In the early years of decolonization, following North African, Sudanese, and Ghanaian independence, the new African governments seemed to have an encouraging stability and set off on democratic and constitutional paths which gave evidence of promising well for the future. The turmoil which developed in the Congo immediately after independence stood out in contrast to the relative solidity of other states and found its explanation primarily in the shortcomings of the kind of rule which Belgium had imposed. Elsewhere the nationalist leaders who had led the struggle for freedom from alien domination continued in power and enhanced the sense that the new Africa was making headway.

More recently, things fall apart. Mutinies, assassinations, coups and attempted coups, and military takeovers have shaken confidence in Africa's ability to make speedy and consistent progress toward the goal it has set itself. It seemed at first as if the transition from colonialism to independence, from older worlds to modernity, might be an easier process than was feared by the pessimists, among whom, on the whole, I would number myself. Where does one have to look to find the reasons for the interruptions in the advance, or at all events for the change in direction, of so many African states? A fruitful field of inquiry, I am sure, is an examination of some of the problems confronting the new governments which were the successors to the colonial regimes in Africa, and the conditions under which they entered the world and must carry on their business. If I may give away my theme at the start, it would be essentially that governments have in a variety of ways been overloaded and unable to carry the burdens which they have assumed and which they have had thrust upon them.

This report covers the teaching of African languages in American universities and by the United States Government since September, 1961. It is based on 100 percent response to a questionnaire circulated in the spring of 1966. Data are for languages actually taken for credit, not for those that were offered but did not materialize, or that were taken on an informal basis.

The principal facts about university programs are summarized in the accompanying graph. The number of student-semester-hours is shown as a solid line, the number of schools as a broken line, and the number of different languages as a dotted line.

The most obvious trend is, of course, rapid growth. The number of schools that teach African languages and the number of languages taught have more than doubled in five years, and the number of student-semester-hours has increased nearly sevenfold. Another major trend is toward maturity. The ratio of languages to schools has remained nearly constant at about 1.4, while the number of student-semester-hours per language has risen from 57 in 1961 to 172 in 1965. The increase in number of schools and number of languages seems to be leveling off, but the number of student-semester-hours is rising at an increasing rate.

The following documents are part of a collection of ephemeral materials published by nationalist movements of Portuguese Africa. During the past five years I have been gathering these materials in order to have them microfilmed and placed on deposit in the library of the Hoover Institution on War, Peace, and Revolution, Stanford University, where they will be available for use by interested scholars. A related objective is to translate to English the most important of these documents, edit them, and add relevant notes along with a full bibliography on each Portuguese African territory; this project is nearing completion and should be published in book form in 1967. I am grateful to the many African specialists who have assisted me on the documents collection, and it is my hope that other specialists who have documents not included in the listings below will send me photocopies or duplicates, for which I can pay expenses incurred.

This conference was held at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, December 8 to 10, 1966, under the cochairmanship of Professor Frank Willett (Northwestern University) and Dr. Brian M. Fagan (University of Illinois). Thirteen persons in some way associated with Iron Age archaeology were official participants, and there were six observers who also contributed to the discussions. The names of these participants are listed at the end of this article. Their primary concern was with the archaeology of Africa since the origins of food production, with special reference to the Iron Age.

As a guideline the participants were given brief reports on four recent conferences which had touched on the problems of African Iron Age archaeology. Terminology and research needs, primarily for the Stone Age, were topics at the Wenner Gren Symposium on the African Quaternary held at Burg Wartenstein, Austria, in July, 1965. The results of this symposium were reviewed at the meeting of West African archaeologists in Sierra Leone during June, 1966. This meeting also expressed concern at the shortage of manpower and resources in West African archaeology, especially in the French-speaking territories, and training facilities and other terminological problems were also discussed. The difficulties of communication and training, especially in related disciplines, were discussed by a group attending an ARC meeting on the African Arts in March, 1966.

The growth of the study of the history of Africa south of the Sahara is an interesting example of contemporary intellectual developments. Until the mid-1950's African history was ignored by the historical profession in the United States even more completely than in Europe; and if an American historian had paused to consider why this was so, he would probably have anticipated Trevor-Roper's well-known verdict that the history of sub-Saharan Africa is undiscoverable (on the ground that it is not documented) and that, even if it were discoverable, it would be devoid of intellectual significance (on the ground that traditional African societies were barbarous and static). No professor with tenure at an American university was designated as a historian of sub-Saharan Africa; American publishers had produced very few books or articles dealing with African history, and Americans generally knew scarcely anything about it.

