OVERVIEW

In this course students examine how Ghanaian cultural worlds and community infrastructures adopt, shape, and resist the design and impact of AI and information communication technologies. Students will examine how the Ghana Health Service engages culture, traditional health, community infrastructures, and digital technologies in its efforts to strengthen health systems, public health communication, and health equity. To achieve this, students will attend seminars alongside field visits to community clinics, traditional healers, and digital health startups, as well as explore archival and media-generated Ghanaian and Black diasporic health narratives. The course foregrounds Africana/Black Studies approaches to health, history, and data justice.

Program Highlights:

• An online asynchronous summer course with a mandatory 2-3 week in-country residential travel component to Accra, Ghana, with a visit to Cape Coast
• Contextualize digital health initiatives within Ghanaian histories of colonialism, independence, Pan-Africanism, and community health organizing.
• Critically evaluate digital health tools with an equity, access, and data governance lens grounded in Africana Studies and global health ethics.
• Experience field trips that explore the intersection of health, technology, and cultural organizations
• Interpret archival & media sources  to trace narratives about health and technology.
• Development of a culminating project integrating scholarship, fieldwork and critical reflection

FACULTY MEMBERS

Kim Gallon (Africana Studies)

COURSEWORK

• Course Title: AFRI 0552 Culture, Community, and Digital Health in Ghana
• Credit: Participants will earn one unit of credit, equivalent to four semester hours.
• Prerequisites: None.
• Language of instruction: All classes are delivered in English. 

TENTATIVE PROGRAM DATES*

• Full Course Dates: Monday, June 15 - Sunday, July 26, 2026
• In-country travel dates: Sunday, June 28 - Tuesday, July 13, 2026

 *Please note that program dates and itinerary are tentative and will be finalized in Spring 2026.

ITINERARY

HOUSING

Students will be housed in multiple occupancy rooms with ensuite bathrooms in each room. Housing arrangements are subject to change as the program is finalized.

Please note that all participants are required to stay in program-arranged housing. Independently arranged housing will not be permitted.

Students with specific accommodation requests and needs (granted and registered with Student Accessibility Services) should consult with us as early as possible.

PROGRAM COST

Brown Global Summer Program participants are billed for Brown Summer Session Tuition and a Global Housing, Meal & Activity Fee that covers housing, program activities, and some meals while in-country.  The tuition and fees for Summer Session 2026 will be published on the Student Financial Services website between January and early February 2026. The estimated Global Housing, Meal & Activity Fee for this program is $4,200.

SUMMER GRANTS

Brown undergraduates who receive financial aid during the academic year may be eligible for a Summer Grant towards their Summer Session charges. Eligible students will be contacted by the Office of Financial aid in late February/early March with information about their eligibility.

TIMELINES 

Please make note of the following deadlines for Summer 2026 programs.  Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

• Sunday, February 1: Preferred Application Deadline
• Sunday, March 1: Final Application Deadline
• Friday, March 6:  Admissions Decision
• Sunday, March 15:  Commitment Deadline

VISITING STUDENTS 

Visiting students from other (i.e., non-Brown) colleges and universities are welcome and encouraged to submit a visiting student application to any Brown Global Summer Program.  

As part of the application process, visiting students must also submit an official academic transcript to demonstrate that they meet the following two eligibility criteria:

• Active enrollment as a degree-seeking, undergraduate student at the time of program delivery (i.e., graduating seniors are not eligible)
• Good academic standing

Instructions for submitting an official transcript as a visiting student are provided in the online application for each program.

CONTACTS

Chris Van Booven, Assistant Director of Global Programs