Ghana: Origins of African Identity

Program Overview

“The experience with research and the introduction to Ghana afforded by the SIT program in Cape Coast has shaped the trajectory of my life. Because of my experience with SIT Ghana, I was able to go back to Ghana on a Fulbright after I finished my undergraduate studies and now am working on a Ph.D. on governance and the state in Ghana.”

Erin Metz McDonnell, former SIT Ghana student
Current Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology
Northwestern University

 
Ghanaian mosque, Larabanga, Ghana. photo by Anne Koplinka-Loehr

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In the SIT Ghana: Origins of African Identity study abroad program students explore African Diaspora studies and Ghanaian society and culture. Students explore the long-term socioeconomic and cultural impact of the slave trade’s violent history and learn how both forced and voluntary migration have shaped Ghana’s contemporary identity and conditions and created Ghanaian and West African Diaspora communities.

In exploring Ghanaian culture and society, students learn about traditional healing; Ghanaian indigenous religions; social structures, gender roles and societal change; rural development; external influences on Ghana; and agriculture and the Ghanaian economy. 

Students engage with and learn from faculty from Ghanaian universities, archaeological societies, village elders, and community leaders. Homestays with host families in Cape Coast and Komenda further immerse students in Ghanaian communities while adding additional context and meaning to Fante language study and thematic coursework.

The program is based in Cape Coast, a vibrant coastal community and the country's education capital. It is also the site where enslaved populations were held and traded during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. To gain a fuller perspective of Ghana and the region, the program includes group excursions to Elmina, Accra, Kumasi, northern Ghana, and the country of Benin.

In-country resources and program partners generally include:

Vibrant Culture, Troubled History
Ghana, a country rich in natural resources, is characterized by its complex history.  In 1957, Ghana was the first African nation to achieve independence from colonial powers after winning independence from the United Kingdom.  Tragically, Ghana also served as the departure point for a vast number of enslaved Africans shipped to the "new" world.  The slave castles lining the Ghanaian coast serve as contemporary reminders of the historical atrocities of enslavement and the forced migration which transpired on the country's shore.  Today, Ghanaian society continues to wrestle with the long-reaching effects of the slave trade.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects / Undergraduate Research