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Exploring Local Culture to Inform a Career

Posted on , modified on by Maxine P
Julia Antwi-Boasiako poses from rocky terrain in front of a green field of trees with hills in the background

Julia Antwi-Boasiako

For College of Arts and Science student Julia Antwi-Boasiako, the opportunity to study at NYU Accra was a chance to revisit Ghana, the country where she was raised, and explore new possibilities for her future. The senior, who is majoring in Global Public Health and Sociology and minoring in Chemistry, immersed herself in local culture and professional experiences through impactful courses and an intensive internship.

To learn more about the history of Ghana from the 15th century through the rise of slavery in the Americas, Julia signed up for the class The Black Atlantic. Students explored a range of genres, including film, fiction, and formal scholarship, to examine how African communities were shaped during this time. She also took City As Text, which focused on Ghana’s modern society. In this course, Julia had the chance to tour two different areas within Accra, an affluent neighborhood and an impoverished one. She drew on the city as a primary resource for academic research and critical inquiry, completing formal interviews with locals to help her construct her final project.

“I have always dreamed of installing health resources back in Ghana. City As Text gave me an understanding of the needs of the population and resources that can help improve their circumstances,” Julia says. “I hope to further my education in the health and medical field in order to accomplish this objective, and these courses have given me a boost in my motivation.”

A small group of people standing in front of Black Star Gate in Accra

Black Star Gate in Accra, a photo from Julia’s time there

It took Julia some time to adjust to the culture of the city—though she spent a large portion of her childhood in Ghana, she’s lived in the United States since she was 12. At first, there were times when it was difficult for her to understand the locals’ perspectives. “Despite all this, the culture in Accra was amazing,” Julia remembers. “The locals are very amiable, funny, and always eager to strike a conversation and get to know you. I made many friends with local shop employees and even security personnel.”

In addition to classes and exploring, Julia also interned for the African Social Research Lab, working with the Eban Centre for Human Trafficking Studies. The internship was more research-intensive than she initially expected, but that wasn’t a problem. In fact, it made her realize how much she enjoys doing research, helping her understand her ideal future work environment.

“I wanted to be involved with a human services organization, and the internship made me aware of wanting to be in a field that was more hands-on and interactive,” Julia says. “Being able to listen to the stories of others and try to understand their backgrounds and perspectives was something I really enjoyed doing.”

Repurposed with permission from the NYU Wasserman Center for Career Development’s blog

The Global Liberal Studies Course Taught Around the World

Posted on , modified on by Maxine P
A group of students smile at the camera on a city sidewalk

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” class in Buenos Aires’ La Boca neighborhood. The class studies its traditional tenements—painted in different colors—in reading the history of Buenos Aires through its architecture. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

Global Liberal Studies (GLS) majors have the unique opportunity to take the course City As Text during the fall semester at most locations in NYU’s global network. The course, part of the GLS junior-year learning sequence, selects location-specific texts to immerse students in the setting where they’re living and learning. “Across all City As Text courses, emphasis is placed on the importance of primary sources. Students academically investigate their present geographic setting but also experience its profound intricacies on-site. The classroom work, alongside the field trips, is designed to facilitate the framing and contextualization of the study away experience,” says Philip Kain, the director of academic engagement and experiential learning and a clinical professor at Liberal Studies.

For example, at NYU Buenos Aires, readings and lectures are enhanced with visits from local government officials and activists. And, of course, excursions throughout the city to places like the Palace of the Argentine National Congress, Plaza de Mayo, and La Boca neighborhood, an artists’ haven that many 19th- and 20th-century European immigrants called home, provide further insight for students. “We produce a kind of knowledge that fosters reflection and analysis that exceeds the singularity of Buenos Aires and inspires their approach to other places,” says NYU Buenos Aires course instructor Cecelia Palmeiro, an expert on Argentine and Brazilian literature and gender issues, a researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, and the coordinator of the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies and Policies at the National University of Tres de Febrero. 

