John Arthur, professor of Sociology and Anthropology and director of the African and African American Studies Minor at UMD, laughed when he described a time somebody asked him, “What is the capital city of Africa?” With a smile, Professor Arthur replied, “Well, what is the capital city of North America?” These are the types of misconceptions that the AAAS program, which is housed in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at UMD, is trying to quell. The AAAS is an interdisciplinary program with faculty from sociology and anthropology, English, education, music, philosophy, political science, history, women’s studies and gender and sexuality studies. The courses are designed to educate the campus about the artistic, creative and scholastic contributions to black culture that are systematically swept under the rug. They also explore the meanings of race, equity and diversity in America.
Professor Arthur asserts that AAAS is a valuable addition to the UMD curriculum.
“AAAS courses are structured to provide students with the foundation and skillsets that are vital to the understanding and appreciation of the contributions of peoples of black African ancestries,” Arthur said. “In AAAS courses, students learn about the totality of the global histories, cultures and experiences of African, African American, Afro-Latin, the Caribbean and Afro-European societies. The fulcrum of the program is to depict and illuminate the worldviews of global black cultures and their manifested diasporas.”
Like any nascent academic program at UMD, AAAS will face headwinds, challenges and opportunities as it seeks two primary goals: To become an integral component of the curriculum while attempting to portray the histories and cultures of Africans and African Americans, and to show how blacks shape and are shaped, in turn, by other cultures.
Dr. Hilary Kowino, an associate professor of English and Faculty of AAAS, says that AAAS contributes to a more heterogeneous and transformative curriculum by teaching about marginalized languages, literature, histories, film, arts, philosophies, music and cultures.
“Power insidiously or structurally determines what is conventionally referred to as mainstream knowledge by promoting some narratives while silencing others,” Kowino said. “My courses seek to address this hegemonic practice of muting other worlds by giving voice to obliterated legacies, cultures, literatures and traditions. I endeavor to rewrite received epistemologies and to subvert master narratives.”
A passionate professor of African and African Diaspora literature, Dr. Kowino utilizes cooperative learning to “encourage diversity of perspectives and to better the human condition.”
When asked why AAAS matters, Dr. Kowino responded in one word — “coexistence” — before he added that good education should “represent the totality of our experiences and advance social justice.”
After further probing on why UMD students should take AAAS courses before they graduate, Dr. Kowino quoted “Arrow of God” by Chinua Achebe: “The world is like a mask dancing. If you want to see it well you do not stand in one place.”
This is Dr. Kowino’s way of saying that one has to learn from the underrepresented courses and silenced narratives as we much as one learns from the mainstream curriculum, in order to become globally competent students.
The AAAS minor curriculum offers lower and upper division courses about black people’s aspirations and experiences that span the globe. The lower-division courses are designed to introduce students to the curriculum. Although it is still just a minor program, its offerings have grown to include the followings courses:
- AAAS 1101: Introduction to the Black Caribbean, studies the peoples and cultures of the Black Caribbean and the impact of colonization.
- AAAS 1102: Introduction to the Atlantic Slave Trade, studies the phenomena that was the global trade of slaves across the Atlantic Ocean through analysis of cultural and historical legacies of slavery.
- AAAS 1103: Introduction to Africa examines the histories, cultures, and peoples of Africa through social, cultural, and political lenses.
- AAAS 1104: Introduction to Black America, which covers the diversity category at UMD, examines Black America through historical and contemporary lenses.
- AAAS 3000: Study Abroad: The Kenyan Experience
- AAAS 3201: The African American Family
- AAAS 3202: African Storytelling and Folklore
- AAAS 3203: Rap and Hip-Hop Music Cultures
- SOC 3330: The American Civil Rights Movement
- AAAS 3304: Inequalities in Education
- AAAS 3305: Cities in Africa
- AAAS 3307: African Migrations and Diasporas
Dr. Chang’aa Mweti, an Associate Professor in the Department of Education, instructs Introduction to Africa, which covers the global perspectives credit at UMD. Dr. Mweti feels that he has a calling to teach AAAS courses.
“I care so much about the minor in and of itself,” Dr. Mweti said. “We need to inform the minority population of this school about this program so they can feel a part of the team. We need to inform Caucasian students at this school that learning about African History informs American History. Any employer would definitely want a well-rounded employee who is going to respect other cultures, who is going to realize that the world is becoming a global village. Any employer would want someone who looks at the world from different perspectives, and who’s going to be sensitive to other perspectives.”
Dr. Mweti noted that the AAAS program has a lot to offer UMD students.
“The students who have taken our courses love them, and we need more students to know about everything that we offer,” he said.
