Using Elements of Popular Culture to Teach Africa’s International Relations

Abstract

In this article, the author reflects on how she and her students were able to draw on elements of popular culture to develop their understanding of Africa's international relations. The article shows, in particular, how the use of popular culture material has, as the relevant pedagogical literature suggests, strengthened student engagement and deepened their learning experience, notably by offering them greater freedom in their analysis and interpretation of the ideas and issues studied in class. Most importantly, the use of popular culture has helped them consider the very wide range of voices and views on Africa, its politics and international relations, but also apprehend popular culture as a political arena -one where political images and ideas are shaped that durably inform and influence international relations and politics.

Enseñanza de Relaciones Internacionales: reflexiones sobre una experiencia con series de ficción en Argentina

“…El punto en común en estas dos corrientes de la literatura que investigan el vínculo entre cultura popular y política internacional es el entendimiento de que los artefactos de cultura popular son artefactos políticos, y no meramente para entretenimiento (Gibert, 2016;Grayson et al, 2009;Power y Crampton, 2005). En parte, esto explica el interés de varios profesores de Ciencias Políticas y Relaciones Internacionales de incorporar estos artefactos en sus clases como material pedagógico complementario.…”

“…El uso de películas y documentales como material complementario a las lecturas académicas se ha vuelto una práctica extendida en la enseñanza de cursos de Introducción a las Relaciones Internacionales en distintas universidades del mundo (Brandle, 2020;Gibert, 2016;Simpson y Kaussler, 2009;Swimelar, 2013;Valeriano, 2013;Weber, 2001). Sin embargo, hay pocas investigaciones que hayan explorado el uso de series de ficción en estos cursos introductorios (Boaz, 2020;Holland, 2015).…”

Pedagogical Utility of Science Fiction & The Neither Impossible nor Possible Universe of The Expanse

“…While acknowledging the risks outlined by Hannah and Wilkinson (2014) on an uncritical use of zombieism in IR, 1 as the authors themselves note, the move to incorporate an element of popular culture into IR pedagogy has been generally positive. Judging by the steady list of texts on the subject (Weber 2001;Engert and Spencer 2009;Morrissette 2014;Sachleben 2014;Gibert 2015;Clapton and Shepherd 2016;Turzi 2022) the sentiment is not an unpopular one. Yet, this critical mass has also fed the dissatisfaction with the unilateral or compartmentalized approach of utilizing popular culture to simply illustrate motifs of international politics.…”

Using popular culture to make sense of the 2011 antiauthoritarian popular revolts in the MENA region: Theory and practice of the use of graphic novels and comics in classrooms

“…The first was to introduce the students directly to the proposed material. The idea is to allow students to put together their own analysis and to share their conclusions in the classroom (Gibert, 2016). This can be defined as a type of inductive collaborative learning activity.…”