Teaching the Africana Development Course

By Dr. Adwoa Owusuaa Bobie, KUNST

I was added to the committee responsible for the Suriname, Netherlands, and Ghana collaboration that initiated the Africana Development Studies. 

When the courses were drawn, the director, Prof. George Bob-Milliar, of the Centre of my affiliation, the Centre for Cultural and African Studies, KNUST, encouraged me to pick a course to teach. I submitted my name to teach Identity, Ethnicity, and Diversity. With my sociology background, I believed this would be an interesting area to explore among a group of people I know very little about. Thus, while I was expected to teach, I also looked forward to learning about the culture and the people of Suriname. 

Teaching the Course

I had an initial experience being a visiting lecturer for one of my colleagues who taught on the Black. I was invited to teach on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the African Diaspora. It was a three-hour class, and I had already submitted three articles for discussion. Unfortunately, most students did not read the articles, so I ended up doing most of the topic. However, some were willing to share their general knowledge on the topic. This experience gave me a fair idea of the students I would be meeting.

I was informed in August that my course would start in October. I was given a template for the course outline, which I filled with articles and the nature of the class lecture. I had the plan to make my class very interactive and student-centered. I carefully selected articles that would take the students on a journey of self-identification and actualization within the context of Afro-Caribbean cultures and social structures infused with class and economic realities. The importance of understanding the theories of identity, ethnicity, and diversity and how they manifest in the Caribbean culture. I was also intentional about showing how these phenomena are not isolated cases based on countries in the Caribbean and Africa but can be experienced in foreign countries like the Netherlands since the common denominator of assessment is race, the black colour, the currency of identity in the global understanding of identity. 

I was to teach twice a week, 6 hours in total: 3 hours per session. I was informed there are nine students in the class. For the first three weeks of the class, I had a constant three students, with three others coming through once in a while, depending on their schedule. Three students never showed up in class. The class representative and I tried our best to get the students to join constantly, but it could not work. As mentioned earlier, I planned to get the students involved as much as possible, so I shared the articles for the students with two people presenting individual articles a day. In all, each student was to present twice in the session, but we ended with two people presenting once and four people presenting twice. By the fifth week, I had the constant four and one “adjunct “student.” Adjunct because she withdrew from the course formally due to her work schedule, but she enjoys the discussion, so she joins in once in a while. The constant four were amazing. They read each article whether they were presenting or not, and everyone participated in the discussion. We had amazing class sessions, and the topics and articles were so relatable. When the 10 weeks of lecture came to an end, three students were able to submit their term papers. One sought permission because he had a family emergency just when the Block was closing. I reviewed and marked the papers submitted and sent feedback to the students on their performance. 

The Highs 

The few students who stayed were very committed. It was a class where all students came prepared, reading a total of about 50 pages of articles per class. As a lecturer, it made the work easy and enjoyable. Discussions were very open, and people were willing to share experiences where needed. This exposed me to Caribbean society, culture, social stratification, and issues surrounding identity. 

The Lows

I had very little knowledge about the demographics of the students. When I selected the articles, I selected with the knowledge of students in Surinam, not knowing most of them live outside the Caribbean. What helped me was my understanding of their relationship with the Dutch, so I had articles on the relationship and the Diaspora in the Netherlands.

Conclusion

I honestly believe this is a good programme, especially for Afro-Caribbean diasporans who want to learn about their descent, ancestry, society, and culture. I also think the tripod collaboration between Suriname, Ghana, and the Netherlands is an excellent idea.