African studies

African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (Pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography (ethnic groups), culture, politics, economy, languages, and religion (Islam, Christianity, traditional religions). A specialist in African studies is often referred to as an "africanist". A key focus of the discipline is to interrogate epistemological approaches, theories and methods in traditional disciplines using a critical lens that inserts African-centred ways of knowing and references.

This article is about the study of the African continent. For the journal, see African Studies (journal). For the multidisciplinary study of the peoples of African origin in Africa and across the world, see Africana studies.

Africa

Africanists argue that there is a need to "deexoticize" Africa and banalise it, rather than understand Africa as exceptionalized and exoticized.[1] African scholars, in recent times, have focused on decolonizing African studies, and reconfiguring it to reflect the African experience through African lens.

Notable Africanists

Main article: List of Africanists

University-based centers

• Austria: Institut für Afrikawissenschaften (est. 2007), University of Vienna[2]
• Belgium: Ghent University
• Canada: Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON
• China: School of Asian and African Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University
• China: School of Asian and African Studies, Shanghai International Studies University
• Ethiopia: Center for African Studies, University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Germany: Department of African Studies,[3] Humboldt University, Germany
• Germany: Institute for Asian and African Studies,[4] Humboldt University, Germany
• Germany: Institute of African Studies, University of Bayreuth, Germany
• Germany: Institute of African Studies, University of Leipzig, Germany
• Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana
• Netherlands: African Studies Centre, Leiden[5]
• Nigeria: Institute of African and Diaspora Studies, University of Lagos
• Nigeria: Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan
• Portugal: Centro de Estudos Africanos, ISCTE – University Institute of Lisbon
• Portugal: African Studies Centre of the University of Porto, Porto[6]
• South Africa: Centre for African Studies (CAS), University of Cape Town
• Sweden: Center for African Studies, Dalarna University, Sweden
• UK: Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge
• UK: Centre for African Studies[7] (Leeds)
• UK: Centre of West African Studies (Birmingham)
• UK: School of Oriental and African Studies
• US: Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
• US: African Studies Center, Boston University
• US: African Studies Center, Michigan State University
• US: African Studies Center, UCLA
• US: Africana Cultures and Policy Studies Institute
• US: University of Florida Center for African Studies
• US: Department of African Studies at Howard University

National and transnational centers

• Nordic Africa Institute
• Africa Research Institute

Associations

• AEGIS (Europe)
• African Studies Association (North America)
• African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific[8] (Australasia and the Pacific)
• ASAUK[9]

Projects

• Bamum Scripts and Archives Project
• Internet library sub-saharan Africa (ilissAfrica)
• Timbuktu Manuscripts Project

Degree programs

Canada

• Carleton University, Institute of African Studies - Combined Honours Undergraduate Degrees and Collaborative Masters in African Studies

Egypt

• Cairo University, Institute of African Research and Studies

Ethiopia

• University of Addis Ababa, Center for African Studies

Germany

• Humboldt University, Bachelor in Area Studies Asia/Africa[10] and Master in African Studies[3]

Ghana

• University of Ghana Masters and PhD in African Studies

Netherlands

• Leiden University, African Studies Centre - MA African Studies[11] and MPhil Research Master African Studies[12]

Nigeria University of Lagos, Masters in African and Diaspora Studies

• University of Ibadan, Nigeria Masters and PhD in African Studies

Switzerland

• University of Basel, Center for African Studies Basel[13] - MA African Studies[14]

United Kingdom

• University of Cambridge, Centre of African Studies[15] - MPhil in African Studies[16]

United States of America

• Beloit College, African Studies Minor - Interdisciplinary undergraduate minor field of concentration
• Florida International University, Masters in African Studies, African Studies Certificate
• Howard University, undergraduate minor and major in African Studies, Masters in African Studies, PhD in African Studies
• Ohio University, Masters in African Studies
• Rutgers University, undergraduate major and minor in African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures, with a regional focus
• University of Michigan, undergraduate major and minor in Afroamerican and African Studies. Also, a certificate in African Studies for graduate students.

