摘要：I have been part of a team-taught course titled “Globalization” twice with colleagues came from
Theology and Economics. As an African historian, I have struggled with the limited explanatory
power that the term “globalization” offers for our understanding of what has been happening in
Africa over the last two decades. It took me some time to realize how strongly an economic
framework and economic measurements defined the terms of the debate, despite the fact that
faculty from multiple disciplines were involved and despite the fact that we covered other facets
of the phenomenon, such as technological, religious, and cultural globalization.
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And, then, I was
asked to work on a presentation for an Africana Studies minor at our University. Juxtaposing the
course I was teaching with the need for an Africana Studies minor was very fruitful. For, at the
same time that American universities are recognizing the need to better train their students for a
globalized world, Africana or Black Studies programs still struggle for resources and legitimacy,
and some note a “growing movement toward race neutrality” on college campuses (Rogers,
2006: 18-22; Wilson, 2005).
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