About 1960, the study of West African history took a new turn as historians became aware of the interest and value of Islamic sources for their work, particularly manuscript materials in Arabic. To be sure, the use of Arabic sources for the history of West Africa is nothing new: in 1841, W. Des-borough Cooley published his The Negroland of the Arabs Examined and Explained; or, an Inquiry into the Early History and Geography of Central Africa. But Cooley's pioneering book was discounted by later British and American writers on Africa as the work of an eccentric. In the 1880's and 1890's, many of these writers were spellbound by their vision of what Christianity might do for the African, while others were preoccupied by what they deemed to be the morally indefensible activities of the Muslims as slave-raiders and traders in West and East Africa. As late as the 1930's, the well-known British anthropologist C. K. Meek indicted Islam in northern Nigeria when he wrote: “The institution of slavery is a pivotal feature of Islamic society, and we are justified with charging Muhammadanism with the devastation and desolation in which Northern Nigeria was found at the beginning of this century.” Other writers, like Sir A.C. Burns for Nigeria, and A. W. Cardinall and W. E. F. Ward for Ghana, dismissed the Islamic side of West African history in few words, or gave it no mention at all. There were other reasons for this lack of emphasis. In northern Nigeria, for example, many British officials were apprehensive of an outbreak of “Mahdism” among the Muslims; and very frequently, French officials looked on Islam as a rival political system, dangerous and potentially subversive.

Le Centre d'Analyse Documentaire pour l'Afrique Noire was created in 1961 as part of the VI section (Division des Aires Culturelles, Centre d'Etudes Africaines) of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes. In 1965 it was joined with the Service d'Echange d'Informations Scientifiques of the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, while retaining its organizational affiliations with the Centre d'Etudes Africaines.

We propose to present here the work accomplished at CARDAN since its founding, to define the tasks which it is proposed to accomplish in the years to come, and to inform researchers of the services which the Center can offer. We shall present successively the balance sheet of past years and the future program of CARDAN.

The American University offers courses in the study of Africa among different disciplines and also Africa area studies on an interdisciplinary basis.

It is recognized that there is a need for people who have a specialized discipline in one aspect of Africa, such as anthropology, linguistics, history, economics, or political science. There is also a need for a “general practitioner” (interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary) approach. Students are given the opportunity to pursue either procedure, or a combination of these procedures.

A student may study for an M.A. in African area studies, or for an M.A. or Ph.D. in international relations, government and public administration, business administration, or in one of the other disciplines in The American University, with an emphasis on Africa. A student may also study for an M.I.S. (Master of International Service), with an emphasis on Africa.

The larger proportion of the graduate students in African studies have already had some professional experience in Africa and come here for either strengthening special needs or for more general breadth for their future work related to Africa. The American University provides an opportunity for a flexible program to meet particular needs as well as general interests of students.

The African Studies Program at The American University in Washington, D.C. has the special advantages of close association with African embassies, U.S. government departments, and the United Nations, in addition to research facilities of the Library of Congress. Students here also have the opportunity for contact with scholars who are specializing in other ares of the world which are having increasing relationships with Africa - - including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

An NDEA Summer Lanuage and Area Program will be offered during the eight-week summer session, June 26-August 18, 1967, on the UCLA campus. Languages to be offered are: Swahili, Afrikaans, Hausa, and Fulani. Area courses will be offered in anthropology, English, geography, history, law, and political science. The program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing a combined area and language program.

Applications for admission should be directed to the Summer Sessions Office, UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024. Fellowships (NDFL Summer Awards) are available through the Office of Education in Washington, D.C.

The African Language and Area Center of Duquesne University, in cooperation with the African Language and Area Centers of Columbia, Howard, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio, and Wisconsin universities, is sponsoring an eight-week Intensive Summer Language Program in six African languages which is supported by matching funds provided by the U.S. Office of Education under the National Defense Education Act. The Reverend Joseph L. Varga, C.S.Sp., professor of Swahili at Duquesne University, will assume overall responsibility for language instruction; and the whole Intensive Summer Program will be under the direction of Dr. Geza Grosschmid, director of the African Language and Area Center, Duquesne University.

Courses: Intensive elementary courses are offered in Hausa, Ibo, Lingala, Mende, Swahili, and Yoruba. Intensive intermediate or advanced conversation courses are offered of the same, and enrollment will determine their instruction. Each intensive elementary and intermediate course (12 credits) is five hours a day, including lab, Monday through Friday. The advanced conversation course (4 credits) is one and one half hours a day, Monday through Friday.

In preparation for the enclosed report, each Fellow of the African Studies Association was sent a copy of the guidelines with a request for his or her suggestions. Over 50 individual replies representing major fields of the social sciences, humanities, and natural sciences were received, along with a number of responses from librarians, and from Africanists in small and/or isolated colleges.

A special appeal was also made to all major Programs of African Studies to discuss the issues raised by the report and was followed with a draft report covering all the major points raised in the outline. This draft report was discussed in detail with the faculty and a selected group of advanced graduate students in the Program of African Studies at Northwestern University and subsequently formed the basis for a meeting in Evanston of directors of major Programs of African Studies. Directors or their representatives from nine of these centers - - UCLA, Wisconsin, Chicago, Indiana, Michigan State University, Boston University, Howard, Syracuse, and the University of Florida -- attended the meeting, which proved to be extremely helpful. Previousy, the draft report was also discussed with representatives from Berkeley and from the Connecticut Valley.

The report reflects what proved to be a very wide measure of consensus about the present status and the particular needs of African Studies. It is sincerely hoped that the International Education Act will enable gains to date to be consolidated and progress to be made in the ways identified in the report.