Nesha Z. Haniff

 This class will explore the complex issues which affect the endemic poverty of women in the African diaspora. This will include communities in Detroit and Ypsilanti in the US, the Caribbean and Southern Africa. There will be two components of the class, the shape of the scholarly and theoretical discourse will require texts from publications books, websites, blogs and journals. Because gender in communities of color in the US cannot be extricated from race, this intersection will be an equal component in interrogating the problematic of chronic poverty in this population. And this will be the location of the first engagement although the diasporic gender inequality will still be an integral subject and be included as a site as the course evolves. The rise of nonprofits and startups, the growing number of study abroads, numbers enrolling in Peace Corps, AmeriCorps and Teach for America, represent a hunger for meaning, for making a difference, to change the world. There is no question that students must pursue academics and scholarly work while in university however what they need as well is a chance to act on their ideas. This is why this class requires an activist component that engages them in the community so that they can experience the challenges and benefits of putting ideas into action.

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