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Sierra Leone

Ethnographic Methods & the Production of a Rural-Urban Continuum

June 14 - July 16, 2010
Summer 2010
20-credit Summer/Spring program

Apply online through Catalyst
* Deadine: February 1, 2010*

The University Honors Program and the African Studies Program at the University of Washington Seattle are pleased to to offer an intensive ethnographic theory and method study abroad program based in Magbaiamba N'donhanhu chiefdom in Northern Sierra Leone, West Africa during Summer 2010. Our work over this intensive period will be as much research based as it is experiential transformation. Students accepted to the Sierra Leone 'seminar' community will initiate seed projects that build a foundation for larger, longitudinal studies that hopefully culminate in graduate and professional work; moreover, we will work to grasp and analyze complex spaces and signs of cultural, colonial, and historical alterity that force students to stare beyond the abyss of self into the depth of human struggle and difference.

Hills Above Kagbere
The hills above Kagbere

Following a shared ethos of extending theory into praxis as well as academic excellence into global advocacy, we aim to provide a small cohort of highly qualified students from across campus the opportunity for hands on experience in a conflict ravaged but rebuilding country. Suffering from a long-term civil war (1992-2003) Sierra Leone is an on-going project of rebuilding and reconciliation. As one of the poorest countries in the world (but with huge natural resources of diamonds, gold, fish, and bauxite) it is a country rich in history, culture and people. It will rebuild and transform in the years to come. We aim to have students see and participate first hand in this process while stretching their boundaries and self-knowledge.

The University Honors Program and the African Studies minor share an increasing number of students from across campus. Many seek to engage in short and long-term projects in Africa to test their methodological and theoretical as well as personal boundaries. Various encounters and projects have already occurred through previous study abroad programs, research grants, independent study, and fellowships. This partnership will bring together highly motivated students who seek to broaden their educations and challenge themselves to become true global advocates.

This program consistents of academic course work that extends from Winter 2010 through Summer 2010, with a recommended course in Winter, required courses in Spring and 13 credits during our intensive five weeks in country. The courses will be as follows:

Winter 2010

Recommended five credits of Honors 262 B: Marxist Modern? Ethnographic Methods in Violent and Conflicted Worlds (see Honors Winter 2010 Courses).

Spring 2010

  • Required five credits of Honors 263/SISAF 49X
  • Required two credits of Honors 350

Summer 2010

  • Five credits of Honors 261/SISAF 49X
  • Five credits of Honors 262/SISAF 49X
  • Three credits of Honors 350

Honors students may count these Honors courses towards the Honors Core requirements or request SISAF credit. Non-Honors students may request the HONORS 26X (which counts towards either I&S or VLPA requirements within the Areas of Knowledge) or SISAF 49X. Participants should check with their advisers to determine how these credits can count towards departmental requirements and need to discuss what types of credit they will receive with both the instructors and their respective departments.

Yangi Yangi Interview
Yangi Yangi's interview

In the Spring courses participants will begin preparation for research projects that will expand theory into radically different real human practices. A tightly focused research proposal will be due at the end of Spring Quarter. Possible studies include public health, women's reproductive knowledge, rural-based Islam and Christianity, subsistence agricultural practices, local forms of trade, chiefdom level politics, dance, belief, and ritual performance, and many others. The program directors will guide participants through the process of selecting and researching a topic. We will begin to learn Krio (the lingua franca), and basic Landogo in Spring and encourage participants to form study groups outside of class; daily language lessons will continue throughout the trip. One's dedication to language acquisition will greatly determine success on the ground.

Students are required to prepare a substantial research paper that will be due to the program directors on the last day of Summer term 2010.

Program in Sierra Leone

Yai Marie teaches farming
Yai Marie teaching how to farm

Once in Sierra Leone we will spend a few days in Freetown, approximately four weeks in Kagbere village (the chiefdom headquarters) in Northern Sierra Leone, and a few days in Freetown prior to our final departure. The majority of our experience will be in rural Northern Sierra Leone in Kagbere-the Chiefdom headquarters of Magbiamba N'dohaanhu under the rule of Chief Kande Finoh III. A rural town with a population of approximately four hundred, it is based in cycles of subsistence rice and cassava farming. Although agriculture determines the life-cycle, Kagbere is a transforming town of multiple technological modernities. Just twelve miles off the main motor road leading to the small city of Kamakwie, Kagbere has a Primary Health Care facility, three schools, a small market, a Wesleyan and Catholic Church, and a Mosque.

The village is small enough to not overwhelm, but large enough to accommodate multiple research projects. In Kagbere students will live in local housing and we will follow the local pattern of communal afternoon and evening meals followed by group discussion, problem solving, and daily language instruction. There will be regular opportunities for advising and group discussions, and the program directors will work to facilitate connections to and interactions within the community. Each participant, however, will need to display a fine balance of initiative, self-direction, and patience.

Daily activities will include, among other things, interviewing individuals and groups, participating in farming, cooking, and household tasks, and group walks to surrounding villages.

There is no running water, electricity, or plumbing. Kagbere is defined by rural, subsistence, religious, and political practices. To reiterate, there are NO Western facilities in Kagbere. This is a unique trip that requires physical, emotional, spiritual, community, and project determination.

In Freetown

Participants and program directors will all stay in a local (African) guesthouse in the Aberdeen neighborhood of Freetown for the first two-three days of the trip, as well as the final two-three days before departure. Students will share rooms.

