Summer 2024

• For Abu Dhabi students, please see the Abu Dhabi course equivalencies on this page. Please note this is only applicable to NYU Abu Dhabi degree students.
• For Shanghai students, please see the Shanghai course equivalencies on this page. Please note this is only applicable to NYU Shanghai degree students.

This course considers the Black Atlantic as a socio-cultural economic space from the first arrival of Africans in the ‘New World,’ beginning around in the 15th century, through the rise of slavery in the Americas. During this class we will trace the origins and importance of the concept of the Black Atlantic within broad political contexts, paying special attention to the changing social, cultural and economic relations that shaped community formation among people of African descent and laid the foundations for modern political and economic orders.  Once we have established those foundations, we will think about the Black Atlantic as a critical site of cultural production.  Using the frame of the Atlantic to ask questions about the relationship between culture and political economy.  We will explore a range of genres--film, fiction, music, as well as formal scholarship--so as to explore questions of evidence in the context of the real and the imaginary. Topics to be covered include African enslavement and settlement in Africa and the Americas; the development of transatlantic racial capitalism; variations in politics and culture between empires in the Atlantic world; creolization, plantation slavery and slave society; the politics and culture of the enslaved; the Haitian Revolution; slave emancipation; and contemporary black Atlantic politics and racial capitalism.

Cultures and Contexts: The Black Atlantic - Sample Syllabus 

Enrollment by permission only. Application will be available in December. Students must participate in the study away program at the internship location.

This is the required corequisite course for students participating in the Summer Global Internship Program. This program provides students the opportunity to receive credit for a course associated with an internship. Students may use an internship in Accra, Buenos Aires, Prague or Tel Aviv, sourced on their own or can request to be placed by our our on-site internship staff.  The application must include the most up to date version of your resume, a Wasserman Resume Review form, the offer letter from your internship (if available), and any contracts which need to be signed. For further questions, please contact global.internships@nyu.edu.

Experiential Learning Seminar - Sample Syllabus

This course is designed to put in perspective the interactions between culture, food systems, migration, and globalization, and how the interactions are impacting on the food security and nutrition of the people. The course will detail the culture and traditions (including changes over the years), food ways, the current food environment in Accra, and the drivers of the nutrition transition. This course will also help students to understand the importance of nutrition sensitive agriculture in food systems, the impacts of urbanization / migration on these, and the influence of government policies on the dynamics. The course also has a field component which includes visits to a traditional ruler (to learn about food culture and festivals), markets (traditional and modern), and fast-food outlets/restaurants.

Food, Culture & Globalization: Accra - Sample Syllabus 

This course introduces basic concepts and techniques in the analysis of public health data. It is an applied course, emphasizing use, interpretation and limits of statistical analysis. Real world examples are used as illustrations, and computer-based data analysis is integrated into the course. Students will be introduced to the basic principles of statistical software: R programming language. Students will learn how to write code in R to complete exploratory and statistical analysis of public health data.

Biostatistics for Public Health - Sample Syllabus

Pre-requisite: JOUR-UA 101 - Journalistic Inquiry or permission of the instructor.

This course offers undergraduate students the opportunity to experience what it’s like to work as a foreign correspondent while honing their reporting skills and powers of observation. Students report, write, and produce news articles focusing on public health and/or development issues in this dynamic West African nation. Examples of topical focus might include: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on malaria prevention, overcoming stigmas in mental health treatment, or efforts to expand cancer services in developing nations. Students will work with both Ghanaian public health or development officers and with representatives with international NGOs with branches in Accra. Students work independently, and in teams, to produce an in-depth research and reporting project. Participants will be actively involved in reporting, writing, and photographing. The schedule is rigorous. 

Elective Reporting Topics: Reporting Africa - Sample Syllabus