A group of students stand in front of a street mural featuring Argentinian soccer player Diego Maradona

Students in Cecilia Palmeiro’s “City as Text” in front of a mural of Argentinian soccer star Diego Maradona in Buenos Aries’ La Boca neighborhood. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza.

This fall in Palmeiro’s class, students considered the past and present of Buenos Aires through the lenses of immigration, environmental concerns, art and its role in political protest, and reproductive health. “In order to obtain the critical tools necessary to make sense and produce academic knowledge out of this experience, students read ‘Neoliberal Reform and Landscape Change in Buenos Aires, Argentina’ by David Keeling and the classic ‘The Right to the City’ by David Harvey,” explains Palmeiro.

This approach is not singular to NYU Buenos Aires, however, as students at NYU London traveled to the city’s Brixton district to learn about the area’s musical history and shifting racial makeup. And at NYU Accra, students focused on how migration and religion shaped the Ghanaian capital, visiting places of worship to learn in context.

Architect Cecilia Alvis points to a colorful mural

Architect Cecilia Alvis with “City as Text” students in front of a mural on the Nicolás Avellaneda Bridge. Photo credit: Daniel Espinoza

NYU Paris students studied the potential impacts of the 2024 Summer Olympics, learning about the social and environmental impacts of the upcoming event, and in NYU Berlin, students contextualized their learning with the history and landmarks of the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the Cold War. “City As Text has played a significant role in the GLS curriculum since its inception. Our aim was to create a course centered on active engagement at the study away locations with a global perspective as its foundation,” concludes Kain.

Repurposed from NYU News 

Opportunities for Immersion: Experiential Learning Across the World

Posted on , modified on by Kristin Law

One of the many benefits of studying abroad is students learning from world-class faculty while also gaining a new perspective on the world around them. The space where learning happens isn’t limited to the classroom, but expanded to a specific site, with courses planned to both inform and immerse.

As they connect their learning to the places where they study and vice versa, students are equipped with the tools to approach knowledge with curiosity, exploration, and context. Here are some recent courses that capitalize on the locations where they take place.

Cultures and Context: The Black Atlantic

At NYU Accra, Professor Kofi Baku teaches this wide-ranging history course to explore the concept of the Black Atlantic as a sociocultural and economic space. The course covers the 15th-century capture of Africans and their arrival in the New World, the rise of slavery and the eventual emancipation in the Americas, and decolonization and the Black struggle for liberation, equality, and Pan-Africanism.

A large group of students in front of a white set of stairs and building

NYU Accra students on a trip to Elmina Castle.

To complement the historical moments covered in the course, Professor Baku organizes field trips to key sites in Ghana. These trips include a tour of the Cape Coast and Elmina Castle, where African captives were held before they were sent to the Americas. They also visit Osu Castle to learn about the legacies of the Danish slave trade on the Gold Coast. And finally, they visit a plantation in Sesemi to learn about the Gold Coast’s development after the abolition of the slave trade. As students visit these sites, they write personal, interdisciplinary reflections based on their experiences.

Culture of the City: Italian Urban Life

At NYU Florence, Professor Davide Lombardo thinks of the city on two levels: historical and theoretical. From ancient times to modernity, students get a historical and spatial overview of the evolution of Florence’s urban environment.

Aurora Russell, a junior double majoring in Psychology and Journalism with a minor in Anthropology comments on the importance of immersion, “We spend the field-based classes completely in the location, whether it’s out in the city, in a museum, or at a church. Immersing yourself in an environment while you’re discussing that place is a really good way to learn about and understand it.”

Students wearing white gloves look through large books

NYU Florence students immerse themselves in the Acton Art Collection.

Shaping an Educational Landscape: Museum Island

At NYU Berlin, Professor Annette Loeseke organizes a thematic exploration of museums in her course, a mixture of classroom discussions and field trips to the cultural institutions on Museumsinsel. Home to Berlin’s complex of five world-famous museums, students explore the role of the museum in modern times covering topics like feminist and LGBTQ+ perspectives on art collections, digital museum tools and the politics of code, and postcolonial museums in diverse societies.

