African Studies
The South Carolina African Studies Program is a vibrant and growing center of research, teaching, and community outreach.
With an outstanding faculty and a recognized commitment to interdisciplinary inquiry, the Program is dedicated to fostering scholarship and engagement with African politics, history, and culture. We invite you to join our efforts.
Indaba - The African Studies Colloquium Series
For faculty and students, the African Studies hosts a colloquium series – Indaba – that features talks and lectures by visiting scholars and USC faculty and students. Click here for more events.
The Mining of Africa – The 2012-13 African Studies Reading Group
This year’s African Studies Reading Group will look beyond the issue of blood diamonds and take up the literal and figurative questions involved in the mining of Africa – past, present, and future. Readings may include Wilmot James's Our Precious Metal, Bonnie Campbell’s Mining in Africa, and Nnimmo Bassey’s To Cook a Continent.
Africa’s continent’s mineral resources are an indispensable element of the global economy. From cell phones to nuclear weapons, the continent’s mines are an engine of the world’s economy and a crucial factor in international relations and security politics. Despite this influence, the countries of Africa often have little say over the extraction and distribution of the continent’s riches. Driven by colonial, post-colonial, and multinational forces, the mining of Africa has left deep scar on the continent’s landscape and has come at a substantial human cost.