The African Studies Program (ASP) is committed to sustaining an environment that is welcoming and supportive of every individual, so that they may pursue their intellectual pursuits and academic, professional, and personal goals without barriers. We embrace diverseness in all its aspects. ASP values varied perspectives and the ways in which it enriches our scholarly engagement with each other and the broader world.
ASP is committed to the promotion of varied perspectives and encouraging debate on international affairs. This commitment is at the heart of IU and reinforced by our visionary former President Herman B Wells, who aspired to “bring the world to Indiana and Indiana to the world” and spurred the founding of IU’s area studies programs [studies of world regions] in the 1950s to promote language acquisition and area studies understanding. IU further embraced Wells’ vision by creating the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (HLS) in which the African Studies Program resides. It is reflective of IU’s commitment to the study of the cultures, languages, and societies that shape the world. Our ethos is to celebrate differences and seek mutual understanding.
The ASP and HLS hire intellectually curious faculty who come from a broad swath of social backgrounds and adopt a wide range of conceptual orientations to understand Africa and the world. We promote the discussion of varied perspectives, including worldviews from abroad and the range of perspectives in American academy and politics, in our curriculum, and our National Resource Center programming. HLS and the ASP embrace academic freedom in all our activities, and we seek multiple viewpoints on world affairs because we are aware of the limitations of settled thinking.
The ASP’s faculty-student working groups reflect our commitment to seeking broad perspectives. The academic programming associated with our five working groups (Muslim Africa, Displaced Africans, Global Visual Cultures/New Media in Africa, IU Congo Working Group, and O’Meara Southern Africa Working Group) engage contemporary issues with scholars from Africa and elsewhere at the IU Global Gateways as well as at IU. The ASP’s interdisciplinary graduate seminars and special topics lectures bring visiting scholars from various backgrounds to IU to present and debate their perspectives on vital issues. We expand our reach through interactive virtual programs, inviting experts and students to participate from countries across the world.
We recognize that international travel is a powerful way to expose individuals to a multiplicity of perspectives and experiences. ASP thus works with IU entities to make international travel accessible to IU students as well as our Minority-Serving (MSI) and Community College (CC) partners (through unique training programs in Senegal for example). We recognize the unequal historical and contemporary access to study abroad programs among populations of students and are working to address these. We value IU’s efforts for example, to provide scholarships to underrepresented students to participate in study abroad in Africa. We are working with the IU Global Gateway for Teachers to open study-abroad opportunities to students at our MCI/CC partner institutions with Education tracks. International acquisition trips allow the ASP librarian to collect materials published in Africa that often are not in U.S. repositories, which addresses issues of access to – and legitimization of- African scholarship on the continent.
ASP further strives to have our faculty, staff and associate instructors reflect the breadth of the population of the United States. We want our students to see themselves reflected in African Studies, to know there are individuals who understand their perspectives and who can be mentors. Ninety percent of ASP’s core faculty and 69% of our affiliated faculty are from underrepresented groups.
The African Studies Program welcomes your feedback on our efforts, as we continually seek to improve how we address issues of access and belonging. Welcome to IU African Studies!