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

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

Africa\u27s Contemporary Global Migrations: Patterns, Perils, and Possibilities

The literature on international migration is dominated by economic and political perspectives. This paper begins with the culturalist readings to remind ourselves that there is more to international migration than the search for greener pastures or flight from political terror. It is about the movement of human beings, a story that is as old as humanity itself, going back to the great migrations within and out of Africa to populate the planet. But those who advance the culturalist perspectives also need to be reminded that in our contemporary world more often than not people migrate to sell their labor power and that the patterns of migration, labor procurement and utilization are conditioned by the dynamics of capitalist development, expansion, and accumulation. This is an argument for interdisciplinarity, the need for multiple perspectives on the exceedingly complex phenomenon of international migration

Mandela’s long walk with African history – Part 1

From reviled terrorist to venerated hero, Paul Tiyambe Zeleza examines Nelson Mandela, both man and myth. This is the first of three posts in which the historian posits South Africa’s founding father alongside some of the major events of the 20th century

Engagements between African Diaspora Academics in the U.S. and Canada and African Institutions of Higher Education: Perspectives from North America and Africa

This report summarizes the findings from two previous projects, Engagements between African Diaspora Academics in the U.S. and Canada and African Institutions of Higher Education, and The African Dimension of Engagements between African Diaspora Academic in the U.S. and Canada and African Institutions of Higher Education. It assesses their policy implications for universities in Canada and the United States on the one hand, and in Southern, East, and West Africa on the other, as well as on donor agencies. It offers concrete proposals on how more effective strategies for engagement between African diaspora academics in Canada and the United States and African institutions of higher education might be established in the areas of faculty and student exchanges, scholarly and curricula collaborations, and the policy and institutional changes that can sustain them.

Ciencia y tecnología para el desarrollo humano y social en África

África lleva mucho tiempo tratando de resolver el problema del desarrollo humano y social. La conciencia y la reocupación respecto a sus niveles relativos de desarrollo económico, tecnológico y social se han acrecentado desde el trágico encuentro que tuvo el continente con una Europa cada vez más imperialista e industrializada en el siglo XV. Este encuentro hizo que la modernidad y la modernización se convirtieran en asuntos apremiantes a nivel práctico e intelectual. Desde mediados del siglo XIX, los intelectuales africanos se han enfrascado en cuestiones como la «regeneración africana» y el «renacimiento africano». El desarrollo y la modernización de África se han planteado de forma que las sociedades continentales reciban las herramientas científicas y tecnológicas necesarias para mejorar la condición humana, aumentar el desarrollo social y dotar a África de una prominencia y una paridad globales (Zeleza et al., 2003).Peer Reviewe

Vice Chancellor's New Year Message

A New Year's message by the Vice Chancellor of USIU-Africa, Prof. Paul ZelezaDear USIU-Africa Community, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all back for the 2017 Spring Semester! Join me also in welcoming our freshmen and graduate students who are joining us this semester, as we offer them all the necessary support they require to begin their academic journey here. I did report in my end of year message, what an extraordinary year 2016 was, in which we welcomed thousands of new members to our community, launched major new initiatives and programs and continued on our remarkable journey as Kenya's oldest and most innovative private university, and as the region's only dually-accredited institution, whose ambition is to offer a global perspective as a premier institution of academic excellence