Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-g78kv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T22:46:49.453Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clearing the Jungle out of African Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Thomas O'Toole  and
Daniel Schafer
Thomas O'Toole
Affiliation:
Department of History, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina
Daniel Schafer
Affiliation:
Department of History, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Jungle imagery and prejudiced stereotypes still abound in American knowledge of Africa. In a 1967 survey of American schoolchildren, E. Perry Hicks and Barry K. Beyer found that the majority still saw Africa through a web of myth and unfavorable stereotypes which appeared to increase as students progressed from grade seven through grade twelve (1970, pp. 158-166). In closing remarks as President of the African Studies Association, Philip D. Curtin noted this dilemma and posed a compelling challenge to the Africanist community. “The 1970's,” Professor Curtin stated,

have a right to ask for something more, with nearly 2,000 university Africanists. Success will depend in large part on our ability to get over the barriers between higher education and the public schools. If this can be done, either indirectly through teacher education or directly through the further education of those who already are teaching, African studies may yet be called a success, at least in its teaching function (1971, p. 365).

This essay is written in response to Professor Curtin's challenge and as an attempt to begin a dialogue on how to teach African history effectively. It is our contention that African studies is a recent enough arrival on the academic scene that teachers have not yet developed, or have not yet shared, techniques of instruction to cope with the special problems inherent in the subject matter.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , April 1974 , pp. 159 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES CITED

Bancroft, Hubert H. Retrospection. New York, 1912.Google Scholar
Beyer, Barry K. “Africa and Asia: Links and Lessons.” Asian Studies in American Secondary Education. Washington, D.C., 1972.Google Scholar
Bohannan, Paul and Curtin, Philip D.. African and Africans. Rev. ed. Garden City, New York, 1971.Google Scholar
Carew, Jan. New York Times Book Review, VII (April 2, 1972), 7, 14–15.Google Scholar
Clark, Leon, ed. Through African Eyes. New York, 1971.Google Scholar
Curtin, Philip D. “African Studies: A Personal Assessment,” African Studies Review, XIV (December 1971), 357–368.Google Scholar
Davis, John. “An Editorial Statement.” African Forum, I (Summer 1965), 3.Google Scholar
Hicks, E. Perry and Beyer, Barry K.. “Images of Africa.” Journal of Negro Education, XXXIX (Spring 1970), 158–166.Google Scholar
Hoon, Nancy M. Introducing West African Literature into Our Social Studies Class. Athens, Ohio, 1967.Google Scholar
Hunkins, Ralph H. Education for International Understanding: A Critical Appraisal of the Literature. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Indiana University, 1969.Google Scholar
Murdock, George P. Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History. New York, 1959.Google Scholar
Nader, Laura. “Perspectives Gained from Fieldwork.” In Tax, Sol, ed. Horizons of Anthropology. Chicago, 1964.Google Scholar
Patterson, Orlando. “Rethinking Black History.” Africa Report (November-December 1972) pp. 29–31.Google Scholar
Rich, Evelyn Jones and Wallerstein, Immanuel. African Traditions and Change. New York, 1972.Google Scholar
Seligman, C. G. The Races of Africa. London, 1930.Google Scholar
Trevor-Roper, Hugh. “The Rise of Christian Europe.” The Listener (November 28, 1963), pp. 871ff.Google Scholar
Wilson, Monica. “The Hunters and Herders.” In Wilson, Monica and Thompson, Leonard, eds. History of South Africa. Vol. I. New York, 1969.Google Scholar
X, Malcolm. The Speeches of Malcolm X at Harvard. Edited by Epps, Archie. New York, 1969.Google Scholar