Throughout the semester, the class meets at the Altes Museum, Neues Museum, Alte Nationalgalerie, Pergamon Museum and Panorama, Bode-Museum, and Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art (which is not on Museuminsel), to explore the intersection of museums, history, culture, and politics.

A group of people stand in a circle in front of greenery.

Annette Loeske introduces a museum visit to her Museum Island class at NYU Berlin.

Repurposed with permission from Meet NYU.

Staff Spotlight: Marian Ansa-Otu, Programs Manager of Student Services, NYU Accra

Posted on by Katie L
Portrait of Marian Ansa-Otu

Marian Ansa-Otu, Programs Manager of Student Services, NYU Accra

Students traveling to NYU Accra might not always know what to expect when studying abroad in one of the largest cities in Ghana. Once they get there, however, staff members like Marian Ansa-Otu are available to help make the transition as smooth as possible.

For more than a decade, Marian Ansa-Otu, the programs manager of Student Services at NYU Accra, along with her staff, has made students’ experiences her top priority. “We manage and assist with all aspects of student life, including orientation, cultural programming, health and wellness, and community engagement,” says Ansa-Otu. In fact, she says, Student Services at NYU Accra operates with an open-door policy. “Students can call, text, email, or walk into our offices to share their concerns with us and we will go to great lengths to find solutions.” What’s more, each student has two mandatory meetings per semester with Student Services, so they have ample opportunity to discuss their experiences, successes, and challenges, get assistance, and learn about upcoming events.

Student immersion in the Ghanaian culture is another prime directive of Ansa-Otu and her staff. “Our office collaborates with the academic and other support units to plan, develop, and coordinate programs that help ensure successful cultural adjustment into the Ghanaian environment.” To that end, the staff sponsors workshops, lectures, field trips, and special excursions that correlate with traditions like Career Week, Ally Week, and Cultural Diversity Day. “Planning cultural activities that students can actively participate in helps them learn more about their new environment and culture while adjusting at their own rate and level of comfort,” says Ansa-Otu.

Additional benefits Student Services provides include welcome lunches, farewell dinners, city tours, meditation/reflection rooms, and day and overnight trips to tour different parts of the country.

Ansa-Otu says there is myriad proof that Student Services at NYU Accra is having a transformative effect on students. “Sometimes you see students who change significantly from the start of the semester to the end, evolving into more reflective and engaged students,” Ansa-Otu says. “We even had one student say that coming to this center helped her better understand not only herself but also the world. She said that she felt empowered by her education and left feeling like a new, stronger person.”

Content repurposed with permission from NYU Global Notebook

The Return of Study Away—An International Education Week Program

Posted on , modified on by Katie L

Last fall during International Education Week, NYU hosted an array of events that explored the benefits of international study away programs. One of those programs—a virtual roundtable discussion featured four NYU site directors. NYU Tel Aviv’s Benjamin Hary, NYU Accra’s Chiké Frankie Edozien, NYU Berlin’s Gabriella Etmektsoglou, and NYU London’s Catherine Robson discussed the lessons COVID-19 taught them, how they used those lessons to reconstruct their programs, and their hopes for future study away students. NYU’s Associate Director of Study Away Student Support Alejandro Marti moderated the panel.

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Site directors, Chiké Frankie Edozien (top left), Gabriella Etmektsoglou (top right), Catherine Robson (bottom right), and Benjamin Hary (bottom left)

Using the Past to Reshape the Future

When the pandemic first began in 2020, the faculty and staff at NYU’s global sites quickly adjusted. They adopted Zoom technology for virtual classes, planned online events for cultural immersion, and reimagined the scope of their curricula. Unsurprisingly, the lessons they learned in 2020 influenced the trajectory of their programs in 2021. For Chiké Frankie Edozien (NYU Accra), this meant creating new experiential learning trips and adopting new wellness guidelines for students.

