Director’s Message

It is truly an honor to be offered the opportunity to assume the role of Director of African Studies in this moment of manufactured uncertainty. For many, uncertain circumstances are hardly places to find joy.  Yet, the fact that African Studies has thrived in spite of all the odds stacked up against it enables us to see possibility in impossible times. As area studies programs around the country face the deliberate onslaught of campaigns to derail what those preceding us took years to build, I assume this role knowing what we are up against. Knowing what lies ahead is what makes taking on this responsibility a worthy mission, not only for me but the incredible and beautiful humans that I get to be colleagues with. What makes being in African Studies energizing in this moment is the constant reminder that we are in this together, and through it all, we shall overcome. 

Many thanks to my predecessor, Dr. Lahra Smith, for shepherding the African Studies Program into this particular historical moment. Through her indefatigable efforts, the African Studies Program grew during her tenure. Three scholars, myself included, joined the program’s faculty rungs. Similarly, our study abroad programs diversified, as did our curriculum, logically. Dr. Smith’s efforts did not occur in a vacuum. Her predecessors, namely, Drs. Gwendolyn Mikell and Scott Taylor, tilled the difficult soils in which the seeds of the African Studies Program at Georgetown were planted. We have them to thank for the breath and breadth that the Program continues to enjoy. 

Stepping into this role, I am eager to continue these efforts, capitalizing on the program as a critical space for the nurturance of an African Studies that approaches Africa from a bottom-up perspective. This is in keeping with what we believe to be the core spirit of African Studies: “introspection with care.” Through our courses, be they in residence or abroad, we will continue to bring Africa to our cherished students whose curiosity about Africa keeps us vibrant. The incredible contributions of my esteemed colleagues, Drs. Ken Opalo, Titilola Halimat Somotan, Bulelani Jili, and Lahra Smith, as well as our university-wide affiliates, all of whom make the lifeblood of the program, reinvigorate our students’ understanding of this beautiful continent. The interdisciplinary perspectives that underscore our research and teaching reflect our own complex backgrounds, engendering a kaleidoscopic view of Africa for our students. Therefore, the African Studies Program is a place where the image of Africa is shot through a prism that produces multiple viewpoints, interrogating the oversimplification of African experiences. 

In 2030, the program will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. There, we would witness how the legacies of yesteryear would join with our present efforts to craft a future in which Africa’s everlasting contributions to the world are solidified. Ours is an African Studies that compels our students to be curious and fascinated by how the study of Africa transforms them to become better humans. That, for me, is the gift that African Studies gives them and the world.

Kwame Edwin Otu (Ph.D.), African Studies Associate Professor and Program Director