Interdisciplinary African Urban Studies
Program Quick Facts
Location: Accra, Ghana
Faculty Leader: Dr. Ato Quayson
Arrival Date: August 12, 2026
Departure Date: September 5, 2026
Program Cost:
- Stanford Tuition (3 units): $4,515
- BOSP Program Fee: $500
- Students with demonstrated financial need may be eligible for financial assistance (see financial assistance for more information)
Academic Prerequisites: A general familiarity with urban studies and with topics in African Studies is definitely an advantage.
Activity Level: Light. Activities may include city walking tours, easy/short hikes, museums, and other site visits.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Information for Travelers to Ghana
US State Department Country Information: Ghana International Travel Information
Visa Information: Coming Soon
General Description
At heart even though the central objective of the course is simply to introduce students to the study of African cities through an experientially meaningful way using the example of Accra as a case study, in reality the main interest is to expose students to something more subtle and complicated. The main idea for this course is to use Accra as a way to illuminate cities of the students' own choice. This means that the course will be inherently comparative, and that features of Accra will be used to ignite students’ understanding of details of the urban in cities in general.
Location
The program is located in Accra, the capital city of Ghana in West Africa. Accra is a cosmopolitan metropolis with many fascinating and contradictory features. It includes glitzy restaurants and apartments for the wealthy and well-connected as well as large slums and decrepit neighborhoods. Because the country has been politically stable since the start of the 4th Republic in 1992, it has proved to be an attractive place to do research on a variety of subjects and provides a good entry into themes in Africa urban studies in general.
Living and Travel Conditions
Students will stay at the La Villa Boutique Hotel, a veritable green oasis close to Oxford Street at Osu in Accra. The hotel is some 20 minutes from the airport and well connected to different parts of the city centre, the academic corridor of the University of Ghana and various salubrious neighborhoods.
Faculty
Dr. Ato Quayson
Ato Quayson is the Jean G. and Morris M. Doyle Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and of English and Chair of the Department of African and African American Studies at Stanford. He has degrees from the University of Ghana and Cambridge University and taught at Cambridge, the University of Toronto, and NYU before coming to Stanford in 2019. His teaching and research interests includes African Literature, Postcolonial Studies, Diaspora and Transnationalism Studies, Urban Studies, and Disability Studies, among various others.
Prerequisites and Expectations
A general familiarity with urban studies and with topics in African Studies is definitely an advantage.
Grading Basis
Letter Grade