“We tried a lot of things during the time of restrictions with our Go Local students who were primarily Ghanaian,” said Edozien. “We tried new excursions based on topics like climate change, taking students to the sea defense wall construction site. We weren’t able to (and we’re still not able to) do overnight trips, so we tried to think of ways we could teach students about Accra outside of the classroom—ways that allowed them to come back safely without the need for excessive travel or hotels. Sometimes we held classes outside so students and professors could be out in the sun, rather than in a confined space, and feel a bit more safe. We also encouraged our faculty to implement what we call ‘mask breaks’ so students can remove their masks for a short time before continuing their work.”

Similar to NYU Accra, Benjamin Hary and his team at NYU Tel Aviv spent the first part of the pandemic redesigning their curriculum to accommodate COVID-19 regulations. They now invite a range of guest lecturers to the classroom, and they developed a robust orientation for students who might need to quarantine upon their arrival in Israel.

“As we prepared for last semester, we created ways to connect students with one another and staff,” said Hary. “What my staff did for orientation, which was totally online because students were in quarantine, is a good example of this. We usually take the students to the famous Tel Aviv market, but since we couldn’t do that, my staff created a video of the market instead. They went to each specific ethnic food place and actually bought all the same food for the students. We delivered it to their doors so when they were watching the video, we could tell them about the food, and they could follow along. They loved it.” In addition, he noted, “With Zoom, it is very easy to invite people, such as guest lecturers and other experts, to participate in our programming, regardless of their physical location.”

Preparing Intentional Coursework for All Circumstances

During the early months of the pandemic, NYU’s global staff worked hard to create a future curriculum that could span multiple formats: in person, online, and/or hybrid. By preparing for various circumstances, NYU’s global locations worked to ensure students never missed a beat in their education.

“Without our faculty, we would not have been able to offer such a good experience for our students,” said Gabriella Etmektsoglou (NYU Berlin). “They showed adaptability and flexibility. They developed so many different options for their courses within a semester. In Berlin, for example, we had times when we were teaching in person and hybrid, and we had times when we had to lock down the site for a few weeks. If you had planned trips to museums or nongovernmental organizations during those weeks, you had to totally rethink your class. The faculty really embraced, very intentionally, the values of equity, diversity, belonging, inclusion, and accessibility when rethinking their sessions. It wasn’t simply, ‘I can’t go to this museum. What do I do now?’ It was, ‘Why was I going to this museum to begin with? Is there any way I can bring this museum to my class?’”

Eagerly Awaiting Cultural Immersion

The pandemic forced educators across the globe to rethink and reimagine the ways in which students learn. While some tactics will remain in place moving forward, such as expanded access to guest lecturers, increased collaboration between study away sites, and new experiential learning opportunities, other tactics will likely fall to the wayside, like learning a new language online or participating in a remote internship—both of which are challenging to accomplish without full-blown cultural immersion.

“In orientation we always talk about immersion in your new culture,” said Catherine Robson (NYU London). “Only by doing that do you start to think deeply about the place you come from. When you’re remote, you’re still in your usual place. You don’t have that experience of sort of turning inward, of being challenged to think about your own country, your own region, your own locality. Only by being in that different environment do you really start to reflect because it defamiliarizes what was deeply unquestioned by you before. And so that is why actually being in person in that different country is so key to what we do.”
And that’s why NYU’s global staff are eager to welcome more and more students back to their centers this year in 2022.

What’s Ahead: Embrace the Unexpected

For students preparing to study abroad in the coming semesters, all four site directors encouraged them to maintain an open mind and a positive attitude.

“Right now I think students need to be adaptable and have a little bit of trust in the future,” said Etmektsoglou. “Twelve years ago when I started at NYU Berlin, it was so much more about traveling. Now it’s about your professional career and your development as a young researcher. Yes, you might miss some traveling, but it’s not the key. Because of the pandemic and because of the way we used the time, the quality of our classes increased. They’re much more focused on addressing the career skills and needs for professional competencies. They’re about applied research; they’re about becoming entrepreneurial young professionals. Students will benefit from the diversity, the guests, and all the things we embraced during the pandemic.”