See also

• List of africanists
• List of African studies journals
• Africa Bibliography for a categorised list of publications in the field since 1984
• African demographics
• History of Africa
• Culture of Africa
• Religion in Africa
• Economy of Africa
• Outline of Africa for a list of articles relating to Africa
• Ethiopian studies and Ethiopian historiography
• Africana studies

References

1. Mamdani, M. (1996), Chapter 1 from Mamdani, M., Citizen and Subject: contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism.
2. "Institut für Afrikawissenschaften » Das Institut". 27 February 2013. Archived from the original on 27 February 2013.
3. kiesewea. "Master African Studies — Institute of Asian and African Studies". www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de.
4. luederst. "The Institute for Asian and African Studies — Institute of Asian and African Studies". www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de.
5. For the history of African studies in the Netherlands, see Abbink, J.: African studies in the Netherlands: a brief survey, SCOLMA 87, 3-10, 2001
6. Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto
7. "Centre for African Studies (LUCAS)". lucas.leeds.ac.uk.
8. http://www.afsaap.org.au/
9. "ASAUK". www.asauk.net.
10. chayes. "Bachelor Area Studies Asia/Africa — Institute of Asian and African Studies". www.iaaw.hu-berlin.de.
11. "African Studies (MA) - Leiden University". www.universiteitleiden.nl.
12. http://www.ascleiden.nl/content/research-masters
13. "Home - Zentrum für Afrikastudien". zasb.unibas.ch.
14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-09. Retrieved 2014-06-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. "Centre of African Studies". www.african.cam.ac.uk.
16. [e-mail]. "MPhil in African Studies Overview â€" Centre of African Studies". www.african.cam.ac.uk.

• ASA Distinguished Africanist Award Winners

Further reading

• Gershenhorn, Jerry. “‘Not an Academic Affair’: African American Scholars and the Development of African Studies Programs in the United States, 1942–1960.” Journal of African American History, 94 (Winter 2009), 44–68.
• Gershenhorn, Jerry. “St. Clair Drake, Pan-Africanism, African Studies, and the Politics of Knowledge, 1945-1965.” Journal of African American History, 98 (Summer 2013), 422-433.

External links

• African e-Journals Project, Michigan State University (Provides (1) a directory of more than 2,100 journals about Africa with their URLs, and where to find tables of contents, abstracts, and full text of articles online, and (2) a full-text archive of back issues of 11 African scholarly journals in the social sciences and humanities.)
• African Studies Centres worldwide (Excerpt of the website database of ilissAfrica)
• AFRICAN STUDY: African Language Publishing For Children In South Africa (This African study focuses on the dearth of teaching and learning materials in African languages required to deliver effective bilingual education, and on the potential role of translation in offering solutions for this problem.)
• Davis Bullwinkle (ed.). "AfricaBib.org" – via Afrika-Studiecentrum, Leiden. Africana social science titles (Bibliography)

Library Guides for African Studies

• "Help for Researchers: Africa". British Library.
• "African Studies Research Guides". New York, USA: Columbia University Libraries. Archived from the original on 2013-10-01. Retrieved 2013-06-08.
• "African Studies & African History". Research & Subject Guides. Washington DC: Georgetown University Library.
• "African Studies Internet Portal". University of Illinois LibGuides. USA: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University Library.
• "African Studies". LibGuides. USA: University of Iowa Libraries.
• Library. "African Studies". Topic Guides. UK: London School of Economics and Political Science.
• "Africana (African Studies)". Research Guides. USA: Michigan State University Libraries. Archived from the original on 2017-06-12. Retrieved 2017-06-12.
• "Africana Studies". Research Guides. USA: New York University Libraries.
• "Africana". LibGuides. USA: Northwestern University, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies.
• "African Studies". Oxford LibGuides. Oxford, UK: University of Oxford, Bodleian Libraries.
• "African Studies Resources". Princeton LibGuides. USA: Princeton University Library.
• University Libraries. "African Studies". Research Guides. New Jersey, USA: Rutgers University.
• African Studies Library, Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge UK
• Studying Africa. A guide to the sources. Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala. 3rd ed., 2014
• Open Access Guide for researchers based in Africa (ilissAfrica)