The thrust of his teaching promotes multiple and overlapping stories, and he uses Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story,” which is available online in TED Talks, to make this point.
David Woodward is an adjunct history professor at UMD who teaches Introduction to the Atlantic Slave Trade and African American Cinema in the AAAS program. Specifically, Woodward is interested in cultural contact and how cultures are preserved after that interaction.
“My core training is in anthropology and archeology,” Woodward said, “but I am very interested in the resilience of different ethnic groups who persevere through perilous journeys like the slave trade. Surviving through that experience to me is something that anybody can learn from.”
In keeping with its international curriculum, and with the support of the College of Liberal Arts Dean, Dr. Susan Maher, AAAS is currently considering additional study abroad programs. These study abroad opportunities allow students to get a hands-on experience of what professors teach in the classroom. In addition to Kenya (which is already in the books), AAAS is exploring the Caribbean as a potential study abroad destination.
Woodward, Arthur and Dr. Sheryl Grana, who teaches the American Civil Rights Movement for AAAS, are leading the Caribbean initiative. Based on Dean Maher’s interest in a more vibrant AAAS, it is safe to predict that AAAS has a bright future.
“We want to take students on a short-term intercultural expedition to the Caribbean, and we are in the process of developing that initiative,” Dr. Arthur said. “We are interested in Jamaica, Brazil, Costa Rica, Barbados, Trinidad and the Bahamas. We know that there are students who are interested in the Caribbean, and we want them to know about our plans.”
Last spring break, a group of students, staff and faculty took a seven-day trip to Mississippi to experience the history of Black America. It was reminiscent of the civil rights era Freedom Riders, and students who participated received one AAAS credit. Led by Dr. Arthur, the group made its way to Mississippi while students, staff and faculty alike learned and shared information about the history, culture, and experiences of blacks in America. They visited former slave plantations, interacted with civil rights leaders in Mississippi, and visited the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, where they were met by UMD Chancellor Lendley Black.
This experience is still etched in the collective memories of all those who were part of this trip. This, and other experiences in and out of the classroom, is what AAAS seeks in order to invigorate more students at UMD.
As Dr. Kowino pointed out, AAAS plays a leading role in educating us about African American experiences — slavery, abolition, civil war, Jim Crow laws, migration to the north, world wars, the civil rights movement and the prison industrial complex.
“If we are truly committed to social justice and human rights, then we must join W.E.B. Du Bois, Manning Marable and Toni Morrison in striving to ensure that African Americans are not relegated to strangers in their own homes,” Kowino said. “The United States of America’s motto is right, E Pluribus Unum; Out of Many, One.”
With this knowledge and this spirit, AAAS professors have come together to promote an understanding of the historical and current experiences of African and African Diaspora.
Professor Arthur recognizes that the shared spirit of professors and students made this program a reality.
“There wasn’t an African and African American Studies minor when I came to UMD,” Arthur said. “It took the determination of students and faculty to make it a reality. The program started following the approval of the proposal by the Board of Regents. And the professors who teach the AAAS curriculum are doing so in the collective spirit of helping to elevate to greater heights the broader liberal education at UMD.”
Africa is already the second most populated continent in the world, and it’s growing rapidly. Africa has a population of 1.1 billion that is growing at 3.3 percent per year, which means that the population could double in about twenty years. With that growth, Africa is bound to become a bigger influence on the world’s economy and culture, and with an abundance of untouched natural resources, this prospect is inevitable.
The international marketplace recognizes these facts as well. President Obama visited Africa in both 2009 and 2013, lauding the future of the continent as a whole, even saying, “I want Africans buying more American products and I want Americans buying more African products."
According to the U.S government, consumer spending in Africa is predicted to rise 80 percent by 2020. This would create the fastest-growing middle class the world has ever seen. As a continent, Africa’s trade with China has increased to 33 percent in the past few years.
AAAS is not only concerned with pedagogy in the classroom, study abroad and Freedom Riders; it also organizes and sponsors African and African American film series, public lectures, and tributes in honor of departed leaders like Nelson Mandela. Even so, AAAS faculty are concerned that all UMD students are not aware of the program. Right now, the AAAS faculty is addressing the question — how can we build on what we have achieved so far?
Professor Arthur welcomes students aboard.
“We want to formally invite the students at UMD who want to learn about African and African American cultures to join us in our classes,” Arthur said. “Our classes fulfill liberal education and diversity requirements. An appreciation of diverse cultures and global perspectives benefits students in the workplace. Students who minor in AAAS can find employment in government, community service agencies, international development agencies, human service fields, and multicultural settings.”
BY WILLIAM E. CASSERLY
Statesman Correspondent