Overall theme and context

Developed and managed by four partners – Wits University in Johannesburg, the Université Iba Der Thiam de Thiès, the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, and the Campus AFD – this course takes a fresh, contemplative look at how we think about and experience our humanity in a changing world. Based on a rigorous dialogue between the humanities and the sciences (natural sciences, health and environmental sciences, technology), this programme enables participants to examine some of the significant issues of our time and to fully understand the major challenges and urgent issues that people are facing wherever they live. It also allows participants to question what they think they know and examine their thought processes, categories, modes of action, visions for the world, and beliefs at this time of profound change. This gives people a chance to overcome preconceptions so they can learn to think differently about the present moment to give it a sense of meaning and better imagine a liveable future for everyone.

Learning objectives

• To understand how fundamental concepts such as development, finance, property, nature, and human rights are being profoundly altered by the transformations that are underway.
• To discover how the political and economic principles that have served as the basis for democratic thinking are being reinvented and how a new planetary consciousness is emerging.
• To recognise how innovative technical and conceptual tools are facilitating contemporary thought and creation.

Teaching and activities

When this training course was first offered in 2022-2023, it was given in an online format that was jointly managed by universities in Thiès (Senegal), Johannesburg (South Africa), and Paris (France), along with the Campus AFD. This pilot version featured two sections with 12 hours of courses in six sessions. This format is being expanded in 2023-2024.

Registration details

This MOOC runs from February to May 2024. The course includes 12 x 2h classes with 1 live class per week.

Target audience

Open to everybody

Partners

Université Iba Der Thiam (Thies – Senegal), Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar – Senegal), Ecole Normale Supérieure (France)