Neal W. Sobania – författare

Kenya, a land of safaris, wild animals, and Maasai warriors, perfectly represents Africa for many Westerners. This peerless single-source book presents the contemporary reality of life in Kenya, an important East-African nation that has served as a crossroads for peoples and cultures from Africa, the Middle East, and East Asia for centuries. As such, it is a land rich in cultural and ethnic diversity, where unique and dynamic traditions blend with modern influences. Students and general readers will be engrossed in narrative overviews highlighting Kenyan history, as well as the beliefs, vibrant cultural expressions, and various lifestyles and roles of the Kenyan population. A chronology, glossary, and numerous photos enhance the narrative.Kenya today struggles with nation building. Its society comprises the haves and the have-nots and faces the challenges of the trend toward urbanization, with its attendant disruption of traditional social structures. For Kenyans, the preserving of traditional cultures is as important as making the statement that Kenya is a modern nation. Chapters on the land, people, and history; religion and worldview; literature, film, and media; art and architecture; cuisine and traditional dress; gender roles, marriage, and family; and social customs and lifestyle are up to date and written by a country expert. A chronology, glossary, and numerous photos enhance the narrative.

The position taken in this volume is that domestic off-campus study can be just as powerful a transformative learning experience as study overseas, and that domestic programs can equally expand students’ horizons, their knowledge of global issues and processes, their familiarity and experience with cultural diversity, their intercultural skills, and sense of citizenship.This book presents both the rationale for and examples of “study away”, an inclusive concept that embraces study abroad while advocating for a wide variety of domestic study programs, including community-based education programs that employ academic service-learning and internships.With the growing diversification—regionally, demographically, culturally, and socio-economically—of developed economies such as the US, the local is potentially a “doorstep to the planet” and presents opportunities for global learning. Moreover, study away programs can address many of the problematic issues associated with study abroad, such as access, finance, participation, health and safety, and faculty support. Between lower costs, the potential to increase the participation of student cohorts typically under-represented in study abroad, the lowering of language barriers, and the engagement of faculty whose disciplines focus on domestic issues, study at home can greatly expand the reach of global learning.The book is organized in five sections, the first providing a framework and the rationale for domestic study way programs; addressing administrative support for domestic vs. study abroad programs; exploring program goals, organization, structure, assessment and continuous improvement; and considering the distinct pedagogies of experiential and transformative education.The second section focuses on Semester Long Faculty Led Programs, featuring examples of programs located in a wide variety of locations – from investigations into history, immigration, culture, and the environment through localities in the West and the Lowcountry to exploring globalization in L.A and New York. Section three highlights five Short Term Faculty Led Programs. While each includes an intensive immersive study away experience, two illustrate how a 7 – 10 day study away experience can be effectively embedded into a regular course taught on campus. The fourth section, on Consortium Programs, describes programs that are either sponsored by a college that makes its program available to consortium members and non-members, or is offered by an independent non-for-profit to which institutions send their students. The final section on Community Engagement and Domestic Study Away addresses the place of community-based education in global learning and provides examples of academic programs that employ service-learning as a tool for collaborative learning, focusing on issues of pedagogy, faculty development and the building long-term reciprocal relationship with community partners to co-create knowledge.The book is intended for study abroad professionals, multicultural educators, student affairs professionals, alternative spring break directors, and higher education administrators concerned about affordably expanding global education opportunities.