African studies is the study of Africa, especially the cultures and societies of Africa (as opposed to geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of the culture of Africa, history of Africa (Pre-colonial, colonisation of Africa, decolonization of Africa), anthropology of Africa (ethnic groups in Africa, demographics of Africa), politics of Africa, economy of Africa (poverty in Africa), languages of Africa, and religion in Africa (African traditional religion). A specialist in African studies is often referred to as an "Africanist". A key focus of the discipline is to interrogate epistemological approaches, theories and methods in traditional disciplines using a critical lens that inserts African-centred ways of knowing and references. Typically, study of African studies focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, since North Africa is considered by some to be part of the Arab world. This however, is a matter of contention within the discipline itself and debates concerning identity are central to the thrust of its interdisciplinary paradigm.
Read more about African Studies: Notable Africanists, African Studies Centers, Associations, and Major Projects, Degree Programs, Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words african and/or studies:
“I never feel so conscious of my race as I do when I stand before a class of twenty-five young men and women eager to learn about what it is to be black in America.”
—Claire Oberon Garcia, African American college professor. As quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education, p. B3 (July 27, 1994)
“His life itself passes deeper in nature than the studies of the naturalist penetrate; himself a subject for the naturalist. The latter raises the moss and bark gently with his knife in search of insects; the former lays open logs to their core with his axe, and moss and bark fly far and wide. He gets his living by barking trees. Such a man has some right to fish, and I love to see nature carried out in him.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)