Written by Samantha Jamison

Adapting the African City

Posted on , modified on by Chelsea Robles
 

“What students are doing now ⁠— asking the subjects themselves to take part in creating a documentary ⁠— is their contribution to how the genre has been evolving since its inception in the early 1920s,” explains filmmaker Yahaya Alpha Suberu, a lecturer at NYU Accra. Instead of having films take the stance of a passive observer, “documentaries are now engaging the subjects, they are filming their own voices, and the collaborative process has changed between subject and documenter,” says Suberu.

In “Documenting the African City,” a course that has been offered at NYU Accra since its establishment 15 years ago, students learn how to tell stories using the language of film. The class is open to all students, regardless of their discipline — a background in film is not required — and helps students discover more about the city during the process of shooting short pieces, recording sound, and editing their work. “The topics of their documentaries,” said Suberu, “are as varied as NYU’s diversity. Music, religion, race, politics, transportation, education, gender, sexuality, streetism, commerce, health, dance, tradition, the list goes on and on.” 

“Usually by mid-semester students have all the basic skills for pre-production, production, and post-production to finish five-minute individual or group projects. By the end of the semester they would have honed their skills and produced a longer documentary which is about ten minutes in duration.” The longer documentaries are screened outdoors in Accra to an audience from NYU Accra and the surrounding community.

My students have adapted in their learning process as much as I have in my pedagogy. They have had to quickly learn to shoot and record sound using their smartphones, and they also learned to engage their subjects by making them a part of the documentary process. Yahaya Alpha Suberu

However, this spring presented a set of unique challenges, as NYU Accra, like the rest of NYU’s campuses and academic centers, was forced to suspend in-person operations due to the COVID-19 virus, and the cohort found themselves in a range of unexpected locations. “Some were in quarantine in their home countries, some at a place that was a ‘stopover’ or a place that was not home,” said Suberu. In response, the entire structure of the course had to be reshaped and the course’s focal point on Accra also had to adapt given that most of the cohort was no longer in Africa.

How exactly did Suberu adapt his instruction for a course that is typically very hands on, particularly in the locational aspect of the documentaries and the use of NYU Accra’s on-site film equipment and editing suite? And how did he support the continuity of a course that requires a high level of focused creativity in the midst of the chaos and stress? 

As he adapted how classes were conducted, spent time identifying short-format films that addressed the needs of the syllabus, and worked with students to expand their story themes beyond the city limits of Accra, Suberu found himself spending more time identifying resources and engaging with students online than in-person. “Even though class is over, I’m still doing research and communicating by email — when you end class, you are still on the screen, spending more time there than one usually would in more familiar circumstances. And along with the move from campus to computer, there has been a shift in how we think about time in terms of teaching and student engagement.”

“My students have adapted in their learning process as much as I have in my pedagogy. They have had to quickly learn to shoot and record sound using their smartphones, and they also learned to engage their subjects by making them a part of the documentary process. For instance, one student wanted to interview an individual in Accra, so the subject filmed herself and sent the footage to the student. Another documented the journey of a friend from NYU New York who travelled back home to China, and self-recorded the experience of being in quarantine.” 

Interestingly, the class produced films that have taken a timely look at different angles of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Suberu. “One student’s dad works in virology and he was able to tie his dad’s work into a story that was driven by his interest in biological warfare. Along similar lines, another student investigated how her mom is taking care of herself as a front-line medical worker.” 

The final projects from the course will be screened online on May 15th to a public audience. Open to 300 participants via Zoom, Suberu says “it will be quite fascinating to see how many viewers tune in from all over the world.”

 
 
 
 
 

A conversation with NYU Accra Professor Dr. Akosua Darkwah

Posted on , modified on by Martha J Bekink

Akosua Darkwah photo

NYU Accra Professor Dr. Akosua Darkwah discusses academia in Ghana, her course on society, culture, and modernization in Ghana and NYU Accra, and more.

