After George Floyd was murdered in 2020, Parfait Kouacou said he knew something needed to change.
So, Kouacou, an associate teaching professor of global studies and modern languages for Drexel University’s College of Arts and Sciences, attended a workshop on community-based learning hosted by Drexel’s Lindy Center for Civic Engagement to develop a course that would bring together community members, staff and students.
“I was inspired by the need to address racial injustice and promote diversity and inclusion,” Kouacou said. “It became clear to me at that time that we needed to reflect on the need to add the missing aspects of our academic programming.”
In the spring of 2021, Kouacou introduced his West Africa to West Philly course (French 350), an upper-level and community-based French language class that teaches the history and culture of West Africa through literature and cinema. Kouacou plans to bring the course back for the first time in two years either in the winter or spring of the 2024-25 school year.
As a community-based learning course, Kouacou said the class, which consists of about 10 students and 10 community members, “unites classroom learning with engagement opportunity.”
“Instead of staying in a classroom and lecturing, students engage in real-life learning where they discuss issues that exist in the community,” Kouacou said. “The goal is to facilitate opportunities to develop relationships between the students and the local community, but it’s not limited to the local community.”
Each week, participants in the class discuss social, cultural, and political issues in the classroom and online through group chats and virtual forums. They then go into local communities and use their new knowledge in face-to-face discussions with native West Africans living in West Philadelphia.
The course was so popular that Kouacou brought it in the fall of 2022, even though it’s only offered once every two years.
Kouacou said he compiled an array of Francophone West African books and movies to help provide his students with a more comprehensive worldview.
He said he started them off with pre-colonial African literature to dispel the myth that literature only arrived in Africa when colonization started. Next, Kouacou said he introduces literature from the time of French assimilation in Africa, like “The African Child” by Camara Laye.
After sharing Laye’s writing about Guinea, Kouacou takes his students’ minds to Senegal, where Mariama Bâ wrote about young African people questioning their roots because of assimilation.
Kouacou then has his students read writing by Ahmadou Kourouma from Côte d’Ivoire — Kouacou’s home country — also known as the Ivory Coast, to explore the brutal realities of life and political issues occurring in Africa at the time.
“A better understanding of people’s cultures makes it easier to consider them as equal and understand why certain things happen,” Kouacou said. “It turns out, the more people learn about this culture, the more they’re interested in it.”
To develop a course that combined academic learning with community engagement, Kouacou partnered with AFRICOM-Philly, a local non-profit organization that aims to build community among African and Caribbean immigrants.
Kouacou also hosts a variety of guest speakers for the course, including Boukary Sawadogo, an African cinema scholar and media professional from the City College of New York, and Eric Edi, the president and chief operating officer of AFRICOM.
Youma Ba, a local Senegalese businesswoman, even hosted the students on a field trip for dinner at Kilimandjaro, an African restaurant on 4519 Baltimore Ave.
Since the course is taught in French, Kouacou said students should take at least French 310 before applying.
Along with the history, Kouacou also provides his students with stories of community members as African immigrants in Philadelphia. He said he tries to teach them about a variety of subjects — including food, music, and philosophy — to prepare them for real-world conversations.
“Whenever you are riding a cab, a rideshare, or are being driven by someone from Africa, (all you know is) your own prejudices,” Kouacou said. “It becomes so interesting for my students to ride a cab. Whenever they meet someone from Cameroon, Senegal, Kenya, et cetera, they ask questions about things they’ve learned, (which leads to) an interesting conversation. It’s as if they just made another friend. It’s so rewarding for me to see this happen in this neighborhood.”
As an African immigrant himself, Kouacou knows about having a story to share.
After finishing school in Côte d’Ivoire, he was offered an internship to work in media.
Following a few years as a traveling journalist across Europe, Kouacou, who initially wanted to become a lawyer, said he was recruited by the Associated Press to report on the conflict in West Africa.
A couple of years later, Kouacou said he was hired by the United Nations to be a human rights officer in Côte d’Ivoire.
“I came to the United States with the idea that this is where you get some rest — you don’t have to struggle anymore. Then, I came here, and I saw that I have to continue to fight,” Kouacou said. “This (course) is my way of continuing my work that I started as a journalist (and continued) as a peacekeeper with the U.N.”
