Exploring Senegalese Cultural Values

Students spend half a day exploring how cultural values form the basis of behavior patterns in Senegal. Students work with local resource people to begin to identify and understand core Senegalese values and how they are manifested in social behavior. The workshop closes with an authentic Senegalese meal around a bowl shared among participants practicing local eating etiquette.

Crossing Cultures Workshop

Introduction to cross-cultural communication. Students work through exercises that reveal cultural assumptions and the natural process by which humans assign meaning to behavior. Classroom work is completed with experiential exercises, using the environment as a classroom, bringing back observations and artifacts to the group for a follow-up session focusing on cultural interpretation.

Gender Workshop

Navigating gender realities in Senegal. Students meet with Senegalese counterparts to explore and compare issues of gender and sexuality in both cultures. Students gain knowledge of gender expectations and clues to communicating more clearly with members of the opposite sex.

Focused Exploration: Building Cultural Competency

ACI accompanies the continuing learning of its students with a series of workshops and exercises to help students explore their environment and integrate experiences. The Baobab Center considers this course, which is accredited by several universities, to be at the core of the study abroad experience.

Re-Entry Session

Students take stock of how they have changed and grown during their time abroad, what changes have happened back home, and prepare for their transition back to their home country and culture.