There were, however, several pioneer activities which were on the periphery of African history. At Howard University there were long-established courses on Negro history, inspired by W. E. B. DuBois and Carter Woodson, which included some West African material, but the American historical establishment paid little attention to this work. William L. Hansberry, who lectured on precolonial African history for some years, was never given tenure by the Howard authorities and was eventually excluded from the faculty. At Northwestern University, Melville Herskovits founded a program of African Studies in 1947. He invited historians to attend the seminars conducted under the program, and he himself published a book on the kingdom of Dahomey and was interested in questions of change as well as structure in African societies. Nevertheless, Herskovits was by training and status an anthropologist, and the history department at Northwestern did not provide lecture courses or seminars on African history before 1958.

The Research Liaison Committee was established under the auspices of the African Studies Association. It is supported by a Ford Foundation grant following the Ford-sponsored ASA exploratory mission to Africa. This mission examined opportunities for new ways in which to increase cooperation between U.S. scholars concerned with Africa and individuals and academic institutions based in Africa.

Scholars from the United States constitute the largest single national group engaged in African research. In the past the responsibility for establishing friendly relations with our colleagues in Africa has been assumed by the individual scholar. However, it becomes increasingly apparent that cooperation with Africanists in Africa itself will be of the greatest importance to future research, and that the Association can play a useful liaison role in establishing this cooperation.

To facilitate communication, the Research Liaison Committee is collecting information and identifying sources of information for scholars and students proposing research in African Studies. The Committee has established an office in New York at the same address as the Association's offices and under the direction of William O. Brown, with Shirley K. Fischer as Administrative Secretary. Its objectives are first, to develop and strengthen relations among scholars concerned with Africa; and second, to maintain liaison with research institutions in Africa through visits to Africa by members of the Committee.

The American University offers courses in the study of Africa among different disciplines and also Africa area studies on an interdisciplinary basis.

It is recognized that there is a need for people who have a specialized discipline in one aspect of Africa, such as anthropology, linguistics, history, economics, or political science. There is also a need for a “general practitioner” (interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary) approach. Students are given the opportunity to pursue either procedure, or a combination of these procedures.

A student may study for an M.A. in African area studies, or for an M.A. or Ph.D. in international relations, government and public administration, business administration, or in one of the other disciplines in The American University, with an emphasis on Africa. A student may also study for an M.I.S. (Master of International Service), with an emphasis on Africa.

The larger proportion of the graduate students in African studies have already had some professional experience in Africa and come here for either strengthening special needs or for more general breadth for their future work related to Africa. The American University provides an opportunity for a flexible program to meet particular needs as well as general interests of students.

The African Studies Program at The American University in Washington, D.C. has the special advantages of close association with African embassies, U.S. government departments, and the United Nations, in addition to research facilities of the Library of Congress. Students here also have the opportunity for contact with scholars who are specializing in other ares of the world which are having increasing relationships with Africa - - including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.

An NDEA Summer Lanuage and Area Program will be offered during the eight-week summer session, June 26-August 18, 1967, on the UCLA campus. Languages to be offered are: Swahili, Afrikaans, Hausa, and Fulani. Area courses will be offered in anthropology, English, geography, history, law, and political science. The program is open to all undergraduate and graduate students interested in pursuing a combined area and language program.

Applications for admission should be directed to the Summer Sessions Office, UCLA, Los Angeles, Calif. 90024. Fellowships (NDFL Summer Awards) are available through the Office of Education in Washington, D.C.

The African Language and Area Center of Duquesne University, in cooperation with the African Language and Area Centers of Columbia, Howard, Indiana, Michigan State, Northwestern, Ohio, and Wisconsin universities, is sponsoring an eight-week Intensive Summer Language Program in six African languages which is supported by matching funds provided by the U.S. Office of Education under the National Defense Education Act. The Reverend Joseph L. Varga, C.S.Sp., professor of Swahili at Duquesne University, will assume overall responsibility for language instruction; and the whole Intensive Summer Program will be under the direction of Dr. Geza Grosschmid, director of the African Language and Area Center, Duquesne University.

Courses: Intensive elementary courses are offered in Hausa, Ibo, Lingala, Mende, Swahili, and Yoruba. Intensive intermediate or advanced conversation courses are offered of the same, and enrollment will determine their instruction. Each intensive elementary and intermediate course (12 credits) is five hours a day, including lab, Monday through Friday. The advanced conversation course (4 credits) is one and one half hours a day, Monday through Friday.