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27 2 africa: Which Way forward? An Interdisciplinary Approach Todd cleveland introduction This chapter examines an interdisciplinary course titled africa: Which Way forward?, which focuses on the african continent’s contemporary development challenges and successes. explorations of current, often sensational, issues, such as Somali piracy, desertification, or the hiV/aiDS scourge, offer students familiar points of entry for further exploration, which are then historicized in order to identify their often deeply rooted origins. however, the course also examines the range of contemporary factors that hinder development in africa. So as not to reinforce media impressions of a continent saddled with intractable problems and embroiled in endless conflict, students also examine success stories and the range of encouraging developments that the press invariably neglects. Ultimately, students increase their awareness of the africa of today’s headlines, but also develop a strong sense of how and why these newsworthy developments are occurring—as well as others that are not making the news. in order to answer the question featured in the course title, a series of assignments require students to identify and explore contemporary development challenges (of their choosing) with which african governments, communities, and individuals are contending. Students are then responsible for considering different solutions to these problems after examining the relevant political science, history, sociology, economics, public health, legal, and development literature, as well as “listening” to african voices through film, fiction, and interviews. a central challenge for students throughout this process is to navigate the spectacular diversity of approaches to development. indeed, 28 | Situating Africa the myriad prescriptions for africa’s copious challenges can be external (i.e., “Western ”) or organic—or both—and even within these two often dissimilar approaches, sentiments range widely as to the best practices. By familiarizing themselves with the range of development strategies, as well as with local sensibilities and cultures, students are better positioned to understand the continent’s challenges, to advocate potential solutions, and to cogently argue their merits in both written and oral form. Two sets of sources prove extremely useful to students as they fulfill the course assignments: african newspapers and interviews with african immigrants. One assignment requires that students access african-based media sources, which are increasingly available online, to follow a contemporary issue of their choosing as it unfolds in an african community, country, or region over the course of the semester. Students augment their understanding of the issue and how it is experienced on the ground by interviewing african immigrants who visit the class. Via these complementary undertakings, as well as additional research, students develop an interdisciplinary framework in order to analyze their respective topics and develop informed answers to the question: africa, which way forward? genesis of the course This course is a collective product of my graduate course work in african history, politics, and development; direct observations and experiences living in angola for roughly two years; and involvement in the interdisciplinary Liberal Studies (LS) program at my home institution, augustana college. each of these three components was essential to the formation of the class, as the absence of any of them would have rendered this a very different course or, more likely, would have precluded its creation. from 2004 to 2006, i lived in angola, dividing time between Luanda, the capital, and the diamond mines in the northeastern province of Lunda norte.1 During this time, i traveled throughout the war-torn country, sometimes as a tourist and at others as a consultant employed by various nongovernmental organizations (ngOs). in practice, angola’s protracted civil war (1975–2002), its prodigious oil reserves and, to a lesser extent, its diamond deposits, and its Marxist-cum-capitalist, acutely corrupt regime render it a superb place from which to observe the interplay between an african state, its citizenry, its natural resource endowment, and governmental practices and policies. in other words, it brought my academic training to life and daily delivered a practical example that was eventually usable in the classroom. Upon returning to the United States following this experience, i was offered a position at augustana, where i teach african history and the LS course that is the focus of this chapter.2 aware that history could inform, but not monopolize, the interdisciplinary LS course, the focus shifted to the array of african nations’ more recent challenges. Purposefully rejecting an afro-pessimistic approach, the course title reflected optimism for the future of the continent, africa: Which Way forward? The institutional charge was to educate students about the ways...

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