Description
Political science and its sub-discipline of International Relations in African universities has, since the post-independence era, come under immense scrutiny in terms of its relevance to the lived experiences of Africans. It is argued, for instance, that over 60 years of post-colonial African university education has not produced African epistemologies that inform teaching and learning at its higher education institutions.
The curriculum of post-colonial African education still reflects the legacy of colonial education which was hegemonic and disruptive of African cultural practices, indigenous epistemologies and ways of knowing and doing. This partly explains why the continent remains at the margins of world affairs given the nexus between knowledge creation and power. In the context of this paper, it raises fundamental questions about the content and relevance of the curricula of international studies in Africa as it relates to former colonial powers such as Britain.
However, the fourth industrial revolution has also affected Africa’s international relations profoundly, and in ways that raise new questions about international studies in African universities. For instance, to what extent are digital tools integrated into teaching methods? Is the digital revolution sufficiently covered in the international studies curricula? Also, what role does the digital revolution play in international studies research in an African university? Has digitalization become an issue for international studies scholars in terms of its implications for conducting foreign policy?
Against this backdrop, this paper proposes a comparative situation analysis of teaching and researching international studies in a digital era in Africa using selected universities from different sub-regions in the continent.
Keywords: Africa, Digital era, International Studies, Research, Universities
