''Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies'' is a graduate-student run,

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and d ...

published at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA). It was established by the UCLA African Activist Association in 1970 and named after the Swahili word for comprehension, understanding, or being.Ufahamu Home Page
/ref> The journal is published three times a year and is available from the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

's eScholarship website. It describes itself as the "oldest student-run journal of Africanist scholarship." ''Ufahamu'' is published in English, with occasional poetry or articles in African and European languages. It is indexed in the

MLA International Bibliography The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

, Africa-Wide Information, and

Historical Abstracts EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a private company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. EBSCO provides products and services to libraries of very many types around the ...

Origin and purpose

''Ufahamu'' was conceived in 1969 by a group of graduate students active in UCLA's African Activist Association and African Studies Center, after a black-white confrontation at the 1969 African Studies Association in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, where the black caucus critiqued African studies scholars and journals for being "overwhelmingly white and male." The journal was established with an "activist orientation" to act "as a pressure group with regard to the sociopolitical problems relating to Africa,” and to provide a forum for new perspectives on Africa and sharp discussion. Since its founding, the journal served as a platform for scholars across the diaspora, giving voice to "Africans and Afro-Americans, students, non-academics and academics."

Topics

''Ufahamu'' publishes writing aimed at both general readers and scholars, and publishes material "supportive of the African revolution", about Africa and the African diaspora. This has included articles about African history, politics, economics, sociology, anthropology, law, planning and development, and literature. It also publishes work on racism, inequality, and language use, such as the use of "coloured" in the South African context. It has published analyses of "crucial influences" in the study of postcolonial Africa and reviews of modern African art by African critics, drawing favorable comparisons with

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

's journal ''Transition''.

Editors

The journal was initially edited by seven graduate students: Robert Cummings, Salih El Arifi, Sondra Hale, Adolfo Mascarenhas, Reynee Pouissant, Joy Stewart, and Allen Thurm. By the third volume in 1973, it had an

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

. Editors such as

Es'kia Mphahlele Es'kia Mphahlele (17 December 1919 – 27 October 2008) was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist celebrated as the Father of African Humanism and one of the founding figures of modern African literature. He was given the ...

tried to use the journal to "actualise African modernity" and encourage the emergence of modern African literature.

Impact

The journal published the first articles of some of the most cited scholars in African studies, including

Walter Rodney Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. His notable works include ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'', first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetow ...

, whose essays became the book

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa ''How Europe Underdeveloped Africa'' is a 1972 book written by Walter Rodney that describes how Africa was deliberately exploited and underdeveloped by European colonial regimes. One of his main arguments throughout the book is that Africa develop ...

, John Thornton, and

Sondra Hale Sondra Hale is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); former Co-editor of the ''Journal of Middle East Women's Studies'' and former Co-Chair, Islamic Studies. Her regional interest ...

. Influential articles from ''Ufahamu'' include Judith Van Allen's 1975 essay on the

Igbo Women's War of 1929 The Women's War, or Aba Women's Protest (Igbo: ''Ogu Umunwanyi''; Ibibio: ''Ekong Iban''), was a period of unrest in colonial Nigeria over November 1929. The protests broke out when thousands of Igbo women from the Bende District, Umuahia and ...

on the controversy over genital cutting, Edward Alpers on African economic history and underdevelopment,

Christopher Ehret Christopher Ehret (born 27 July 1941), who currently holds the position of Distinguished Research Professor at UCLA, is an American scholar of African history and African historical linguistics particularly known for his efforts to correlate lin ...

on African history, and articles on the limitations of universal literary critiera, Garveyism, and trance in Nigerian theater. The journal has been described by scholars as an important part of the "black radical tradition," and is credited for introducing important terms in African studies, such as

Ali Mazrui Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was a Kenyan-born American academic, professor, and political writer on African and Islamic studies, and North-South relations. He was born in Mombasa, Kenya. His positions included ...

's concept of "Afrabia" and for contributing to the nature and direction of African studies.

Controversy

The journal was sometimes banned as a "militant African activist" journal. The apartheid South African government banned the spring 1982 edition of the journal for publishing papers from a recent conference of the

African Activist Association African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethn ...

, which criticized the government and was titled "''From Apartheid and Imperialism to the Total Liberation of Southern Africa.''"

References

External links

*{{Official website, http://escholarship.org/uc/international_asc_ufahamu Publications established in 1970 African studies journals Academic journals edited by students University of California, Los Angeles 1970 establishments in California