African Studies and Universities since Independence: the challenges of epistemic and institutional decolonization

IN MA R C H 1957, two important events took place in the political and intellectual histories of Africa. One happened on the continent itself: the declaration of independence of Ghana; the other, in the United States: the formation of the African Studies Association (ASA). Both were products of the momentous struggles for decolonization and symbolic of Africa’s changing presence in the worlds of international affairs and knowledge production. The decolonization of Ghana opened the floodgates of African independence; the formation of the ASA fortified Africanist scholarship in the world’s most powerful nation