Humanities in Class Online Courses Forum - Recent Topics

Module 3.1: The Importance of Lifting African Voices and Stories

Francisca Miranda — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 22:36:03 +0000

By using African experts (authors) books are more accurate/authentic about the illustrations and stories. Picture books depict the culture, country, and or folktales more accurate. Allows students to understand and possibly relate to those authentic books/stories.

African Voices and Stories

XIUJUAN LI — Wed, 21 Oct 2026 21:00:14 +0000

Centering African voices matters because Africans should have the opportunity to tell their own stories and represent their own experiences. As Komla Dumor emphasizes, African experts understand their communities, cultures, and histories in ways outsiders may not. Including African novels, art, films, and commentary helps challenge stereotypes and shows the diversity of life across the continent.

When teaching about Africa, using more African-created sources can provide students with a more authentic and balanced perspective. It also recognizes Africans as experts in their own realities rather than relying mainly on outsiders to define them.

Ge'ez (or Ethiopic)

Christina Perez — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 19:08:47 +0000

Ge’ez (or Ethiopic) is one of the oldest written systems in Africa and is one of only a few ancient scripts still utilized today. Some of the earliest Ge’ez scripts can be traced back to the 5th century BCE in Eritrea and northern Ethiopia. Also it is derived from South Arabian scripts, it differs importantly from them by pairing consonant characters with vowels. The Ezana Stone from the Aksumite Empire in the 4th century CE displays one of the most famous early examples of Ge’ez and is considered to be the African Rosetta Stone by some because of its trilingual inscriptions (Ge’ez, South Arabian, and Greek). Ge’ez also appeared on Aksumite coins, among other places. When the Aksumite court converted to Christianity in the 4th century, Ge’ez became a key language for scripture and other religious texts in Ethiopia.

Over time, Ge’ez was no longer widely spoken but did stay in written form when modified for Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia. Other languages found in Eritrea and Ethiopia, such as Tigrinya, Tigre, Harari, and several Gurage languages, also employ a modified Ge’ez script. Moreover, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church uses Ge’ez for its liturgical language, while the Ethiopian Jewish tradition used Ge’ez for scripture until the 20th century.

Ge’ez script, in use for over 2,000 years, debunks the myth that Africa’s population was illiterate prior to European colonization. In addition, Ge’ez manuscripts about theology, philosophy, astronomy, and law illuminate a long-lasting and powerful intellectual body of work penned by Africans.

Going to the source

Christina Perez — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 16:08:09 +0000

As a White woman who has never been to Africa, it has always been extremely important to me to seek out sources of information that come directly from those with lived experiences. Otherwise, how else are we to know that the information we share with students is accurate and reflective of real people’s lives? Komla Dumor raises key points about why this is necessary and what it means to be an “expert.” I really appreciated what he said about not assuming someone is an expert on a particular place in Africa just because they speak the language. I question often how well the material I offer students reflects everyday lives and not generalities.

Over the past 5 years, as my teaching partner and I have developed and refined our curriculum about Africa, we have steadily added more and more first-person sources. It has been challenging at times to find material that is age-appropriate for third graders and that doesn’t perpetuate stereotypes, and we often preface videos and articles with saying that this is one person’s/group’s perspective and does not speak for a whole people. YouTube has been a great source of videos featuring people who live in a particular place, as have the many new picture books written by African authors. One area that has been a challenge for us to navigate in keeping materials accessible to third graders while also being in-depth enough for them to learn something significant is bringing AI into our resource gathering. AI has been great at tracking down sources we might not otherwise find, but it can be tricky to double-check every piece of information it pulls together on a subject. At times it has filled a gap for us when we couldn’t find information about something; the video is a good reminder to peek behind the curtain of AI to go to the original source of the information.

Anti-Racist Teaching Isn't Just About Correcting Misconceptions

Jacqueline Wade — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:02:32 +0000

This reading made me think about how easily we can reinforce stereotypes, even when our intentions are good. As a kindergarten teacher, I have used KWL charts to activate prior knowledge without always considering how the questions I ask might unintentionally introduce or reinforce misconceptions. In a diverse classroom, this is especially important because children are developing their understanding of themselves and the world around them. I don't want any child to hear their culture or heritage reduced to stereotypes, and I don't want other children to leave with an incomplete understanding of Africa.

As I develop my curriculum, Africa: Many Places, Many Stories, Many People, I want to be more intentional about beginning with curiosity, joy, and the accomplishments of African people. One positive, asset-based aspect I plan to highlight is African women's leadership, beginning with Queen Mother Idia of the Kingdom of Benin. Rather than asking students what they already know about Africa, I can introduce them to the story of a powerful woman who helped shape her kingdom's history and ask, "What can we learn about leadership from Queen Idia?"

I also want to celebrate the creativity, knowledge, and everyday experiences of African people through literature, art, and storytelling. My goal is for students to recognize that Africa is not one place with one story, but a diverse continent filled with people who have contributed to their communities and the world.

This fellowship is reminding me that anti-racist teaching isn't just about correcting misconceptions. It is also about being intentional with the stories we choose to tell and the questions we ask from the very beginning.

Africa is a continent of many countries, communities, and experiences.

