Local/Global Linkages and the Future of African Studies
1997; Indiana University Press; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1527-1978
Autores Tópico(s)African cultural and philosophical studies
ResumoDebates about the future of African Studies seem to have little to do with the past as I know or have come to understand it. What I discern is a profusion of arguments linked to differing standpoints and designed to privilege new hierarchies of access to resources. Virtually all the prevailing reconstructions of African Studies begin with the Cold War and focus on the legacies of governmentand foundation-funded Area Studies programs. Curiously, such accounts generally omit any reference to the long tradition of African Studies at historically black colleges and universities, only rarely give a nod to African American professional and lay scholars of Africa, and seldom acknowledge the existence of epistemic communities based in Africa. As an African American woman who entered graduate school in political science committed to making a career of intellectual involvement with Africa, I find it hard to connect with these debates. For as long as I can remember, I have thought about Africa in comparative perspective and have been interested in methodologies and theories that illuminate the complex interactions of local, national, and global dimensions of African political, economic, and cultural life. More to the point, I have benefited greatly from the labor of many other scholars of Africa who have contributed to a richly textured and nuanced body of work that constitutes my notion of African Studies. Therefore, instead of debating straw men, I prefer to focus on a few concrete examples taken from my recent personal experiences. Chinua Achebe tells us that the best way to be universal is to be local. The convergence between the logic of this insight and the structure of the undergraduate International Relations major at my university is striking. Tufts' Program in International Relations is firmly rooted in the local-level complexities of society, culture, religion, and identity. The multidisciplinary curriculum illuminates societies from the ground up. At the same time, the global dimensions of world politics, international history, regional studies, and environmental concerns claim center stage. Increasing numbers of our students are exploring international relations through literature, philosophy, and the arts. By emphasizing foreign lan-
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