March
28, 2003
Senegal
Inspires J-Term Study
and April 4 Lecture
| 
(From
left) Professor of French Samba Gadjigo, Molly Hatfield
'05, Josianna Keim FP, Elettra Fiumi '05, Choitsho
Dorji '05, and Jacqueline Heller '06 in Dakar,
Senegal during J-Term 2003 |
It is the westernmost
country on the African continent, home to ports that anchored
the African slave trade and land of the giant baobab trees made
famous by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little
Prince. This year, the Republic of Senegal also became J-Term
classroom for five Mount Holyoke students eager to experience
the country they glimpsed in studies with Professor of French
Samba Gadjigo.
"The idea originated from The Plan for Mount Holyoke
2010, which emphasizes internationalism and international
studies," said Gadjigo, who organized the J-Term trip. "We
have junior year programs in Senegal, Montpellier, and Sweet Briar,
but not all students can afford these. I thought a two-week, intensive
program would allow a larger number to gain an international perspective,
at a lesser cost."
Students covered their travel to Senegal but received support
for their other expenses from the Office of the President, the
Office of the Dean of Faculty, and the French department. They
lived with host families in the coastal city of Dakar, gathering
daily for group lessons in African dance and batik, as well as
lectures on Senegalese politics, history, culture, and literature.
Tours included visits to the home of author Cheika Hamidou Kane
and Goreé Island's notorious Slave House, one of
several sites at which Africans were loaded onto ships bound for
the New World.
Two days were set aside for internships at sites relevant to students'
individual interests. Choitsho Dorji '05, who had studied
art forms unique to her country of Bhutan, interviewed the pioneer
of Senegal's sousverre (under glass) art, as well as its
first female practitioner. A French and economics major who says
she had no interest in west Africa before studying with Gadjigo,
Dorji stayed an extra week in Senegal and returned to Mount Holyoke
with plans to earn an African studies
certificate.
Jacqueline Heller '06, who is studying political science
and peace studies, interned with Raddho, a ten-year-old human
rights organization that monitors elections and mediates peace
talks in southern Senegal, where a separatist group has clashed
with government forces since 1982. Heller hopes to return to Raddho
and her host family next summer. "The people were so amazing.
I expected to feel like a tourist but found I was part of the
culture and felt really at home. It is a place I need to go back
to."
Language lessons were a continuous part of the two-week visit,
taking place as students shared meals with host families or haggled
at local shops. "Improving my French was to be the project
of my J-Term," said Josianna Keim FP, a senior anthropology
major and French minor, who wanted to prepare for two 300-level
French courses this semester. "I definitely think that immersion
is the easiest way to accomplish ease with a language, and true
to form, by the end of the two weeks, I was babbling away!"
Exposure to a new lifestyle was also a big part of the experience.
Dorji was struck by the colonial influences and by her own sense
of belonging despite being "the only Asian around."
Keim noticed stark contrasts: "While horse-drawn carts,
hand washing clothes, heating an iron over coals, and bringing
hot water into the bathroom for your bath were commonplace, equally
commonplace was the mobile phone," she said. "I also
remember being stunned to overhear an argument between family
members about the outrageous amount of time one of the boys was
spending with his Game Boy!"
Economics and politics major Molly Hatfield '05 said, "I
admit that I am still very sheltered and naïve when it comes
to understanding the ways that people live and the values that
they espouse, but if I learned anything from my experience in
Senegal it is that there is no one way. We are not often given
many opportunities to question that to which we have become accustomed,
and that makes an experience like my stay in Senegal all the more
valuable, even essential, to a well-rounded life," she said.
Hatfield hopes to return to her internship site, the African Institute
for Economic Development and Planning, for one month this summer.
In light of the students' enthusiasm and learning, Gadjigo
hopes the J-Term program in Senegal will continue to receive support.
"The experience was worth every minute of my efforts and
every penny spent by the College," he said.
Senegalese
Scholar to Lecture on
Léopold Sédar Senghor April 4
|
Ousmane
Sene, Dakar program coordinator and professor of international
studies at Chiekh Anta Diop University |
Ousmane Sene, who
is the coordinator of MHC study programs in Senegal and professor
of international studies at Chiekh Anta Diop University, is visiting
Mount Holyoke from March 22 to April 5. While on campus, Sene
is coteaching a French class on Negritude, the African pride movement
that has strengthened the African identity in the French colonial
world. He will also give a public lecture, in English, on Léopold
Sédar Senghor, former president of Senegal and cofounder
of the Negritude movement. All are welcome to attend the lecture,
"Humanism, Poiesis, and Politics in Writer Léopold
Sédar Senghor's Life and Work," which is sponsored
by the French department, the Dean of the College, and the Purington
Fund. It is scheduled for April 4, at 4 pm in Pratt Hall's
Warbeke Room.
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