About Labs

Centennial Labs are SFS classes built around an issue, idea, problem, or challenge in a real community. They are both cross-curricular and experiential at the core. Students work with one or more professors across disciplines to learn the theory critical to understanding the situation. They develop practical approaches or solutions within the “lab”; and share it with the community beyond the classroom.

The Centennial Labs began as a pilot program in 2017 and has continued to expand its class offerings every year since. Future classes will be announced, with preferential enrollment given to students who have yet to participate in the program.

Africa Is People
SFS African Studies Professor Kwame Edwin Otu

As part of the course, students conduct a field visit to Ghana to familiarize themselves with the sociocultural and political-economic environments of the country to use Ghana as a pinhole through which to fathom the myriad afterlives of slavery and colonization in postcolonial Ghana. Specifically, the visit will offer students the opportunity to engage with the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes of Ghana through the experiences of Ghanaians themselves. Primarily, it allows students a chance to understand how Ghanaians/Africans imagine and interact with the complex sociocultural environments resulting from the historical legacies of slavery and colonization. The Kwame Nkrumah Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana, under whose auspices the visit is conducted, assists with field visits to the Elmina, Cape Coast, and Christiansborg castles, former slave-holding forts, and to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, Assin Manso, among other sites. The guest lectures from faculty members of the IAS and the University of Ghana serve as gateways for students to not only study Ghana but to also learn from Ghanaians writ large. Students may gain a renewed critical understanding of the African continent.

Students must enrolled in the 3-credit AFSP 2205 – Africa is People course to be considered for the spring break 1-credit program. 

Applications are now closed

If you have any questions, please contact sfsglobalexperience@goerogetown.edu

$100-300 out-of-pocket  (prog. costs paid by SFS: $4,500-$7,500/student)

Items not included: 

  •  Transportation to/from the airport in DC or any personal transportation on-site
  •  Visas  (if required) and passport application/renewal 
  •  Some meals (depending on the logistics, possibly 10-25% meals on your own);
  •  Any required immunizations or health-related testing prior to travel (e.g., Yellow Fever)
  •  International health insurance (billed to student accounts upon acceptance: $65);
  •  Phone/data plans (required to be accessible/active internationally, e.g., AT&T $10/day); 
  •  Any room charges or damages caused by a participant.