Building intellectual bridges: from African studies and African American studies to Africana studies in the United States

Abstract

The study of Africa and its peoples in the United States has a complex history. It has involved the study of both an external and internal other, of social realities in Africa and the condition of people• of African descent in the United States. This paper traces and examines the complex intellectual, institutional, and ideological histories and intersections of African studies and African American studies. It argues that the two fields were founded by African American scholar activists as part of a Pan-African project before their divergence in the historically white universities after World War II in the maelstrom of decolonization in Africa and civil rights struggles in the United States. However, from the late 1980s and 1990s, the two fields began to converge, a process captured in the development of what has been called Africana studies. The factors behind this are attributed to both demographic shifts in American society and the academy including increased African migrations in general and of African academics in particular fleeing structural adjustment programs that devastated African universities, as well as the emergence of new scholarly paradigms especially the field of diaspora studies. The paper concludes with an examination of the likely impact of the Obama era on Africana studies.

South Africa’s Curriculum Transformation: Insights from Post-Independence Africa and Post-Civil Rights Movement in the United States

“…However, these students and academics were shocked by the racism they experienced in these institutions. This led to the embrace of Pan-Africanism and calls for curriculum transformation, relevance, and social justice (Zeleza 2011). However, some of these African scholars were insensitive to the racism in US academia as they internalised the stereotypes of African-Americans, thereby becoming accomplices of European Americans, a relationship that resulted in some African academics enjoying a preferential treatment in recruitment and promotion (Zeleza 1997).…”

“…Western scholars did not consider Africa as a continent worthy of academic inquiry during this period. African-American scholars exposed the economic and epistemic violence perpetuated by American racism and revealed African-Americans' remarkable contributions to the development of the US (Zeleza 2011). While African studies -dominated by European Americans -engaged Africa from the perspective of modernisation and development, African-American studies -dominated by African-Americans -explored the continent from the lens of the ancient past and Africa's connection with the diaspora (Zeleza 1997).…”

“…While African studies -dominated by European Americans -engaged Africa from the perspective of modernisation and development, African-American studies -dominated by African-Americans -explored the continent from the lens of the ancient past and Africa's connection with the diaspora (Zeleza 1997). African-American studies emerged in the US as a Pan-African project and focused on decolonisation in Africa and civil rights struggles in America in the post-World War II era (Zeleza 2011). It is against the backdrop of the gains of the civil rights movement that African-American studies was imposed on many higher institutions in the US and was widely perceived as 'the child of an illicit relationship between social struggle and the conventional disciplines' (Hanchard 2004: 140).…”

“…Its main proponents were scholars such as Edward Blyden from the Caribbean and African-American W.E.B Du Bois, who challenged Eurocentrism, colonialism, and racism in Africa and the US. They noted the centrality of Pan-Africanism to liberate Africa and the US from colonial and racial oppression, respectively (Zeleza 2011). Two important schools emerged, namely, the Atlanta School of Sociology championed by individuals such as Du Bois and Richard Wright, and the Howard School of International Affairs with prominent scholars such as Ralph Bunche and Merze Tate.…”