Interdisciplinary Global Public Health, Politics, Culture and Swahili
DialogueNairobi, Kenya Nyer, Kenya Tsavo, Kenya Mombasa, Kenya Summer I, 2025
Courses
Community development has been presented as the panacea to many of Africa’s problems including leadership, democracy, conflict, disease and poverty. This course introduces students to the community health and development arena in Kenya. Through experiential learning involving research and action, the course will expose and sensitize students to the global and local debates primary health care, poverty and community development. Students will be helped to gain hands-on experiences in some of the major determinants and solutions to disease and poverty by interacting with community stake- holders and organizations in a variety of urban and rural settings and through formal instructions in the country’s health system structures and development and visits to, and dialoguing with, healthcare facilities and projects run by community- based organizations (CBOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
The course aims to introduce and immerse students in Kenyan African political culture and the Swahili language and their impact on the every-day life of the local population. Students will have an opportunity to engage in and learn about the major issues that characterize every-day life in rural and urban settings through visits to, and stays, in the rural areas and transect walks in villages and urban communities across different parts of the country, visits to projects run by community- based organizations, observing the every-day life of ordinary Kenyans and attending formal and informal classes and settings on the local politics, culture and Swahili. Students will have an opportunity to learn Swahili as the national language of Kenya in a context of varied indigenous languages and cultural dynamics.
The Kenya Dialogue is a rigorous and highly interactive experience in global health immersing students into local urban and rural communities in various parts of the country through extensive field engagements, research, sharing and rich and interactive continuous exposure throughout the program. In its 9th year, the Dialogue provides students an unparalleled opportunity to engage in and learn about the major health, socio- economic, cultural, and political issues that characterize the every-day life of the people and communities of Kenya. The program engages local guest speakers and institutional visits that are key actors in their fields in health, politics and culture. Students develop participatory skills in community and problem-based models through these interactions, language instructions, individual research and experiential learning.