Jacqueline Wade — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:32:34 +0000

What strikes me most about Dr. Carr’s Africana Studies Framework is the distinction between teaching about African people and centering African people in the study of history. I hadn't considered how much difference that shift in perspective could make. Rather than simply learning about historical events, the framework encourages us to examine how Africans organized their communities, developed knowledge, preserved their histories, and shaped their own experiences.

Another thing is how interconnected the six categories are. For example, when teaching about Queen Mother Idia, I am not just teaching leadership. I am also introducing students to governance, social structures, cultural traditions, and the ways history is remembered. This makes me think more intentionally about the questions I ask and the perspectives I include in my lessons.

As I continue developing Africa: Many Places, Many Stories, Many People, I want to ensure that my students see Africans as active participants in their own histories rather than simply learning facts about the continent.

My revised essential question is:

How have African people used their knowledge, creativity, and leadership to shape their communities, and how do we see those contributions today?

My curriculum goal is:

Students will explore the diverse histories, cultures, and contributions of African people through stories, discussions, and creative activities. They will begin to recognize African people as leaders, problem-solvers, and innovators while developing an understanding that Africa is a continent of many countries, communities, and experiences.

Impact of colonizing spaces

Christina Perez — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 21:34:30 +0000

The southern part of Egypt and northern Sudan comprise the area of the Nubian people, once one of the great civilizations in Africa. Dr. Agha described the impact of building the Aswan Dam on her Nubian ancestors in the early 1900s. When the British dammed up the Nile in order to control its resources and the people around it, many men were forced to leave the area to find work in Cairo, Alexandria, and Khartoum. Increasing the height of the dam led to further lands being flooded, displacing even more families. These families were forced into villages surrounded by farmland that were built by the government with the intention of the resettled Nubians growing food for much of Egypt. For the Nubian people, colonizing resulted in displacement, shifting family structures, poorer living conditions, and a stripping away of agency and autonomy.

In my curriculum, we already discuss something similar to this with the construction of the Lake Turkana Wind Farm in northern Kenya. Students learn about the benefits of the wind farm and also about some of the contested components of the project, including the displacement of several ethnic groups. We ask students to consider the pros and cons of the project, and then create a poster advocating for or against the wind farm. It would be great to find out more details to share with students on the experiences of the displaced people, perhaps even a first-person perspective on what that was like. I'm also interested in looking at how colonialism shaped Mombasa, Kenya, as it became a major hub of trade for first the Portuguese and later Omani and other settlers. How did this colonization reshape the port of Mombasa? Which people gained and lost power, wealth, and agency during this process?

Map Reflection

Christina Perez — Mon, 19 Oct 2026 20:48:23 +0000

It took me some time to make sense of the map, as I was originally looking for the shape of the whole continent of Africa. It seems that the mapmaker was particularly interested in (or only knew about) just North Africa though. The size and glory of the king holding the gold nugget shows how much the Europeans were interested in this natural resource and its wealth in the cities in West Africa. I wondered if the path with the brown circles was indication of a trade route from the gold riches in West Africa out to the eastern part of the continent and beyond. I also think I understand there to be 3 kings and 1 queen depicted in Africa and am guessing the mapmaker saw the importance of these individuals in the governing of different African kingdoms.

Colonizing Space & Contested Geographies

Julie O'Neill — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:20:44 +0000

Dr. Agha describes Nubia as a victim of development and modernization. British colonials built a dam that submerged Nubian land, forcing people to rebuild their homes, reestablish agriculture, and sometimes migrate to find work. Women stayed and sustained their communities. Later, construction of the Aswan High Dam led to forced displacement in the 1960s. The resettlement area was called “New Nubia,” but Nubians described it as “the land of displacement.” Their homeland was treated as a resource for national development, while their connections to the land, ancestors, and community were disregarded.

Dr. Agha’s discussion of modernist architecture was really interesting to me. The housing she described was designed to meet basic biological needs, with no consideration for incorporating beauty, cultural practices, or community. The colonizers determined where and how people would live, stripping them of agency. But, Nubian women’s efforts to rebuild and reshape those homes demonstrate their agency!

This discussion also made me think about contested geographies in the United States, including redlining and the construction of highways through marginalized neighborhoods. These examples raise similar questions about power: Who makes decisions about a place? Whose needs are prioritized? Whose connections to that place are overlooked?

I'm not sure how to make the idea of contested geographies understandable for third graders. Maybe starting with a familiar place (e.g. local playground) and explore what happens when different people have different ideas about the space, exploring questions like Who gets to decide? and Whose voices are heard? In past years we've learned about Lake Turkana Wind Farm in Kenya, exploring the effects on the Rendille, Turkana, and Samburu communities.

I Lost My Tooth in Africa

Ami Molkentine — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 21:06:19 +0000

I chose this lesson because it is something that has already come up in my classroom! I have students of many different cultural backgrounds, and recently one student mentioned "El Ratoncito" which sparked a conversation about the Tooth Mouse and the Tooth Fairy.

This book highlights what happens in certain African countries when children loose a tooth. I love that this is such a relatable concept, but has potential to provide totally new information. My students and I talk about "windows and mirrors" in books, and I think this is a great example of that concept.

Our study of maps in 4th grade would be a great connection with identifying where these different African countries are located.