Out of Africa and into Carleton

Carleton University is launching a new Institute and academic programs in African Studies.

“Both projects are a marvel in interdisciplinary co-operation which is one of the things that Carleton does best,” says Blair Rutherford, director of the Institute. Forty-four faculty members from five faculties and 19 departments sit on the African Studies committee that determined the need for both initiatives.

The Institute of African Studies and programs fall under two faculties, Public Affairs and Arts and Social Sciences. “This is a true reflection of our ability to collaborate between faculties to create innovative interdisciplinary programs that meet the needs and interests of our students,” says Katherine Graham, dean of the Faculty of Public Affairs.

The Institute will oversee two new academic programs, organize conferences and other events, and network with government, NGOs, embassies and high commissions and the community. It will also promote new research initiatives.

“We created the new academic programs in response to a high demand from the community to learn more about this fascinating continent that is not only the birthplace of humanity but is perhaps the most culturally and geographically diverse continent on earth,” says Dr. Rutherford.

Carleton has been the home of African studies in Canada for almost half a century. Over the years, a vibrant group of Africa enthusiasts at the university promoted events, initiatives, and individual courses concerning Africa. Exchange programs for African students began almost 30 years ago, along with different academic courses. In 2006, professor Allan Thompson created the Rwanda Initiative, a partnership between Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication and its counterpart at the National University of Rwanda. The project has sent several journalists to teach in Rwanda and welcomes Rwandan journalists to study at Carleton. Carleton established a special scholarship for deserving African students to honour the legacy of former university president Richard Van Loon. Political science professor Daniel Osabu-kle and his wife donated land and personal funds to create a small school in Teshie, Ghana, to help low-income children receive a good education.

“So it seemed only natural to take the next step and create an Institute and new combined honours and minor programs in African Studies,” says Dr. Rutherford.

The new interdisciplinary program in African Studies will offer students a window into the history, geography, cultures, cinema and economics of Africa and explores critical issues the continent is facing such as poverty, political leadership, HIV/AIDS, war and unequal trading relationships with wealthy countries.

Students can pursue a minor in African Studies or a combined honours program that allows them to combine African Studies with any major within the Bachelor of Arts. Students in the combined honours program will have access to a work placement, a mentorship program and the chance to study in Africa at one of the three African universities with which Carleton has exchange agreements with University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), University of Ghana and the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

“We wanted our students to get an opportunity to have real-life experience outside the classroom,” says Dr. Rutherford.

The courses will be taught by professors from multiple disciplines who have substantial, real-world experience in the field. They include:

• NGOs and civil society as agents of development: Lessons from sub-saharan Africa Amos Mhina, visiting scholar from the University of Dar es Salaam)
• The invention of ‘race,’ the history of racism (Audra Diptee)
• Studies in race and ethnicity (Amina Mire)
• African drumming and listening (Kathy Armstrong)
• African literature (Pius Adesanmi)
• African women and colonialism (Susanne Klausen)
• Politics of development in Africa (Daniel Osabu-kle)
• Politics of war in Africa (Chris Brown)
• Southern Africa after apartheid (Linda Freeman)
• The politics of international refugees (James Milner)
• Advanced studies in contemporary sub-saharan Africa (Louise de la Gorgendière)
• La résistance dans le roman caribéen (Christine Duff)
• Southern Africa (John Tunbridge)

For more information about the background of these faculty members and other members of the African Studies committee, please visit http://www.carleton.ca/africanstudies/

In preparation of the new Institute, the African Studies Committee created a monthly African Studies Brownbag Lunch Series to promote discussion of current research and initiatives in Africa. The meetings are held Thursdays from 1:10 p.m. to 2:20 p.m. in Room 433 Paterson Hall. Some of the future talks include:

• January 15 – Susanne Klausen (History) – Reclaiming the White Daughter’s Purity: Racism, Heteropatriarchy and the 1975 Abortion and Sterilization Act in Apartheid South Africa
• February 12 – Louise de la Gorgendiere (Sociology & Anthropology) – Ghanaians in Canada – Canada in Ghanaians: An ethnographic analysis
• March 19 – Allan Thompson (Journalism) – Notes on the Rwandan Initiative