About the Project

The Horn of Africa is a region of incredible diversity, intriguing histories, and profound human creativity. Simultaneoulsy it endures major ongoing conflicts, complex humanitarian emergencies, and devastating environmental degradation. Including the countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan, the Horn is also a region of strategic importance to the United States given the nation's intention of promoting democracy, human rights, security, economic and social development. Despite this, the need for accessible and comprehensive information on the region has gone largely unmet, with most American university students in the early 21st century receiving little to no classroom exposure to issues concerning the Horn.

To address this need, we have created this portal to provide university-level curriculum on the Horn of Africa organized around three thematic modules: environmental pressures, conflict management, and youth. Each module provides instructors with essential background information, an account of regional patterns using current data, contextualized case studies, maps, a guide for further advanced research using online and print materials, and related student exercises that include essay questions and quizzes. Language material for introducing students to Amharic, Oromo, Somali, Swahili, and Tigrinya is also integrated. It is but an introduction with a goal to cultivate academic interest and to seed future experts on this critical region

This project was funded by Title VI International Research and Studies grant  from the United States Department of Education, and was inspired by our earlier work on the UnderstandingSudan.org.