Challenging the Narrative

In February 2019, Rice students on the newly formed Increasing African Presence in Academia committee organized a wide-ranging and well-attended discussion on Western misconceptions about Africa.

“There’s often not much focus on Africa in Western education in general,” said co-organizer Zubaidat Agboola, a kinesiology major and Wiess College sophomore whose family comes from Nigeria.

“Usually it starts and stops at the trans-Atlantic slave trade. And being from an African background, I see these false narratives propagated on TV shows, in movies, in literature even.” The event also helped raise awareness of Rice’s African studies minor.

Some students shared their own perspectives as African-born students, with focus on the uniqueness of the African versus the black experience in America. “I like being in an environment where I can hear what my fellow classmates have to say,” said Jones College junior Azalech Hinton.

Fellow Jones College student Chidera Ezuma-Igwe, a senior studying sociology, said she doesn’t get to discuss Africa much in her own studies. This made the diversity dialogue a must-attend event for her. “I’m Nigerian and I take a lot of pride in my culture, so I wanted to be here and talk about it but also hear perspectives from different countries as well,” she said. 

“Within [the Rice African Student Association], we often examine and discuss these topics, but only in our community,” said Axel Ntamatungiro, a Duncan College sophomore. “We want to foster dialogue with the rest of Rice.”