U.S. African studies in the shadow of politics

Abstract

The Year 2010 marked the passage of 50 years since the Year of Africa in 1960. For the world, and especially for Africans, 2010 became the year of soccer, the year of the Cup. For Africanists in the United States, located mostly at Universities, the celebration of half-a century of African independence was clouded by concerns about the state and future development of African studies teaching and Africa research. Since 2008, the economic downturn resulted in reduced funding for academic programs in university Area Studies and foreign-language scholarship support. At the same time, the creation of AFRICOM (United States Africa Command) and emergence of the “whole-government” integrated U.S. operations policy toward Africa presented new quandaries to U.S. Africanist scholars and their professional organizations. This paper provides a brief overview of the field of African studies in the United States over decades of development in a complex intellectual environment conditioned by domestic and international political affairs.