The Opportunity:
The Center for African Studies at Pitt has openings for 12 individuals to participate in a phenomenal month-long seminar project in Senegal the summer of 2025. Faculty, academic administrators, and doctoral students from across Pitt schools and campuses who have a commitment to integrating African cultural literacy into curriculum and who are eager to develop partnerships on the African continent are invited to apply.
The project has five specific goals:
1) Increase and broaden participants’ African cultural literacy including their understandings of race, religion, class, and gender beyond the American context.
2) Strengthen participants’ understanding Senegalese culture and Wolof language proficiency through classroom instruction and immersion activities.
3) Build partnerships with experts and communities in Senegal challenging Western understandings of knowledge systems and developing expertise for lifelong interdisciplinary research.
4) Embrace the opportunity to decolonize our own modes of thinking through dialog, immersion, reflection, and engagement with multiethnic and multilingual communities in Senegal.
5) Gather materials and insights for curriculum development.
Program Description:
Participants will spend 4 weeks in Senegal where they will take advantage of offerings including Wolof language training, lectures on interdisciplinary topics by guest speakers, fieldwork, community activities, excursions, field trips, and opportunities to develop research partners. Participants will have the opportunity to conduct their own research while immersing themselves in the local culture through interaction with local Senegalese.
The program will mostly take place in Dakar, Senegal but participants will spend 1 week in Saint Louis and travel to other cities of interest as well. Participants will live in apartment-style accommodations for the majority of the trip but will also live with host families for a weekend to experience life with a Senegalese family and in hotels while traveling.
Program Dates:
Tuesday, May 6-Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Apply for the Program:
Applications closed on December 1, 2024
The Program + Schedule:
Broadening African Cultural Literacy and Decolonizing the Curricula (GPA) will take place in Senegal during the summer of 2025. The program will include a variety of components with the goal of divesting participants of stereotypes and misconceptions of Africa and broadening their African cultural literacy. These components are intended to enhance participants’ understanding of Senegalese nation-building, decolonization, legacies of slavery, and the slave trade.
Program activities include:
- Lectures and seminars from local experts including lectures on traditional healing, decolonization, the transatlantic slave trade etc.
- Tours at various museums and historical sites in Dakar
- Visits to universities in Senegal
- Wolof classes
- Drum and dance classes
- Trips to Toubakouta via Sokone town, Gorée Island, Saint-Louis, Touba, Fadiouth, and the Pink Lake of Senegal
- Homestay with a Senegalese family for one weekend
- Individual exploration and time for conducting research
The University of Pittsburgh is partnered with the West African Research Center, University Cheikh Anta Diop, and GAEC-Africa in order to ensure that we have access to outstanding local leaders and scholars who will be able to model and cultivate and appreciate understanding of the peoples, cultures, and history of Senegal.
Eligibility:
In order to apply, a participant in the Senegal GPA program must:
- Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Be employed as faculty or academic administrator at Pitt or enrolled as doctoral student at Pitt.
- Propose an academic project that is relevant to the program’s goals. This can include a research project (e.g., investigate an important research topic, build an international research team etc.), propose a curricular based project (e.g., develop a new course, enhance a currently existing course etc.), or introduce new Pitt programming (e.g. build a lecture series, organize Africa-related events for students etc.)
- Be dedicated to integrating African studies content within their own classroom or academic context upon returning to the US
- Preference given to participants who have not received a Fulbright award in the past
Program Costs:
The Fulbright-Hays Senegal GPA grant covers the following expenses:
- Flights to and from Dakar, Senegal
- Tuition in Senegal
- Accommodation and food for the entirety of the program
- Program-related transportation in Senegal
- Educational materials during the program
The grant does not cover the following expenses:
- Program fee of $1000 that covers administrative expenses through the University of Pittsburgh
- Domestic travel from participants’ homes to the airport and return after the program
- Passport and visa fees
- Immunizations and other health-care expenses related to travel
- Independent travel in Senegal
- Personal shopping and gifts
Important Dates:
December 1: Application deadline
January: Acceptance Notification
February 1: Administration fee of $1000 payable to University of Pittsburgh
February 22: Pre-departure orientation 1
March 29: Pre-departure orientation 2
April 12: Pre-departure orientation 3
May 6: Departure for Senegal
June 4: Return to the U.S.
August 16: Post-Trip Workshop & Reflection (virtual)
September 13: Final Gathering with Project Presentations
Program Contacts:
Program Directors
Dr. Pernille Røge, Department of History
Dr. Kyaien Conner, School of Social Work
Program Coordinator
Dr. Anna-Maria Karnes, Center for African Studies
For more information about the program, contact:
Anna-Maria Karnes
412-624-8143
The contents of this project were developed under a grant from the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA), U.S. Department of Education. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.