Study Abroad

AAS3400/PSC3400 Contemporary Africa
Winterim 2026-Study Abroad Course
Instructor: Dr. Douglas Mpondi

This study abroad course examines the contemporary political, social, cultural and economic developments in Africa with special focus on post-genocide Rwanda and Uganda. Students will spend two weeks in Rwanda and Uganda working with the Global Livingston Institute (GLI), a US non-governmental organization (NGO) with offices in Rwanda and Uganda. The course specifically focuses on development issues in Rwanda and Uganda including politics and economic development, genocide and post-conflict reconciliation and reconstruction, popular culture and the informal markets, access to education, technological development in East Africa, agriculture and food security, poverty alleviation, public health, traditional medicine, infrastructure development, conservation and the environment, women and rural development, security in the Great Lakes region. We will connect with organizations and individuals working in various sectors to examine development impacts in urban and rural communities in Uganda and Rwanda. Topics include power dynamics, “white savior complex,” and “decolonizing development.” Students will explore issues such as poverty alleviation, agriculture, public health, and conservation to understand best practices in international community development. Visits to local NGOs and social enterprises include: the US Embassy in Kigali, African Leadership University in Kigali, engagement with GLI’s Community Programs in Kigali and Musanze in Rwanda and Kabale/Lake Bunyonyi areas in Uganda, dialogues with university/high school students, tour of National Genocide Museum in Kigali and visit to Nyamata Genocide Memorial outside Kigali.

At the end of the course, students will have an increased awareness of the broader historical, political, social, cultural, and economic realities of international development in Rwanda and Uganda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa.

Goals and Learning Objectives:

• Examine international development issues such as education, public health, and agriculture in Rwanda and Uganda.
• Explore and research about Rwanda’s genocide in 1994 and recovery efforts at reconciliation and development
• Compare and contrast cultural issues in Rwanda and Uganda with those in the USA
• Analyze the “white savior complex” and how people in Rwanda and Uganda are working to “decolonize development” in their societies.
• Observe and assess conservation efforts in Uganda and Rwanda