Paper short abstract:

African studies as a necessary university course is examined through the prism of teachers and students at two Ghanaian technical universities. Gottfredson's circumscription, compromise, and self-creation hypothesis.

Paper long abstract:

The views on African studies as a university mandatory course of faculty members and students at two technical universities in Ghana are studied and analysed using lens. Gottfredson’s theory of circumscription, compromise and self-creation. Between June and August 2021, a random sample of students and staff will be interviewed using structured questions. The study's findings show that the organisation of African studies programs, the appointment of African studies program coordinators/professors, the selection of course materials/readings, and the pedagogical practices of professors at that university tend to burden students enrolled in those universities and their future careers. Africa studies' marginalisation as a discipline reflects the trivialization of African intelligence and the implicit exclusion of Africa from intellectual debates. The study finishes by outlining diversity measures that the academia could undertake in order to overcome Africa studies' marginalisation.