Study in Africa
| IDIS W43 Ethiopia: Communities of Hope | ||
| This interdisciplinary course travels to Ethiopia. Its beautiful physical landscape includes the Rift Valley, mountain ranges, plains and the headwaters of the Blue Nile. Although Ethiopia boasts a surprisingly rich history and culture informed by two thousand years of Christianity, it is also challenged by severe poverty, minimal infrastructure and the AIDS epidemic. In the capital city of Addis Ababa, students celebrate Ethiopian Christmas with host families. Visits to orphanages and clinics highlight the reality of HIV-AIDS in Africa as well as current treatments and health services. In a 5-day trip to the southern region, students have first-hand exposure to Ethiopian culture, including a home stay in a rural community and a game safari. A second overland trip crosses a variety of geographical and cultural terrains in northern Ethiopia. The trip includes the historical attractions of Gondar, Axum and Lalibela. Students are personally challenged as the complex realities of Ethiopia are explored. Briefings occur at the US Embassy and a variety of successful health and development projects as well as both Coptic and evangelical churches. Students will have opportunities for interactions with Ethiopian educators, social workers, nurses, pastors, and development workers as well as with foreign missionaries. Students from all disciplines are encouraged to join. Student learning objectives: appreciate the scope and implications of HIV-AIDS in Africa; understand how geography, history and religion shape Ethiopian culture; enjoy first-hand encounters with inspiring Christian leaders and development workers; gain skill and experience for living and working in a variety of cultural settings different from our own; and strengthen their understanding of the complexities and challenges of development efforts In Ethiopia. Pre-trip preparations include meetings in the fall and advance readings. Evaluation is based on student presentations before travelling, a test en route to Ethiopia, and directed journaling while in Ethiopia. Course dates: January 4-25. | $3750* | Jonathan Bascom, GGES (jbascom@calvin.edu) Mary Vander Wal, Nursing (mcv7@calvin.edu) |
| IDIS W41 Building Communities in Kenya | ||
The founders of independent African nations sought to balance individual initiative and communal care in a way that would inspire both West and East. How can local governments, churches, and nonprofits work together toward this ideal? Challenged by poverty, disease, ineffective government, and inadequate infrastructure, why do some communities founder while others thrive? In this new Interim course, developed in collaboration with Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, students will learn how specific development and relief initiatives build stronger communities. The course will include visits and volunteer opportunities at rural community organizations including schools, medical clinics, AIDS hospices, and small-business projects, each locally directed but assisted by CRWRC field staff. On-campus introductory classes, readings on post-colonial political theory and modern African history, and fiction set in east and central Africa will provide a basis for student reflection on issues of justice, human rights, health care, and community development as they affect residents of rural Kenya. The instructor will coordinate on-campus classes and daily review and discussion sessions in Kenya; CRWRC staff will arrange activities in the communities visited. The result will be a deeper understanding of the challenges that face impoverished rural communities, the resources available to address them, and the initiatives and institutions that best utilize local strengths in service of long-term goals. Students will also be prepared to lead discussions in church and community groups after their return on the strengths and challenges facing rural communities in Africa; a plan for such presentations at a church or community group will be submitted by each student. A weekend visit to a game reserve will be included. Basis for evaluation: active participation; a journal of daily observations and responses to questions posed by the instructor. Dates: Jan. 6-7 on campus, Jan. 8-26 off campus. NOTE: Security concerns described in the US State Department advisory for Kenya are being closely monitored by the instructor and by the college’s Travel Safety Committee, and final approval for this course will be given in November if it is determined that the areas to be visited are safe and stable. |
$2850, including required immunizations* | David Hoekema, Philosophy (dhoekema@calvin.edu) |
Study in the Middle East
| HIST380/IDIS 340 Field Work in Archaeology | ||
| Offered in conjunction with field work done by Calvin faculty or quality field schools of other universities. An on-site introduction to archaeological field work designed to expose the student to the methodologies involved in stratigraphic excavation, typological and comparative analysis of artifacts, and the use of non-literary sources in the written analysis of human cultural history. The Jan 2010 Interim field school involves students in a Documentation Season at Umm el-Jimal, Jordan, a well preserved town from the Roman, Byzantine, Early Islamic and modern eras. Students will participate in digital photographic documentation of structures, planning of both digital and actual site-museum presentation, interview-based recording of modern Umm el-Jimal village culture, architectural analysis and soil sampling, working as part of a team of professional archaeologists from Jordan, Germany and the United States. A lecture series on contextual subjects and lessons in Arabic will round our the week-day routine. Three weekends will be used for travel in Jordan, including a visit to Petra; a post session trip to Jerusalem is optional. Students will be taught/experience some or all of digital documentation; visual communication (virtual and actual display preparation); inter-cultural communication; Satellite-based site mapping; site conservation and preservation; historical architecture; soil analysis; Arabic language and current Middle East history will be experienced and learned informally. Students will learn by doing under the guidance and supervision of senior team members, who will turn in written evaluations to the course instructor (who is also the field project director.) Grading will be in the conventional rather than Interim system. Prerequisites: IDIS240 or permission of the instructor. Course dates: January 2-24. Optional post-course (extra cost) travel to Jerusalem, Jan 26-28. | $2813* | Bert de Vries, history (dvrb@calvin.edu) |
*Please note that these are estimated costs, set by the instructor 11 months before interim. Usually these costs don't fluctuate, but please contact the instructor to ensure that the listed cost is still accurate.
