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Pensée 1: Africa on My Mind
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 May 2009
For years, I struggled with the presentation of the category of “Middle East” to my students at Howard University, a historically black college. Like many of their professors, my students did not consider North Africa to be part of Africa. The reason was simple: the study of the continent was bifurcated between two fields, African and Middle East studies. African studies focused on sub-Saharan Africa; North Africa was the purview of Middle East studies.
Author's note: I dedicate this piece to my students at Howard University and San Francisco State University, who have heard me struggle to articulate these thoughts.
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