How did you come to be interested in sociology? What lead you to this field?‬‬

I always wanted to be a lawyer. As a child, I had a very strong sense of social justice and was convinced that with the law, I could fix every problem on earth. I entered college with that conviction and proceeded to intern with a lawyer who had a license plate with the inscription “I will sue.” I was sure I was in the right place; I would spend the summer suing all the people meting out injustices to others. I was in for a huge disappointment. The firm had a pro bono incest case; a nanny reported that a father of three girls had been consistently raping the youngest, aged six. The mother, when she was called into the office, admitted this but in the court, she would deny it. I was perplexed. Over the course of one summer where I interviewed the mother more closely, I came to the realization that law could go only so far in fixing this woman’s problems. Married straight out of high school and a stay at home mother, she was afraid of the consequences of having her husband prosecuted. She would have to become the breadwinner for her family and she was ill prepared to do that. Law could not help her with that. Social programs could. More importantly in terms of my career choices, I realized a fascination with understanding the set of structural factors that led individuals to make the choices that they make. I wanted to make sense of the social world in which I lived and sociology was the field of study best placed to help me do that.

2. In addition to your doctorate in sociology, I understand that you also have a B.A. in psychology and sociology? Have you found that your study of psychology has influenced your approach in your sociology work? If so, how?‬‬‬

I graduated from Vassar College where at the time you had to defend your choice of a double major. I remember saying something along the lines of psychology helping me to understand the individual and sociology the society in which that individual lived. I thoroughly enjoyed my psychology classes and still remember some of the concepts I learned back then. Honestly, though, I do not think that I draw on it much in my work as a sociologist. I focus primarily on structural forces in my work and the opportunities or lack thereof that it presents for women in terms of their work. I spend little time reflecting on what these means for the women’s sense of self or psychological well-being. Last year, however, I co-authored a piece with a psychologist which was published in Frontiers in Psychology. In that piece, we explored the extent to which women’s interdependent constructions of self deemed as crucial to well-being in collectivist societies was maintained in the context of social change which we explored using an intergenerational survey of women’s everyday lives that explored a wide array of issues such as educational opportunities, career options, reproductive health decisions and so on. This project forced me to reflect much more closely on the interactions between these two fields of study so who knows I may very well revisit my dual interests more systematically in future.

‪3. Your areas of research – from women in the informal economy, with a focus on trading in global consumer goods, to the implications of large foreign financial flows into Ghana’s oil region for Ghanaian youth employment prospects – are fascinating. What are you currently researching? And what topics do you find are most pressing in Ghana? What topics receive the most attention overseas?‬‬‬

An overriding theme in my research is to look at the implications of global economic principles or practices for Ghanaian women’s work. In my current research, I am exploring one of the responses to the global financial, energy and food crises, which is large scale land acquisitions. I am interested in its implications for women’s livelihoods and especially women’s responses to the shrinkage in livelihood options that these transactions present.

It’s hard for me to isolate a couple of topics as the most pressing in Ghana. I feel that everything deserves attention not just from sociologists like myself but from all the other academics whose areas of expertise help shed light on the richness of Ghanaian life.

In terms of gender and women’s studies, I think that overseas the three Ghanaian topics receiving the most attention are issues of domestic violence, women’s political participation and transformative women leaders.

‪4. You have contributed articles to books (including Women’s Labor in the Global Economy: Speaking in Multiple Voices, edited by Sharon Harley and published by Rutgers University Press in 2007) and engaged in collaborative research with other professors. Is this common for scholars in Ghana or something you have specifically sought?

Collaborative research is strongly encouraged at our university, be it with other scholars at the university, other universities in Ghana or outside of Ghana, so I am by no means unique in that respect. In my case, I had great mentors who early in my career encouraged me to think of myself as a scholar whose work would be recognized globally and pushed me to apply for or participate in events that would make such global recognition possible. The internet has also been amazing in that increasingly, I get invitations to contribute to joint projects or for speaking engagements from people who find me by looking online for scholars who work in the area that I do.

