African Studies Lecture

Lecture 1

This course consists of quite a bit of reading--some of which is rather challenging. The course lectures are designed as an accompaniment to these readings, giving you a better idea of the points on which to focus. This first lecture is designed to accompany the first three readings: Chapter 1 in the text and the E-Reserves articles by Clarke and Alford.

African Studies & the State of the Art

Azevedo, Chapter 1

Introduction

Under the Introduction to Chapter 1, Azevedo mentions various institutions around the world that offer African Studies in some form. It also states that there are at least 52 recognized African Studies departments and programs worldwide, and 12 African Studies Centers in the United States. One of the institutions mentioned is my former school. The University of Wisconsin at Madison houses the Department of African Languages & Literature, and it was through that department that I received my training and through which I also had the opportunity to spend some time in Tanzania, East Africa. A significant concluding statement of this Introduction is that though African Studies has been legitimized as an academic field for quite some time that it still faces obstacles. Please note these, even if the full meaning of some may be unclear. This section ends with terms and concepts, which you will come across in the chapter. I would say to take particular note of "Eurocentric vs. Afrocentric perspective," since this is something that plays a prominent role in discussions of both African Studies and African American Studies.

Definition of Historical Evolution of African Studies

The main thing to note in this section from the outset is that African Studies is defined as a field, rather than a discipline, though I must admit that you will sometimes see things like, "the discipline of African Studies" or "the discipline of African American Studies." Please note the full definition given of both "African Studies" and a "discipline," though both are quite lengthy. It is also important to recognize that African Studies is an interdisciplinary field comprised by several major subjects, since the majority of this chapter is discussing those disciplines in their relation to African Studies.

Note in this section what Azevedo says about the difficulty of relying on conclusions drawn about African Studies because of "hidden motives," and think about what that might mean. In addition, take particular note of the following statements:

 Prior to the 1950's, Africa was not the subject of a systematic focus of any traditional discipline, although some historians and anthropologists had taken the initial steps in that direction.

 For