SIT Study Abroad Morocco: Human Rights, Social Justice, and Cultural Transformation
Examine challenges shaping Morocco and the Arab world since the 2011 Arab Spring. Learn about human rights, social movements, and the development of individual liberties in a multicultural context.
WHY STUDY MULTICULTURALISM IN MOROCCO?
The challenges and complexities of human rights, social justice, and cultural transformations in today’s Morocco are an outgrowth of the 2011 Arab Spring that took hold throughout North Africa. These uprisings against oppression and marginalization, and the cultural shifts that followed, have expanded the demands and repertoires of current struggles in Morocco. Modern movements have grown in visibility as the state, Islamists, and activists seek to define human rights and social justice on their own terms.
This program explores the present-day characteristics of the struggles for human rights and social justice within regional, national, and international contexts. We examine the resulting cultural transformations through a range of lenses including gender, individual liberties, globalization, and socioeconomic and political changes.
Excursions to the north and south of the country offer a view of the systems of power and privilege that have produced inequality and unjust environmental conditions, as well as the movements and organizations that have emerged in response. We engage with social economies that cross class and gender, including women-owned businesses producing local products and re-connecting their communities to the land and the environment, and local NGOs that are working collectively to create change.
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program highlights and details of coursework, educational excursions, and housing.
MONEY MATTERS
SIT is an all-inclusively priced study abroad program – including academic costs, excursions, accommodations and meals, airport transfers, and health insurance. Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor and read the website for more specific information.
SCHOLARSHIPS
SIT has awarded an average of over $1.3 million in scholarships and grants to SIT Study Abroad students in the past three years. All scholarships and grants are need-based. Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
CONTACT SIT STUDY ABROAD
Visit our website: studyabroad.sit.edu
Request more information or email us: studyabroad@sit.edu
Call an admissions counselor: 888-272-7881
Contact a former student.
Apply to SIT
Read more about our admissions process here.
Major Topics of Study
- The interplay between authoritarianism and human rights
- Tensions between secular and religious approaches to individual freedoms
- Liberal reforms (proposed and enacted) in areas such as ethnicity, women’s rights, and state violence
Please visit the SIT Study Abroad website for details on the program courses (including syllabi), educational excursions, and housing.
There is no "typical day"on an SIT program. Activities may take place on any day of the week and at any time of day to be in accordance with according to local norms and to take advantage of once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunities. Thus, the schedule and structure of the program are likely very different from what students are used to on their home campuses. The semester progresses in phases:
- The program begins with a thorough orientation.
- During the first two and a half months of the program, students are engaged in foundational coursework, including:
- thematic seminars, including education excursions,
- language instruction focused on improving practical communication skills, and
- a field research methods and ethics course that prepares students to conduct independent research.
- For the last month of the program, students conduct an Independent Study Project (ISP) on an approved topic of their choosing.
- Finally, students present their project, participate in program evaluations, and prepare to return home.
- SIT Study Abroad offers a field-based, experiential approach to learning.
- Each program has a small group of students (typically 10–35).
- On an SIT program, students gain high levels of access to many different stakeholders and experts relevant to the issues the program is examining.
- While some learning will be conducted at the SIT program center, extensive learning is done outside the classroom — in host communities, field stations, NGO headquarters, ecological sites, health clinics, and art studios.
- Many students go on to use their Independent Study Projects as a basis for senior theses on their home campuses. Others use their undergraduate research and overall study abroad experience to successfully apply for fellowships such as Fulbrights and Watsons.
Money Matters
Be sure to discuss how study abroad costs are handled at your school with your study abroad advisor.
SIT tuition and room and board fees include the following:
- All educational costs, including educational excursions
- All accommodations and meals for the full program duration
- Transportation to and from the airport, and on all educational excursions
- Health and accident insurance
Scholarships:
- SIT awards nearly $1.3 million in scholarships and grants annually.
- All scholarships and grants are need-based.
- Awards generally range from $500 to $5,000.
- The SIT Pell Grant Match provides matching grants to all students receiving Federal Pell Grant funding when it is applied to an SIT Study Abroad semester program.
- Contact the financial aid and/or study abroad office(s) at your college or university to learn if your school’s scholarships and grants and federal and state aid programs can be applied to an SIT Study Abroad program.
Contact SIT Study Abroad