‪5. How did you come to also teach at NYU Accra?‬‬‬

I can’t remember exactly how this happened in terms of the recruitment process. I do know that in my early years at the university, I directed the Minnesota Studies in International Development (MSID-Ghana) project for the two year period that it run in Ghana so I did have a CV that showed my previous experience working with both international students and American students in particular. I may have been sought because of this, but to be honest, I cannot remember.

6. I understand you teach a course entitled Society, Culture and Modernization in Ghana at NYU Accra. Can you tell me a little about the course? How do you help foreign students to understand Ghana?‬‬‬

This course starts off with a theoretical discussion about concepts such as tradition, modernity and post-colonialism and uses these as lenses through which to understand Ghanaian social institutions. My primary goal is to help students appreciate our common humanity as well as the ways in which Ghana’s unique past especially its interactions with outsiders over the last 500 years has had an influence in one way or the other on our value systems and practices. Having grown up as a child who spent summers in various parts of Africa as well as living for a decade in the United States, I’m particularly attuned to the sense of feeling like a fish out of water in new spaces as well as the learnings that can come over time particularly with introspection and I try and bring that to bear on the class as well. So while there are specific issues I seek to discuss each week linked to the topic and readings for the week, I constantly invite students to bring their questions especially those borne out of the experience of living in Ghana to class even if it is unrelated to the subject under discussion. I find that invariably these have links to either issues already discussed or yet to be discussed in class and that experiential learning of this sort – learning borne out of personal experience and the questions that experience raises – helps students makes sense of the material in more concrete ways than text alone could.

Finally, not having attended college in Ghana meant that I myself was not introduced to much academic writing on Ghana as a student. I came to my academic career fully cognizant of this lacuna in my knowledge and have had to systematically seek to understand Ghana on my own not simply as a Ghanaian but also as a scholar. Teaching this class allows me an opportunity to see Ghana with fresh eyes every semester. In a sense then, it is not only the students who learn about Ghana each semester, I do as well and I think that part of what makes the class special is the co-learning that takes place in the class.

‪7. What kinds of students do you teach at NYU Accra? Do they come from a mix of majors and schools or are certain disciplines more represented than others? Are there certain aspects of your course that they find most compelling?‬‬‬

The students I teach at NYU Accra come from a wide variety of academic disciplines; I’ve taught history majors, biology majors, economics majors, music majors as well as sociology and anthropology majors.

I think that the most compelling aspect of the course is the way in which it unsettles the binary lens through which they view Africa, i.e as traditional as compared to the modernity of the part of the world from which they come.

‪8. If there were three things you would want the broader NYU community to know about Accra, academic scholarship in Ghana, or NYU Accra, what would they be?‬ ‪‪‬‬‬‬

This is a tough one to do because I have more than three things to say and cannot quite decide which is the top three for any so perhaps instead of doing three top things, I’ll do one for which. I think one of the least known facts about Accra is the fact that it has been home to others from the continent, the Diaspora and the Western world for more than two centuries; Accra has been home to Sierra Leoneans, Nigerians, returnees from Brazil for more than a century. It also has a long association with the Western world – the Dutch, the Danish and of course the British. In essence, issues of cultural diversity and integration is not new to the people of Accra and perhaps given the current global discussion of these issues, places like Accra may very well be the places to look to for ideas about how to do this.

As a relatively younger academic in Ghana, I think one of the more exciting facts about Ghanaian scholarship of today is the breadth of ideas that we seek to explore. There are far many more of us today than there were in my parents’ generation. We are no longer the first or one of the few in an area of study. There are growing numbers of us building a body of work in specific areas of study that enable us to understand Ghana better from our unique socio-cultural context.

NYU Accra offers students a unique opportunity to begin to understand the rich diversity of the African continent, one that unfortunately international media houses have done a very poor job of explaining. It offers students the opportunity to look beyond the stereotypical images of war, famine and disease that seems to be the narrative of Africa fed to the West and to begin to truly appreciate the fact that Africa is a continent of over 50 different countries, each of which offers something quite unique to the world at large.