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Culture and Politics of Cameroon
Students pose in Pinyin: Stacy Fitzwater '07, Director of Multicultural
Services Zephia Bryant, Natalie Brown '06, Alex Cartagena '07, Assistant
Professor Debbi Johnson-Ross, John Floyd '06, Sarah Fessler '07,
Devin Collins '05.
The sand is sparkling black on the volcanic beach on the coast of Cameroon. The unusual sight provided one of the many eye-opening experiences for students in "Culture and Politics of Cameroon."
"They learned that there are so many things that are universal, but they also got the very opposite lesson that you can't make assumptions because there are so many things that are specific to a culture," says Political Science and International Studies Assistant Professor Debbi Johnson-Ross. |
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McDaniel students answer questions in a primary school classroom.
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She, along with Zephia Bryant, director of the Office of Multicultural Services, led six students and one alumna through the small West African country. This is the first Jan Term trip to Cameroon. Traveling in a Land Rover, students were able to see the country's varied landscape.
Debbi Johnson-Ross with children in Pinyin.
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They attended lectures given by professors at the University of Buea, on topics ranging from politics and history, to the role of women in Cameroon, and contemporary issues like health care, AIDS, and the economy.
"Everyone was so willing to answer our questions," says Natalie Brown '06. "We talked with a political opposition party that seemed so advanced. They refused to use violence. Their motto is 'using the force of argument, not the argument of force.'" |
At a government-led school in Bamenda, McDaniel students became the teachers.
"We spent a whole day in that school and all the children asked us questions, and we asked the children questions, and we got an in-depth picture of what the school is like," says Johnson-Ross.
Contact Michele Cohen Leiberman, associate director of media relations, at 410-857-2294 or mleiberman@mcdaniel.edu.
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