I NOVEMBER 23, 1^
COVER STORY 7
Ican-American studies:
teach our history?
job.”
:1 Ethelbert Miller, director of the
T Afro-American Resource Center at
.Howard University, said that it is a
itdifferent experience for African-
n American students at predominantly
Kwhite universities.
X African-American students.
Miller said, are looking for role
scmodels. Predominantly white col-
C leges have so few instructors, and
^ African-American students look to
t take the “black class” and they get a
t'white instructor, he added.
I “The key thing is looking for a
E person who is a good teacher, able
t to be sensitive to needs and adapt to
students’ needs.
j “Many white professors who do
^take the time to study Afro-Ameri-
Lcan history are sensitive to Afro-
' American students,” Miller said.
I Roberta Dunbar, a white Afri
jprofessor, said she can understand
Istand what it is to be black.”-
iKanulah Cornelius
If the teacher is interested and has
researched the subject then I be
lieve he can get his point across.”
Monique Hunt
I
) “ If the professor is truly interested
:in his subject thai he can effec-
: lively teach the course. If it is a
-superficial interest then the student
will not be able to get anything out
»x)f the class.” - Anika Goodman
If one talks about teaching some
thing from an objective stanc^int
then anyone can study Afam courses
1 enough so that they know an im-
■ mense amount of knowledge; how-
(ever, effectively teaching is not just
^relaying informaticm.botalso show-
r ing how the information is related
African-American
students’ positions
on opposing white
instructors of
AFAM and Afri
given the closeness
they associate with
their African heri
tage.
She said, “There
is a role for anyone
who has basically
put in the work and
who has attempted
to press the culture
on its own terms.”
She added, ‘The
study of Africa is
both to appreciate
one’s cultural roots
and also to develop the kind of
skills of observation that you would
in any social science.”
This may be true for non-black
I to each individual’s life. If that
teachCT cannot relate it, then the
professOT has not done his job. How
ever, this does not necessarily mean
that a while professor cannot relate
to his students.” - Jasm€ Kelly
“ A white professor could teach an
Afam course well although the feel
ing would not be present; therefore,
he could not relate to the Black
experience and the continuing op
pression of our African-American
society.”- Corey Scott
“ I think it is possible, but there
would be something left out, some
thing that diey could not give to the
course. They could not relate their
own experiences with oppression
which could affect the course dras
tically.”- Anthony Peay
students, but for many African
Americans the study of their histwy
is not just any social science. It's a
showcase of where their culture has
“ I think that white professors can
relay the knowledge of the Afri
can-American struggle; 1 don’t
think they can identify with the
struggle the way that a black pro
fessor can. Although some may
say that I was not there to partici
pate in the struggle out of slavery,
my ancestors did; therefrae, it re
lates to me directly.” - LaTonya
Mitchell
“ No. Why? Because they could
not give you the insight a black
professor could give, for they are
not black. Only a black professor
could relay the knowledge of the
black struggle. You would go to a
man to learn about a man. You
would go to a woman to learn
about a woman.”- Tim Smith
been and how far
it has yet to come.
Thomas Scott,
a sophomore
French and
RTVMP major,
said, “I believe that
there are some
good white
AFAM teachers,
but I still feel that
there is always the
possibility of cer
tain biases perme
ating into the
teaching lesson of
these teachers,
whether they are
conscious of it or
noL”
I also feel that under a black
AFAM teacher I can receive a bet
ter perspective from someone who
shares similar experiences in this
country as myself.”
Janken, however, doesn’t be
lieve that skin color should be a
prerequisite. “If only Afro-Ameri
cans can teach Afro-American his
tory, does that mean that is the only
place that Afro-Americans can
teach?” he asked.
“Well, what does that say about
Afro-Americans leaching English
or leaching sciences or leaching
French? Are those white subjects
that Afro-Americans have no busi
ness teaching?
‘To me, there is a lot of things that
instructors, not just Afro-Ameri
cans but others, can bring to the
study of Afro- American history.”
In the African-American Stud
ies Department, seven of 14 in
structors are non-black. These num
bers have some students infuriated
with a lack of blacks within the
African-American Department
“I feel that there is a lack of
Afro-American teachers at this in
stitution, and because of that it is
highly inappropriate to have a non-
Afro-American teach a course as
sociated with the black experience,”
said Devaughn Durham, a junior
International Studies major.
Arturo Velasquez, a Latin
American Afri 40 instructor, be
lieves, however, that Americans
place too much emphasis on race. “1
was bom in El Salvador, and as
such when 1 came to this country I
realized that there is a different way
of categorizing in this counu^ than
Latin America.
“In El Savador we were just all
El Savodorians. It was only until 1
got to the U.S. that 1 had to pick a
category of white, black, hispanic. 1
think that, in itself, says a lot about
this counU7 and its ob.se.ssion with
race. Not only is it obsessed with
race, but it really doesn’t address
it.”
He added, ‘The U.S., being such
an insular society, it doesn’t really
know anything about the rest of the
world. So in that sense I’m not real
sure that U.S. blacks would be more
qualified to leach the black experi
ence as such.
“I’ve meet several blacks in this
country that don’t even know that
most of the Africans who came lo
the New World were brought lo
Brazil and Cuba. I think that entails
something about what is known in
this country and what is meant by
black and while.”
For African-Americans, black
and white in this counUy literally
means a division of two cultures.
It’s a division that seems make Af-
rican-Americans the lone quotent.
This makes it hard to let other cul
tures inside, especially the while
culture.
For this reason, white AFAM
and Afri insUTJClors will remain con
troversial on campus.
Whether or not they can leach
AFAM or Afri is an issue that is
purely left up lo the individual. The
only thing that both white instruc
tors and African-American students
can agree upon is the richness of the
African-American history in Ameri
can history.
As Janken said, “You can’t
make sense of this country unless
you come to terms with the issue of
race and the issue of the Afro-Ameri
can experience.”
/OICES
^ly teach African-American courses?
BLACK INK/COREY BROWN
Blacks say that whites cannot teach AFAM properly