Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T06:10:24.536Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teaching About Africa South of the Sahara in American Secondary Schools -- A Survey and a Challenge*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

Barry K. Beyer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The study of Africa south of the Sahara in American secondary schools has traditionally been most conspicuous by its absence. In fact, the secondary-school social studies curriculum, oriented as it has always been to the study of western civilization, has rarely allowed for the study of any nonwestern region or culture, least of all that of the “Dark Continent.” Now, however, this situation is changing, and changing rapidly. Considerable efforts are being made today to introduce the study of the Non-West into the curricula of many secondary schools. And, for a variety of reasons, an increasing number of schools are making special efforts to include Africa south of the Sahara in this study.

These efforts, however, are proving a difficult, if not insurmountable, challenge for most teachers and curriculum builders. Few, indeed, are the social studies teachers and supervisors with the academic training or extended living experience in the lands below the Sahara required to provide the insights upon which a worthwhile study of this region can be structured. Most schools do not have ready access to the advice of Africaniste on this subject. Even worthwhile printed guidelines for designing a study of this region are sorely lacking; with the exception of Leonard Kenworthy's Studying Africa in Elementary and Secondary Schools (10), there is not a single book, pamphlet, handbook, or curriculum guide to which teachers may profitably turn for help.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , April 1968 , pp. 18 - 27
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

The author is director of Project Africa, A Social Studies Curriculum Development Project at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The research reported herein and in the following article was performed pursuant to a contract with the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Office of Education.

References

Selected Bibliography

1. Beckmann, George M., “Curricular Methods of Introducing Foreign Area Studies,” Educational Record, Spring 1966, pp. 275–283.Google Scholar
2. Brown, Giles T., “What Americans Must Learn About Africa,” Overview, 11 1961, pp. 44–45.Google Scholar
3. Caldwell, Oliver J., “Africa and American Education,” American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Yearbook, 1961, pp. 75–82.Google Scholar
4. Cartwright, Marguerite, “The Africa Unit,” The Social Studies, 11 1953, pp. 264–268.Google Scholar
5. Eldredge, David S. and Moore, Clark, “An Approach to Afro-Asian Studies,” Educational Leadership, 05 1962, pp. 501-503, 522.Google Scholar
6. Hadsel, Fred L., “The United States and Africa,” Social Education, 03 1960, pp. 112-114, 116.Google Scholar
7. Harris, Joseph E., “Bring in Africa,” The New England Social Studies Bulletin, Fall 1965, pp. 19–21.Google Scholar
8. Haynes, George E., “Americans Look at Africa,” The Journal of Negro Education, pp. 94–100.Google Scholar
9. Jones, Wendell P., “What Teachers Should Know About Emerging Africa,” NEA Journal, 05 1963, pp. 38–41.Google Scholar
10. Kenworthy, Leonard S., Studying Africa in Elementary and Secondary Schools. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1965 (Second Edition).Google Scholar
11. King, James W., “Africa,” in Morris, John, ed., The Teaching of Geography. Waltham: Blaisdell Publishing Company, 1968.Google Scholar
12. Leinwand, Gerald, The Pageant of World History. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, Inc., 1966. pp. 557–561.Google Scholar
13. Long, Harold M. and King, Robert N., Improving the Teaching of World Affairs. Washington, D.C.: National Council for the Social Studies, Bulletin no. 35, 1964.Google Scholar
14. McAree, James, “A Select Bibliography of Paperback Books on Africa for Secondary School Use,” The Social Studies, 12 1966, pp. 304–307.Google Scholar
15. Mehlinger, Howard, “Area Studies and the Secondary Schools,” Educational Record, Spring 1966, pp. 244–252.Google Scholar
16. Miller, Stanley N., “The World Cultures Course,” Social Education, 02 1962, pp. 69–70.Google Scholar
17. Povey, John, “Education Through the Eyes of African Writers,” Educational Forum, 11 1966, pp. 95–102.Google Scholar
18. Schultz, Charles B., Focus on World Cultures. Harrisburg: Dept. of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 1966.Google Scholar
19. Snyder, C. Kenneth, “The Role and Importance of Africa South of the Sahara: A Challenge to American Education,” High School Journal, 11 1963, pp. 46–59.Google Scholar
20. Spector, Stanley, “The Coordination of High School and Undergraduate Studies in Non-Western Languages and Cultures,” Educational Record, Spring 1966, pp. 253–262.Google Scholar
21. “Teaching About World Affairs,” Bulletin of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Washington, D.C.: National Education Association, Bulletin no. 315, 01 1967.Google Scholar
22. Trow, William Clark, “An Area-Study Social Studies Curriculum,” Social Education, 03 1965, pp. 142–146.Google Scholar
23. Tsitsiwu, W. L., “Suggestions for Teaching About Africa,” Social Education, 03 1960, pp. 115–116.Google Scholar
24. Wilson, Gilbert, “Teaching About Africa in the Elementary School,” Journal of Education, Boston University School of Education, 10 1961, pp. 5–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar