Paper short abstract:

This intervention draws on the experiences of designing and running a compulsory MA course, 'Introduction to African Studies', to engage with the key questions raised in the Roundtable abstract. It further considers what this means for distinguishing African Studies degrees from Global Studies.

Paper long abstract:

Running a two-year MA in African Studies, with students from/with a range of disciplines, locations, cultural origins and future expectations, raises immense intellectual and political-ethical challenges in the framing of the entire degree. Part of our efforts to address such challenges at the Centre of African Studies (CAS) at Copenhagen University, have been channeled into designing a new compulsory course, 'Introduction to African Studies'. In doing so, we have been confronted with addressing some of the key conceptual and pedagogical questions already identified in the Roundtable abstract as a whole. In addition, we are prompted to consider how a degree in African Studies - and clearly defining its unique parameters and value-added - can clearly distinguish itself from the flourish of new university degrees that focus increasingly on an amorphous 'global'. The intervention in this Roundtable will draw on recent experiences of designing and teaching the Introduction to African Studies at CAS to reflect on these and other concerns.