FILM 251 - Creating Field Documentary on Human Rights in Ghana

4 credits, FDR-HA

Four weeks in Ghana

Prof. Stephanie Sandberg

In a 2016 article, Forbes Magazine identified three top skills that college graduates need to succeed in a global marketplace:

  1. Serious cross-cultural engagement
  2. Effective storytelling and communication and
  3. Mastery of multi-media technology.

This spring term course will teach you all three and help the world at the same time. It will be an exciting cross-cultural adventure in a beautiful country with some of the friendliest people in the world. We will examine the culture and social justice issues of modern day slavery in Ghana. Together we will study Ghanaian culture, visiting cultural sites and learning about how the country is faring with modern day slavery. As we study this, we will collect stories of those on the forefront of fighting modern day slavery. We will interview them on film to creat short documentaries that will be used by organizations to help them educate for their cause. We will spend our time in the course looking at the development of modern day slavery in Ghana, visiting organizations and government programs that are working on the issue as well. By the end of the course we will have learned about Ghanaian culture, studied the social justice issue of modern day slavery, and completed three short documentaries about organizations working in Ghana to end modern day slavery.

No prerequisites, but there is a one semester hour winter term course to prepare for the experience in Ghana. FILM 251 fulfills FDR HA. This course also fulfills an elective credit in the Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty and Human Capability.

Program fee (paid to W&L): 5,200. This includes airfare, accommodation in Accra (homestays) and in hotels during travel; ground transportation, meals, other programming.

Estimated Additional Expenses: Visa fees - $60; vaccines - $200-$250, passport (if you need one) - $100, Malaria meds - $50; pocket money - $200.

For further details, please contact Prof. Sandberg at sandbergs@wlu.edu.

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