Teaching Africa and international studies: Forum introduction

DOI10.1177/0263395716628886
AuthorJulia Gallagher,Karen Smith,Carl Death,Meera Sabaratnam
Date01 November 2016
Published date01 November 2016
Subject MatterSpecial Section: Teaching Africa and International StudiesGuest Edited by Julia Gallagher (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Politics
2016, Vol. 36(4) 441 –452
© The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0263395716628886
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Teaching Africa and
international studies:
Forum introduction
Julia Gallagher
Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, UK
Carl Death
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Meera Sabaratnam
SOAS, University of London, London, UK
Karen Smith
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Abstract
Africa has often been defined and represented by outsiders. In International Studies (IS), the
continent is frequently viewed as peripheral and uninteresting. This is clearly a problem, and an
increasingly apparent one as the number of courses on Africa and IS grow, both in Africa and
beyond. Many academics who run these courses are keen to challenge the continent’s traditional
marginalisation and perceived dependency; however, they are limited by the resources available
to them and the fact that many are establishing new courses from scratch. This article contributes
to the literature by identifying key debates around teaching Africa and IS, setting the scene for the
articles that follow.
Keywords
Africa, critical pedagogy, international studies, learning and teaching
Received: 24th April 2015; Revised version received: 5th August 2015; Accepted: 5th September 2015
This forum is motivated by two related questions. The first is how should we teach
‘Africa’ in International Studies (IS)? And the second is how should we teach ‘International
Studies’ in Africa?1 Although these questions appear to come from opposite directions,
Corresponding author:
Julia Gallagher, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Hill, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK.
Email: julia.gallagher@rhul.ac.uk
628886POL0010.1177/0263395716628886PoliticsGallagher et al.
research-article2016
Special Section Article

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