In Kagbere

Learning to cook
Learning to cook

Accommodation in Kagbere is rustic, with no running water or electricity, and mostly in mud-brick houses with thatched roofs. All participants will have their own room and bed, but must provide their own mosquito net. While most participants will be housed in the veranda room (with a separate entrance) of family homes, some may be housed in individual mud-brick huts near family homes, and some in the chief's guesthouse. Room assignments will be made by the program directors.

Kelly and Speed have a house in the center of Kagbere that is a five minute walk from each student's room and are available 24 hours a day.

Brook Kelly

UW Honors Academic Adviser & Experiential Learning Coordinator
Office: 211 Mary Gates Hall
bbkelly@uw.edu

Brook Kelly has worked in Honors since 2005 and was herself an Honors student at the University of Washington. A recipient of a 2003 Bonderman International Travel Fellowship, she now coordinates the Fellowship for the Honors Program, in addition to directing study abroad programs in Sierra Leone and Kenya. She has extensive travel experience in East, Southern, and West Africa, Mexico, and Ecuador, and is an active worker for cultural and global advocacy. Kelly is conversational in Krio and adept at communicating across language barriers.

Clarke Speed

UW Honors professor and Anthropologist
landogo@uw.edu

Clarke Speed has taught in Honors since 1996 (as well as in Anthropology, Comparative Literature, and OMA-D) with an emphasis on African Studies and Political Economy. His work is focused on the intersection of religious and political life in Northern Sierra Leone and also in Ghana and Cameroon. He has worked and lived in Kagbere since 1987 and has extensive relationships and connections throughout Sierra Leone. Speed is fluent in Krio, the lingua franca, conversational in Landogo, and familiar with many other regional languages, including Temne and Fula.

Reverend Kempson Fornah

UW Sierra Leone study abroad Local Coordinator

Pastor Fornah is the Program's Local Coordinator and in-country Language Instructor. He is an invaluable instructor and cultural guide whose knowledge and skills provide a solid foundation for all participants. Rev. Fornah is from the Landogo tribe, and has many connections and relations to the chiefdom, and is a foremost authority on the Landogo language in Sierra Leone. He will begin working with participants via email during Spring 2010.

Traditional communal meal
A traditional communal meal

This program will cost approximately $3,300 per student. Course costs include accommodation, in-country transportation, and group meals.

Course fee does not include an IP&E concurrent enrollment fee ($250); airfare (approximately $3000 roundtrip, depending on when and where you buy your tickets); immunizations, personal travel insurance, and personal spending money.

IP&E will automatically charge student accounts for all program payments and fees.

Financial Aid

Students may use their regular financial aid and scholarship funds for study abroad. The exception is any scholarship in the form of a tuition waiver. Tuition waivers cannot be used to pay study abroad program fees. You may want to check with the Office of Student Financial Aid in Schmitz Hall for more information.

There are funding opportunities through the Global Opportunities Program, and the Office of International Programs and Exchanges also maintains a funding opportunities list at http://www.ipe.washington.edu/forms/FundingOpportunities.pdf

IP&E Refund Policy

A $350 deposit is required at the time of acceptance. This $350 deposit is non-refundable. Any student withdrawing from the program within 4 months of the program start date will be responsible for a minimum of 25% of the total program fee. In addition, there may be other unrecoverable fixed program costs. Any student withdrawing from the program within 2 months of the program start date will be responsible for 50% of the total program fee. Any student withdrawing from the program within 1 month of the program start date will be responsible for 75% of the total program fee. Withdrawal after a program begins involves the loss of the entire program fee.

Once accepted to the program in order to formally withdraw, you must do the following, in writing:

  1. Contact the program directors.
  2. Submit a signed withdrawal form to the UW Office of International Programs and Exchanges (see http://ipe.washington.edu/forms/WithdrawDefer.pdf).
  3. Provide notice in writing to the program director that you will no longer be participating in the program for which you have signed a contract and accepted a slot.
  4. Your withdrawal date is considered the date (business day) your withdrawal paperwork is received by the UW Office of International Programs and Exchanges.

To London, England

Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements to and from Heathrow International Airport in London, England by a select day and time (TBA). You may wish to explore budget fares offered on websites such as Travelocity and Expedia, as well as STA and Council Travel in the University District.

Once the entire group has assembled at Heathrow we will all fly together into Lungi International Airport in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on a flight that will be booked for the group (logistics TBA). The Program begins once participants have boarded the London-Freetown flight and should a student miss that flight she/he will be dropped from the program and not be able to rejoin the group.

In Sierra Leone

All travel within Sierra Leone will occur via Program-arranged transportation and by program director approval.

All participants must have a passport valid for the duration of the program, and for six months after the program ends. It may take as long as six weeks (or longer!) to obtain or renew a passport. All participants must also provide proof of having received the yellow fever vaccination, via the International Certificate of Vaccination (known as the Yellow Card).

Apply online through Catalyst
Application Deadline: February 1, 2010

Selection to the program is competitive and acceptance into the program will be decided based on application materials, interviews, and student's demonstrated motivation to challenge themselves intellectually across academic disciplines and cultures and to work both individually and in groups.

Within two weeks of submitting an application applicants will be informed if they have received an interview or not. Selection to the program will be made on a rolling basis and may be completed prior to the final application deadline of February 1, 2010.

For more information please contact Brook Kelly (bbkelly@uw.edu)