Swahili is the biggest [and fastest growing] lingua franca in East, Central & Southern Africa. This FIG takes you on a journey [Swahili: safari] of contemporary issues affecting Africa through the lens of the Swahili language, Culture & Peoples. Through Swahili 101 & Global Studies, students get to interrogate issues like development, lingering effects of colonialism, climate change and the breath-taking culture of the Swahili Nation [food, music, material culture]. Students will experience the behind-the-scenes of Africa and answer questions like: What is a day like in Africa? What is the worldview of the Swahili Nation and what do they consider development? Before the end of the program, students get to cook and savor a delicious Swahili dish with native Swahili speakers in the community. Karibuni!
Students explore the intersection of topics by taking the following course package:
UGST 109 First-Year Experience Seminar - 1-credit
SWAH 101 First Year Swahili - Major satisfying course, 5-credits
Introduction to Swahili, stressing speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension skills. At the UO, Swahili satisfies the Foreign language requirements and also the African Studies Minor requirements. Swahili is the major language of East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) including parts of Mozambique, Zambia, DRC, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia, Mauritius and the Comoros. It is also spoken in the East African diaspora – wherever East Africans are domiciled away from the region. Spoken by over 120 million people, Swahili is increasingly becoming a major world language.
GLBL 101 Intro to International Issues - CoreEd or major satisfying course, 4-credits
Hunger, intellectual property, global warming, arms trade, water rights, civil war, genocide, education, global financial inequities, and immigration: a few examples of the challenges we face in a highly globalized word. Develop a fundamental knowledge about several international issues, critically examine how these issues are presented by stakeholders, and consider creative attempts to solve these problems.