African-Studies Scholars Debate Race in the Field

Article sparks blacks to push for a more central role

By Denise K. Magner

A new generation of black scholars, tired of what they describe as their marginal role in the field of African studies, is organizing a caucus to promote their interests within the African Studies Association.

Their efforts were sparked by a controversial opinion article published in The Chronicle last spring by a well-known white Africanist. Philip D. Curtin, a professor of history at the Johns Hopkins University, wrote that too many campus administrators were "ghettoizing