Learning from West African dancers, musicians, religious practitioners, and theater performers, you will dance daily, explore ritual based movement/music of indigenous religions, and create sketches of daily life to explore and reflect on the customs and traditions of Beninese culture. Service learning will extend civic engagement for the same purposes. While also seeing live art production (e.g. music, dance, theatre, etc.), everyone will engage in the following creative processes:
• Western African dance, music, movement and theatrical expression
• Movement/visual snapshots of daily Beninese life
• Observation of performance based and/or design based Voodoo practice
• Participate daily in communal drumming activities
These activities will require instruction that you will receive as part of the course. All of these activities will be designed to allow each of you to gain cultural understanding through direct interactions with both the form and the artists/practitioners to understand their origins in the culture of Benin.
All the activities to varying degrees will require you to investigate the history, institutions, and economy of Benin, but three are of particular importance to learning about these areas. The first of these is the service-learning project. Each student will participate in projects at “mini libraries,” which are run by our partner in Cotonou: the Zinsou Foundation, which works with 380 schools across Benin. The libraries are important venues that provide supplemental and free education to all age groups in Benin and will provide you opportunities to learn from and with teachers at the libraries. The second element of the course that will allow you to discover the history of the Benin is the slave route at Quidah, which is east of Cotonou. With the assistance of a local guide, you will spend the day at Quidah and participate in discussions about the site’s importance within the region and beyond. Pre-readings will provide you with an introduction to this history. The last significant piece of exploring a broader Benin, and one that is a key element of its economy, will be the visit to Songhai, which is a farm near Porto-Novo devoted to sustainable practices in agriculture, aquaculture, energy use, and food production.
• Western African dance, music, movement and theatrical expression
• Movement/visual snapshots of daily Beninese life
• Observation of performance based and/or design based Voodoo practice
• Participate daily in communal drumming activities
These activities will require instruction that you will receive as part of the course. All of these activities will be designed to allow each of you to gain cultural understanding through direct interactions with both the form and the artists/practitioners to understand their origins in the culture of Benin.
All the activities to varying degrees will require you to investigate the history, institutions, and economy of Benin, but three are of particular importance to learning about these areas. The first of these is the service-learning project. Each student will participate in projects at “mini libraries,” which are run by our partner in Cotonou: the Zinsou Foundation, which works with 380 schools across Benin. The libraries are important venues that provide supplemental and free education to all age groups in Benin and will provide you opportunities to learn from and with teachers at the libraries. The second element of the course that will allow you to discover the history of the Benin is the slave route at Quidah, which is east of Cotonou. With the assistance of a local guide, you will spend the day at Quidah and participate in discussions about the site’s importance within the region and beyond. Pre-readings will provide you with an introduction to this history. The last significant piece of exploring a broader Benin, and one that is a key element of its economy, will be the visit to Songhai, which is a farm near Porto-Novo devoted to sustainable practices in agriculture, aquaculture, energy use, and food production.
- Teacher: Barry Pearson