This course explores key developments in African history prior to European encounter. This period has seen vast cultural changes in African societies, the rise of empires and kingdoms, and the incorporation of Africa into the modern world system. Through lectures, readings, and discussions we will look at the political, social, and cultural history of Africa, exploring major historical processes and events such as the trans-Saharan trade and trans-Atlantic slave trade that shaped and continue to reshape the continent and lend themselves to discussions and inquiry.  

Dr. Nana Yaw Sapong is a social historian of West Africa with reference to Ghana in the Department of History, University of Ghana. He is an alumnus of the Institute for Humane Studies, George Mason University. He teaches the histories of Africa and the wider world and Africa in the international setting in the 20th century. Dr Sapong’s research specializes in labour, social movements, and student movements in Ghana. He is currently an investigator on a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinshaft DFG) Partnership on labour and work in Ghana, 1951-2010. 

UGRC223: Africa and the Diaspora

This course is designed to provide a general overview of the voluntary and involuntary journeys, life experiences, as well as the general culture of Africans in the diaspora. It explores some of the surviving African cultural elements in the Americas and analyzes certain cultural and political coping/resistance strategies. The course hopes to demonstrate the resilience of African culture as expressed in music, literature, language, religious beliefs, festivals, and art. It will critique some of the ideological bases for the various slave-trading epochs and suggest ways of enhancing the African image within the global community. Furthermore, it discusses some notable contributions of the African diaspora to the body of world civilization.  

Dr. Edem Adotey is a historian in the History and Politics Section of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana where he co-teaches courses on African historiography and methodology, the Slave Trade and Africa, Colonial Rule and African Responses and History of Pan-Africanism at the Graduate level and Chieftaincy and Development at the Undergraduate level. Dr. Adotey is a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and is also a member of the Historical Society of Ghana. 

UGRC231: Gender and Development

This course will introduce students to key concepts and issues in gender and development with a focus on Africa. It argues that development is not a neutral process but impacts men and women differently. Key topics will include issues of production and reproduction as well as men’s and women’s access to resources in Africa such as land, labor, credit, time, and social capital. The course will also examine the gendered implications of natural resource management and sustainable development as well as decision-making. The main objective of this course is to sensitize students to gender issues and enable students to recognize and understand the relevance of gender as a development issue and how gender inequalities impact negatively on development.  

Dr. Doris Boateng is a social worker and senior faculty member at the University of Ghana in the Department of Social Work. She is a recipient of the BANGA grant which is awarded to next-generation leaders at universities in Africa. Dr Boateng’s area of specialization is in gender issues, gender and education, gender and development, women’s political participation, and domestic violence.  

UGRC234: Philosophy in African Cultures

This course intends to introduce students to philosophical thought in African cultures, emphasizing its relation and relevance to contemporary African cultures and development. Topics will include the African cosmologies, concepts of God, the deities, and ancestors; African communal and individualist values, the concept of the human being, destiny, evil and ethics/morality, gender, and race.  

Dr. Chika Mba is a Research Fellow in the Religions and Philosophy Section of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. He is a Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and postdoctoral fellow at Rhodes University in South Africa. Dr. Mba research interests are cognately tied to the broad domains of African Philosophy, Postcolonialism and Global Justice. Hence his current research activities include (i) a systematic effort to rely on the anti-colonial writings of Frantz Fanon and other Black revolutionary intellectuals and activists to decolonise the contemporary discourse on Global Justice; (ii) a project that seeks to re-inscribe the potentials of negritudist and pan-Africanist legacies, while constantly renegotiating new platforms like Afropolitanism that seeks to channel contemporary African energy flows, especially in intellectual and artistic forms.

 

REQUIREMENTS

1. 1. Must be enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program from a 2-year or 4-year university to receive credits. Non-matriculated and Gap Year students can enroll in the program but will receive no credits.
2. 2. Must have a 2.5 or higher cumulative GPA
3. 3. Transcript from your host university
4. 4. Must have a valid passport
5. 5. Must have a Ghana tourist Visa
6. 6. Proof of Covid-19 vaccination card, yellow fever vaccination, and malaria pills
7.  

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• ACCOMMODATIONS & SERVICES

All of our students will be housed in our Mwasi SPACE Accra and Kumasi houses. We have designed our SPACE houses to meet the standards of the West in décor and amenities, but maintain the warmth and cultural touches of Africa.

Each house is equipped with a driver, a private cook serving 2 meals per day, and a housekeeper.

PRICE

$10,500

Per Student (Spring Semester Program)

What’s Included?

Admission Fee
Institutional Fee
Use of learning facilities and logistics
Orientation
Certificate of Participation
University of Ghana transcript (Matriculated Students Only)

Housing Accommodation
Daily Housekeeping
Breakfast/Dinner throughout the duration of the program
Cultural Excursions around Ghana
Ground Transportation to the University and back
24/7 Security 

What’s Not Included?

YBG will provide visa support for students and instructions and troubleshooting for the process of obtaining required visas
Airfare
Malaria pills and yellow fever immunization shots

APPLY