Teaching Africa: A Guide for the 21st-Century Classroom

18 The Model AU as a Pedagogical Method of Teaching American Students about Africa

195 18 The Model aU as a Pedagogical Method of Teaching american Students about africa Babacar M’Baye The Model african Union (hereafter referred to as the Model aU) is an annual convention in which students from many american colleges and universities meet for three days in Washington, D.c., to discuss and vote on resolutions that address major challenges in africa. Students learn the role, structure, and performance of the african Union (aU) while searching for solutions to africa’s key economic, social, and political obstacles. as Professor Michael c. nwanze and Professor Jack Parson, the founders of the Model aU, explain, “Through simulation, augmented by briefings at african embassies in Washington, D.c., participants gain a better and clearer understanding of the multi-various determinants, capabilities and constraints that shape the domestic and foreign policies of african countries as well as the patterns of cooperation and conflict that characterize intra-african diplomacy.”1 after visiting african embassies in Washington, D.c., students return to a hotel in the metropolitan city, where they bring and discuss their numerous resolutions in various simulated committees of the aU (the committee on economic Matters, the committee on Social Matters, the committee on Union government, and the Peace and Security committee). Through these meetings, students gain a better understanding of Pan-african agency as it is applied in the aU’s effort to create and foster unity and development among african people. The conference enables students to learn and practice diplomacy by representing their chosen nations in distinctive ways. in this vein, Parson argues that “the model [aU] puts africa and african issues at the center of debate and discussion. for those interested in teaching about africa, it offers a unique opportunity to immerse students in such discussions” 196 | Application of Approaches (1994:294). Likewise, Professor John Bing of heidelberg college says: “The [aU] simulation models what the ‘real world’ is like. Some of the resolutions passed in the past have given real-world diplomats ideas that have become policy”(quoted in gosche 2011). reflecting on experiences from teaching a course titled Pan-africanism and the Model aU, i show in this chapter how the convention effectively teaches students about contemporary issues in africa while introducing them to the agency in Pan-africanism. as imanuel geiss defines it, “Pan-africanism” is an ideology of “political cooperation” among africans who attempt to eradicate “the present poverty of africa, the lack of modern communications, the predominance of production at the subsistence economic level, and the orientation of most new states towards the former ‘mother country’” (1969:200). Preparing Students for the Model aU Students are introduced to readings that emphasize the agency of african people, such as geiss’s “Pan-africanism” (1969) and J. ayo Langley’s “Pan-africanism in Paris, 1924–36” (1969), which explore the solidarity among blacks on the two sides of the atlantic Ocean, a unity that inspired africans to create the aU in 1963 (formerly called the Organization of african Unity [OaU], the organization’s name changed to aU on May 26, 2001) (aU 2011). Discussing the resistance of Quobna Ottobah cugoano and edward Wilmot Blyden against slavery and the struggles of henry Sylvester Williams, W. e. B. Du Bois, george Padmore, and nnamdi azikiwe against colonialism, geiss’s essay gives students a history of black solidarity against oppression that predates the aU. Langley’s essay examines similar agency in the solidarity of francophone africans such as Blaise Diagne and Kojo Touvalou houénou alongside other Pan-africanists such as Du Bois and Marcus garvey during the 1920s. Once students understand this solidarity, they read claude Welch’s essay “The Organization of african Unity and the Promotion of human rights” (1991). This article introduces students to the various charters, commissions, and committees of the aU while helping them understand that “protection of human rights in the [african] continent depends ultimately on the active, effective role of african governments , assisted by outside pressures and far greater activity by human rights ngOs [nongovernmental organizations]” (Welch 1991:555). Once students are familiar with the history of the aU, they tackle the institution’s agenda, which contains a list of the topics that committees discuss at each convention. To prepare for the agenda topics, which change each year, students are assigned (1) three position papers and (2) four resolutions. The position papers explain the position of a particular country about an issue on the agenda of either the executive council or the aU’s...