Nearly 5,000 miles apart, students at Michigan State University and Université Yambo Ouologuem de Bamako (UYOB) in Mali came together in a shared virtual classroom to explore democracy, displacement, and peacebuilding. Through conversations grounded in both philosophy and lived experience, the students discovered how questions about citizenship, power, and civic responsibility transcend national borders.
The exchange was part of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project pairing MSU Professor of Philosophy Stephen Esquith‘s PHL 850 seminar, Democracy as a Way of Life, with an American Civilization and Democracy course taught by Dr. Aboubacar Niambélé at UYOB. Throughout the Spring 2026 Semester, the students read the same philosophical texts, met regularly over Zoom, and examined what democracy means — and what it demands — in two very different national contexts.
But the collaboration extended well beyond a shared reading seminar. What made this COIL project distinctive was its connection to the community engagement work taking place in Mali.
Peacebuilding in the Camps
Since 2022, Esquith has co-led a community engagement initiative in 10 camps for internally displaced persons in Mali, working alongside Malian university students and community leaders. The effort began with a photovoice project in which UYOB students and Malian co-leaders guided displaced youth in documenting their lives and communities through photography. The project resulted in four exhibitions in the camps, along with a fifth exhibition at MSU.
In Fall 2025, Niambélé’s students joined the photovoice team and launched a new phase of the initiative, using political simulations to foster community dialogue around issues affecting camp residents, including forced marriage, food and fuel shortages, and ethnic conflicts. These simulations, called the Mali Peace Game, presented crisis scenarios drawn from the daily realities of displacement and challenged participants to negotiate solutions together.
The MSU students in PHL 850 studied this community engagement work as part of the seminar’s focus on local, everyday peacebuilding. As a result, the COIL conversations were grounded in the real-world experiences and challenges the Malian students encounter through their work in the camps.
“This COIL project has been a bridge between Bamako and Michigan, allowing us to see that the challenges of democracy are universal,” said one UYOB student. “It has been an eye-opening experience to share our Malian perspectives with MSU students.”
Two Languages, One Conversation
The collaboration operated in two languages. Niambélé’s current OYUB students met in French with UYOB graduates who have participated in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) program since 2022 to discuss their community engagement work. They then meet in English with Esquith and the MSU students, bringing those experiences into philosophical discussions grounded in readings by thinkers including Achille Mbembe, Sheldon Wolin, and Hannah Arendt.
During the semester, the current UYOB students participated in three large Zoom meetings conducted in French and two with MSU students in English. On March 22, all the current and graduated UYOB students spent the morning working through a Mali Peace Game crisis scenario with young people who live in three IDP camps before joining the MSU students later that afternoon for a two-hour discussion of their shared philosophical readings and the Peace Game experience. In April, participants split into smaller binational teams to co-author final essays that drew on both the course readings and their experiences with the IDP project.
“It has been immensely helpful for the ability of my colleagues and I to think through the crises of democracy as they are manifesting around the world, something that feels increasingly urgent in our current international political climate.”
MSU Philosophy graduate student
“Participating in the COIL project has been an amazing opportunity,” said one MSU Philosophy graduate student. “It has provided me with the space to discuss issues of global importance with folks whose perspectives I would never otherwise have heard. It has been immensely helpful for the ability of my colleagues and I to think through the crises of democracy as they are manifesting around the world, something that feels increasingly urgent in our current international political climate.”
What Students Are Taking Away
For the Malian students, the COIL reshaped how they think about democracy — not as a distant concept studied in textbooks, but as something practiced, challenged, and strengthened within their own communities — in other words, an ongoing project.
“It has permitted me to know that democracy and politics are concepts that not only the leaders must know how they function, but the citizens, even those who are living in the very distant areas, also must know how they function,” said one UYOB student.
The same student said the program also revealed the disconnect that can emerge between elected representatives and the people they are meant to serve, reshaping their own sense of civic responsibility.
“Through the program, I have discovered that young people are the main pillar of democracy and politics, and I also understand that my role goes beyond studying and working for my own interest,” the student said. “It is to be active, to understand the rules, and be able to explain them to those who do not have access to them.”
“We have gained a better understanding of the realities of both countries through the experiences shared, and this understanding will guide us in making better decisions in the future.”
UYOB student
Another UYOB student said the project deepened their understanding of both countries’ political systems and histories.
“It has also allowed us to understand some hidden aspects of democracy and learn about necropolitics,” the student said. “We have gained a better understanding of the realities of both countries through the experiences shared, and this understanding will guide us in making better decisions in the future.”
A third Malian student put it simply: “I learned that a true democracy is not just about voting but about how power is used and how people are treated.”
Building Something That Lasts
The collaboration has already expanded beyond the classroom. Esquith and his partners formalized the relationship through a memorandum of understanding between MSU and the Alioune Blondin Beye Peacekeeping School (EMP-ABB) in Bamako. The agreement outlines seven areas of future collaboration, including additional COIL courses, joint research, professional development programs, and cultural and artistic initiatives that promote peacebuilding.
In May 2026, an exhibit of the Mali Photovoice project was held at EMP-ABB and the first performance of the Mali Peace Game was staged. In July 2026, Esquith will co-teach a short course on ethics in times of conflict with Malian partners in what could become an ongoing certification program for UYOB faculty and EMP instructors.
“Dr. Esquith’s long-standing work in Mali…gives this effort both depth and credibility. It also creates a powerful story about what COIL programs can accomplish when they are grounded in real relationships and shared purpose.”
Leo Zulu, Professor and Director of MSU’s African Studies Center
Leo Zulu, Professor and Director of MSU’s African Studies Center, praised the way Esquith shaped the collaboration into a globally engaged learning experience.
“Dr. Esquith’s long-standing work in Mali, especially with youth, mentoring, and team building, gives this effort both depth and credibility,” Zulu said. “It also creates a powerful story about what COIL programs can accomplish when they are grounded in real relationships and shared purpose.”
