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Africa in US Educational Materials: Thirty Problems and Responses

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Africa in US Educational Materials: Thirty Problems and Responses DOCUMENT RESUME ED 142 449 SO 009 962 AUTHOR Hall, Susan J. TITLE Africa in U.S. Educational Materials: Thirty Problems and Responses. INSTITUTION African-American Inst., New.York, N.Y. School Services Div. PUB DATE Jan 77 NOTE 65p. AVAILABLE FROM African-American Institute, 833 United Nations Plaza, New York, New York 10017 ($3.00 paper cover) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.83 Plus Postage. HC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *African Culture; *African History; African Literature; Area Studies; Bias; Bibliographic Citations; Case Studies; Cultural Awareness; Educational Needs; Elementary Secondary Education; .Ethnic Studies; Ethnocentrism; Geography; History; Language Styles; Post Secondary Education; *Teaching Methods; *Textbook Bias; Textbook Content; *Textbook Evaluation; Textbook Research IDENTIFIERS *Africa ABSTRACT Many American educational materials present biased or inaccurate views of Africa. Although these problems are found in a range of media, this study examines printed matter only. A representative sampling of materials indicates that four approaches are generally used in a study of Africa: geographical, historical, cultural, and case study. An overview illustrates problems within each of these four categories. Although the trena in the study of geography has been to present man's interaction with his environment, African texts still discuss anly the country's physical aspects. Historical materials are often slanted;,for example, they often favor European colonialism without cansidering the African's point of view. Culture is portrayed not as different and valid, but rather as exotic and strange. Case studies contain large amounts of descriptive information with little analysis. Generally, too many 'materials offer a superficial treatment of Africa in language that hascondescending or negative overtones. As a solution to suchproblems, African sources should be consulted when preparingmaterials. Bibliographies for both educators and students are included in this booklet. (KC) *********************************************************************** * Documents acquired by ERIC include many informal unpublished * materials not available from other sources. ERIC makes every effort * * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items ofmarginal * * reproducibility are often encountered and this affects the quality * * of the microfiche and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available * via the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDES). EDRS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original. *********************************************************************** U S DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCATION S WELFARE COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL BY MICRO, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FICHE ONL Y HAS BEEN GRANTED BY EDUCATION d19 THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEENREPRO- DUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM TO 6RIC AND OitGANIZATIONSOPERA! ORIGIN ING UNDER AGREEMEN's WI 01 THE NA THE PERSON OP ORGANIZATION OR.OPINIONs TIONAL INSTITUTEOf E. DU( AT ION ATING IT POINTS OF VIEW NIP/HER REPRODU( 1.ON OUTSIDE: STATED 00 NOT NECESSARILYREPRE- THE ERIC SYSTEM RE:1:1INI S Pr RAT/S SENT OFFICIAL NATIONALINSTITUTE OF SION Of THE COPYR1C,O1 (1WNEW EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY AFRICA IN U.S. EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS Thirty Problems and Responses Susan J. Hall January, 1977 SCHOOL SERVICES DIVISION THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN INSTITUTE 2 Copyright © 1976 by The African-American Institute. Published by School Services Division 833 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017 3 INTRODUCTION The School Services Division of theAfrican-American Institute has been working forseven years with students, teachers, supervisors and administrators inAmerican schools to introduce, expand and improve teaching aboutAfrica. As part of the Division's services, we have regularlyexamined a variety of materials print and non-print for schools in learning about the continent. Oneresult of these efforts has been the production and distributionof annotatet) lists of suggested materials. The items listedare those which are generally accurate in their treatment of African Studies and which appear to be stimulatingto students as well. Recently, we in School Services decidedto do more than simply publicize good materials. We decidedto share with educators, librarians, publishers, and otherinterested readers some of our observations regarding the mostcommon prob- lems encountered in the materials. Our aimwas not just to call attention to these problems but alsoto suggest some