Nicaragua
Last summer, with the support of the Pro Humanitate Center, a Project of the Lilly Endowment, and the Office of International Studies, Wake Forest University offered a new service-learning trip for undergraduates to Managua, Nicaragua.
Courses
Dr. Holly Brower taught BUS208 “Social Enterprise Leadership in a Developing Country” (3 hours; business major elective). This course examined the challenges inherent in leading sustainable social enterprises in a developing country. Topics included social capital, sustainability, and the difficulties and opportunities of managing and leading in a space where political, social, legal, and cultural norms do not encourage independent economic strength. In addition to selected readings and relevant case studies, this course had a substantive experiential learning component where students worked in nonprofit organizations in Nicaragua.
Dr. Jane Albrecht taught HUM216 “The Writer and Society in Central America” (3 hours; Div. II Literature). Students studied the works by major Central American writers with special attention to their socio-historical contexts. Themes explored included nature, the economy, politics and society in the context of U.S. interventionism, multinational corporations, free trade economics, dictatorship, persistent poverty, and the status of women and children and indigenous peoples).
The program, which consisted of these two courses and an experiential learning component, required one week of class on the Reynolda Campus and three weeks in Managua, Nicaragua, and included significant time working in Nicaraguan nonprofit organizations. The costs included $2800 (with scholarship funds available to subsidize up to $2000) and 6 hours of summer school tuition. For more information contact:
Dr. Jane Albrecht of Romance Languages
758-5468 or albrecht@wfu.edu
Dr. Holly Brower of the Calloway School
758-6174 or browerhh@wfu.edu
Course Description - BUS 208
This course mainly examines the complex challenges inherent in leading sustainable social enterprises in a developing country. Social enterprises are organizations which trade in goods or services for a social purpose. Developing these types of organizations ensuring that they meet their mission and remain viable for the long term is complex, especially in locations rife with poverty, governmental corruption, and institutional barriers to private development.
Emphasis will be placed on issues and challenges of structure, leadership, social responsibility, empowerment and sustainability as organizations move operations into or develop new enterprises in developing countries, with a particular focus on Nicaragua. Topics include social capital, sustainability, and the challenges and opportunities of managing and leading in a space where political, social, legal, and cultural norms do not encourage independent economic strength. In addition to selected readings and relevant case studies, this course will have a substantive experiential learning component where students will work in nonprofit organizations in Nicaragua.
Course Description - HUM 216
The Writer and Society in Central America (3h; Div II Literature). Study of works by major Central American writers with special attention to their socio-historical contexts. Exploration of such themes as: nature (force of, destruction of, exploitation of); the economy (U.S. interventionism, multinational corporations, free trade economics); politics (dictatorship, U.S. interventionism, politics and poetry); society (persistent poverty, status of women and children, status of indigenous peoples).
Readings:
- Pablo Neruda, Chile, poem “The United Fruit Co.”
- Mario Benedetti, Uruguay, poem, “The South Exists, Too”
- Rubén Darío, Nicaragua, poems, “To Roosevelt” “La raza”
- Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guatemala, novels, The President, Strong Wind
- Ernesto Cardenal, Nicaragua, poems
- Roque Dalton, El Salvador, poems
- Claribel Alegría, Nicaragua/El Salvador, poems, “Pandora’s Box” [from Casting Off];
- Death of Somoza—a true narrative; one novella from Family Album
- Giaconda Belli, Nicaragua, poems
- Fernando Contreras, Costa Rica, novel, Única mirando el mar [selections, in Spanish]
- Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemala, autobiography, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala
- Burn!; Romero (film)
2008 Participants
In the Summer of 2008 a group of 8 students and 2 faculty members participated in this course.
The students and faculty pictured are (from left to right): Gabriella Almeida, Jane Albrecht, Elizabeth Haight, Melanie Firestone, Lisa Northrop, Lindsay Miller, Joseph Warner, Katherine Ehrhardt, Holly Brower, and David Wescott.