It is unfortunate that the university where I teach is like most colleges and universities that continue to remain Euro-centric in what we teach. Everything from literature to the social sciences is mostly about Europe and North America, with a little bit about South and Central America. It is pathetic, for instance, that the history department at my university offers more courses about Slovakia and the Balkans than about Africa and its countries.
This term, for instance, there is not a single class about Africa in History. Perhaps all the African history is finished by the time a freshman completes HST 104: World History? Plenty of Europe. Same story in Political Science. Sociology is still dealing with the dead and cremated Communism, while the alive Africa is neglected.
Nothing in my own department either.
The result is that Anthropology is the only place where students might encounter Africa. I would not be surprised if the courses there then end up reinforcing the stereotypes of Africa.
Awful!
We are committing some serious crimes in higher education. I, too, stand accused :(
1 comment:
The map is great! Kinda puts the world into perspective.
Globes are good for that, too, and every elementary school classroom used to have a globe, when I was in school. I think that's been lost.
I used to look at the globe and wonder about the other parts of the world. Why didn't we study about them, too?
So I read. And I travel. And I make international friends.
Sadly, there aren't a lot of us who do that. :(
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