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The African Studies Association of Africa: We’re still young – formed in 2013. The thinking behind this was that when African Studies became a discipline in Europe and North America, it wasn’t about centring African people’s lives; it wasn’t about how can we enable Africans to understand each other better. The agenda was how do we understand the natives so that we can better colonize them – to put it crudely, but realistically! The African Studies associations in UK, US, came out of that mould. They’ve changed a lot, but still don’t centre Africans enough – most of their members are not Africans, and the research is often about the researchers’ own interests.

— Akosua Adomako Ampofo

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The African Studies Association of Africa: We’re still young – formed in 2013. The thinking behind this was that when African Studies became a discipline in Europe and North America, it wasn’t about centring African people’s lives; it wasn’t about how can we enable Africans to understand each other better. The agenda was how do we understand the natives so that we can better colonize them – to put it crudely, but realistically! The African Studies associations in UK, US, came out of that mould. They’ve changed a lot, but still don’t centre Africans enough – most of their members are not Africans, and the research is often about the researchers’ own interests." in the context of "https://www.globalpolicyjournal.com/blog/19/02/2020/how-decolonize-academia-interview-prof-akosua-adomako-ampofo/" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Akosua Adomako Ampofo" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 19, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Akosua Adomako Ampofo

About Akosua Adomako Ampofo

Josephine Akosua Adomako Ampofo is a Ghanaian academic who is a professor of Gender Studies and African Studies at the University of Ghana. She is feminist activist-scholar, and a strong advocate for social justice.