Preparations for a communal meal served to participants in the Senegal faculty seminar. Photo courtesy Mbye Cham. In this essay, De Anna Reese, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses West Africa’s rich communal traditions of shared food, music, and dance and how they resonate with the strong family traditions of African-American communities. As one who teaches and studies one of the strongest and most enduring institutions in the Black

A traditional Senegalese music performance enjoyed at WARC during the 2019 faculty development seminar. Photo courtesy the author. In this essay, Errol Montes-Pizarro, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal and a mathematics professor at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey, discusses his ongoing research into historical and contemporary trends within Senegalese music and how West African musical traditions can be used to bridge geographic and cu

Serendipitous meeting with a circle on the sand dunes at Lac Rose, Senegal. Photo by the author. In this essay, Christine Farias, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses the theme of “circularity” in Senegalese daily life and how it provides a useful lens for studying issues of inclusivity and sustainability. Senegal’s strength is in its social and cultural diversity and religious tolerance. However, it has opened its economy to interna

The Great Mosque of Touba in Senegal In this essay, Sobia Saleem, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, writes about her visit to the Great Mosque of Touba and experiencing West Africa’s distinctive Islamic traditions. All photos are courtesy of the author. As an American Muslim participant in the 2019 faculty development seminar to Senegal, I found Islam in West Africa to be quite different from the religion I grew up with and learned in the U

Sippo Island, Toubakouta, Senegal In this essay, Stephanie Lovett, a 2019 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, discusses the essential need for teachers to travel and experience places in order to convey the world’s complexities to students. All photos are courtesy of the author. Teachers and researchers live in worlds of words. We plan, we study, we learn, we teach—and however creative we are in our methods, inevitably the heart of our craft is turn

The docks of Liverpool, where England defined its role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade with the Americas and West Africa. In this essay, Ellen Olmstead and Cinder Cooper Barnes, both professors of English at Montgomery College and participants in the 2017 CAORC-WARC Faculty Development Seminar to Senegal, discuss the lasting impacts of their West African experience and the importance of providing study abroad opportunities to community college faculty and students. When Ell

En route to plant mangrove seeds with Haidar in Casamance (Photo: Barton) In this essay, CAORC-NEH Senior Research Fellow Karen Barton discusses her research experience in coastal Senegal, where locals meet large scale environmental changes with resilience and optimism. The CAORC National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Research Fellowship Program supports advanced research in the humanities for U.S. postdoctoral scholars, and foreign national postdoctoral scholars who ha

Participants in the 2017 CAORC-WARA Faculty Development Seminar outside La Louisiane hotel in Saint Louis, Senegal. In this essay, Cinder Cooper Barnes, Professor of English at Montgomery College and 2017 participant in the CAORC-WARA Faculty Development Seminar, discusses her encounter with the "signares" in the history of Senegal's slave trade. Community college faculty often teach fifteen hours or five courses a semester and are expected to participate in committees and pe

Diversity, Religion, and Migration in West Africa CAORC-WARC Community College & MSI Faculty Development Seminar Senegal: January 6-22, 2019 CAORC is pleased to be partnering with the West African Research Center (WARC) on an upcoming faculty development seminar in Senegal. To support community colleges and minority-serving institutions, CAORC offers innovative, cost-effective programming that helps faculty and administrators gain the requisite first-hand experience needed t

CAORC’s Multi-Country Research Fellowship, which supports advanced regional and trans-regional research in the humanities, social sciences, and allied natural sciences, launched in 1993. In the inaugural year, 12 fellows pursued advanced research in 14 overseas research centers across 13 countries. Funded by a grant through the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the program met a real need for interdisciplinary, trans-regional international

“Religion and Peace in Senegal”: Toward a Unified Strategic and Operational Framework Thanks to the West African Research Center (WARC)’s new videoconferencing center, Senegalese scholars were able to be part of the Columbia University conference on Islam and Peace held on the weekend of September 12th and13th. The panel considered the role and importance of religion and religious forces in the future of Senegal. It also focused on neighboring West African countries where Sen

The JETS project (Jeunesse, Entreprise et Transformation Sociale/Youth, Entrepreneurship and Social Transformation) is a joint project of Baltimore-based International Youth Foundation (IYF) (http://www.iyfnet.org); and the West African Research Center. Project funds were entrusted to UNESCO-Dakar by the Japanese Fund-in-Trust for the benefit of the Senegalese Ministry of Youth. When IYF was selected by UNESCO for implementation, they in turn selected WARC as their partner. A