Teaching Africa Articles

I Didn’t Know There Were Cities in Africa!

By Brenda Randolph & Betsy DeMulder

Teaching Tolerance, Fall 2008

In the fall of 2007, in a 1st- and 2nd-grade classroom during circle time, Ms. Brown told her students, “My friend is planning a trip to the continent of Africa. Can you tell me what my friend will need when she goes to Africa?” Several children shouted out excitedly… Read More


Teaching About Nelson Mandela

By Barbara Brown & Brenda Randolph 

Boston University’s African Studies Center and Africa Access Review

A list of resources for teaching about Nelson Mandela. Includes books, YouTube videos, DVD’s and CD’s… Read More


Boko Haram Teaching Resource

Compiled by Barbara Brown 

Boston University

There is no “simple” explanation to the rise or actions of Boko Haram. The group is in many ways the product of a complex stew of economic, political, and social tensions which have come to a boil in Northern Nigeria over the past two or three decades. Read More.


Beyond Wildlife: Teaching about Africa and Stereotypes

By Barbara B. Brown and Alicia Carroll

Bring primary sources and authentic images into the classroom when you are teaching about Africa and Africans. Here are some recommendations and lesson plans to help you do that. Read more.


The Danger of a Single Story

Chimamanda Adichie

TED Global 2009

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. View video.


The Trouble with Tribe

By Chris Lowe et al

Learning for Justice (Formerly Teaching for Tolerance), Spring 2001

How a common word masks complex African realities. Read more.


Movers and Movements: Fighting for Social Justice in South Africa

By Brenda Randolph

By studying the lives of courageous people who have worked for social justice, students can learn more than history. Read more.


Imaged or Imagined, Cultural Representations and the “Tourismification” of Peoples and Places. Cashiers d’Etudes african

By Noel B. Salazar

Discusses how the romanticized image of the virile Maasai warrior, dressed in colourful red blankets and beaded jewellery, has led to a true Maasai-mania that is profoundly affecting the daily life and culture of Maasai and other ethnic groups. Read more.