Senegal: National Identity and the Arts

Experience the enormous contribution to African arts and culture made by Senegal, a nation that has inspired three centuries of poets, novelists, and artists.

Learn to create or perform Senegalese art, music, and dance through workshops in djembe, batik, glass painting, bronze sculpture, ceramics, and traditional Senegalese instruments such as the tama.

Led to independence by internationally acclaimed poet and philosopher Leopold Senghor, Senegal has long emphasized the role of art and culture. Senghor believed that knowing one’s own culture and supporting it was the key to true development, not simply politics and economics.

With the capital city of Dakar as home base, students examine the complex social, economic, and political issues facing Senegal. Topics of study include the role of Islam in Senegalese life, contemporary development, challenges posed to women’s rights, education, and traditional West African music, rhythms, and storytelling. Students not only learn West African art forms and what they represent but also learn to create and perform them.

Through the program’s homestays, students live with different Senegalese families in urban and rural parts of the country thereby experiencing everyday life. Stays in the coastal Wolof town of Mouit and the remote inland town of Kedougou reveal similarities and differences among Senegal’s different ethnic groups. Learn more about the program’s excursions to diverse areas of Senegal.

Through the program’s language instruction, students are able to enhance their French while also learning Wolof.

Lecturers and resources for this program are drawn from institutions such as:

Universite Cheikh Anta Diop (University of Dakar)
Village des Arts (professional artists’ cooperative)
Senegalese Ministry of Culture
Media Centre of Dakar
The Réseau Africain du Développement Integré (RADI)
Centre Culturel Blaise Senghor

Sonya Shadravan, Alice Rowan Swanson Fellow and SIT Study Abroad Senegal alum
describes her fellowship project in Senegal during the Spring of 2011.

Clint Smith, Davidson College, program alum

“SIT Study Abroad Senegal profoundly impacted my life and gave me a different perspective on how I see myself and the world.”
Inspired by artisans he met studying abroad in Senegal, Clint has made it his life’s passion to use poetry to raise awareness about critical global issues. Following graduation, he returned to Africa to work for a South African organization that uses soccer as a means to promote awareness and education about HIV/AIDS. Today, he is active in South Africa’s spoken-word poetry scene and works with local advocacy organizations to use his poems to raise awareness about issues ranging from miners’ rights to increasing social and civic engagement among South African youth.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects/Undergraduate Research