responses to them. The problems identified here are those whichare found in the range of materials on Africa, includingbooks, films, records, filmstrips, and other media. However,those cited in this discussion are all print since books continueto be the basic tools of those involved in educating aboutAfrica. Some are texts, others are story books. Most are widely used in classrooms and libraries throughout the United States.All are readily available here. Yet our sample is not a comprehensiveone. We have not had the necessary personnel orresources to mount a syste- matic, exhaustive study of the materialson Africa. But we do believe our sample is fair and representative.For it, we have drawn upon the books that havecome to our attention as we have worked, over the years, with AfricanStudies in the schools. Many items cited appear on state or school district book lists; many are in use in classrooms. Still others we have learned about at educational conferences. While our study was stillbeing conducted, the Asia Society publisheditsreport on ne treatment of Asia in American texts. In 1975, th: Middle East Studies Association published a similar report concerning American texts' treat- ment of the Middle East*. Both of these extensivestudies identify problems remarkably similar to those we have found regarding Africa. Taken together, all three studies point out the strengths and weaknessesf educational materials deaiing with Third World peoples while they suggest directions for the development of new materials. The thirty problems identified in this essay have been grouped around the fourfairlydistinct approaches most educational materials adopt when presenting Africa; the geo- graphical, historic?1, cultural and case study approaches. (The survey approach has not been used becauseit contains ele- ments drawn from these-lour.) This has been donebecause most of the problems relate to the subject matter these ap- proaches imply, i.e., one is more likely to find the problem of an inadequate treatment of Africancivilizations during the Middle Ages in a history than in a geography. Within each of the four chapters, the problems are stated and discussed; re- sponses to them are also suggested. This does not mean that the reader should look only at the section directly pertaining to his or her interests. Someof the issues relate to more than one approach. To simplify the discussion, each problem has been dealt with only once under the approach with which itis most often associated Thus, Oihile classifications of Africa's people are made in most geog- raphy and in some culture area materiak, the problems with classification are dealt with ony in the geography section as an aspect of human geography.Conseqtrently, one might find a reading of the full essay useful. 'Asia in American Texts. Asia Society, 112 Fast 64 St., N.Y.. N.Y. 10021, 1976 and The Imageof . the Middle Earl in Seconda,y School nws, The Middle East Studiec Association, NewYork University. 50 Washington Square, N.Y., N.Y. 10003, 1975. 2 Two bibliographiesare appended to the essay. One is for edycators who wish to broaden theirAfrican background. The other is for students; itlists classroom and library materials which offer insights into the issuesdiscussed here. Further, many suggest stimulating and enjoyable activities andexperi- ences for learning about Africa. One caution seems in order. It is quiteeasy to become dis- couraged about the available materialsfor teaching about Africa. Almost all havesome faults, a few worse than others. There are also many still marketedthat cannot be used ina classroom, except as negative examples,because they are so outdated, erroneous or biased. It isimportant that these be identified and avoided. Yet there are items whichare remarkably solid and exciting for students. While thesemay not be numerous, they do cover a wide range of disciplines,issues, and grade This means that ther- are good materialsfor teaching a varieLy of aspects of African studies. It iseven more important not to lose sight of this fact. 3 GEOGRAPHICAL APPROACH For some time now,geographers have been pointing out that their discipline's concepts canbest be learned if they are taught from a human perspective.'As a result, many of the focus on newer geographies ofthe United States and Europe But the the interaction betweenpeople and their environment. majority of materials on Africahave not made this change. Two books published in 1973,for example, begin theirdiscus- sions of the peoples ofAfrica almost halfway throughtheir presentations and only afterthey have set out detailedinfor- mation on the environment.'What makes this especially regrettable is that the nineproblems identified in thissection could be avoided if geographymaterials focused more sharply on the peoplewho live on the continent.Until this shift in emphasis is effected, educatorswill have to rely heavily on supplementary materials to fill inthe texts' gaps if they wish to have a comprehensiveoverview
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