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asses them, and would like to turn on a new page. That is a difficult concern to address, and my response to them is that reference to the past will always continue to haunt and hurt us all for as long as symbols of the past remain.

 

Reflecting on “insider” academics teaching “outsider” students, Naemeka (2005:59) observes thatmany non-African (particularly Western) students who walk into courses on African women fall in into a different category; almost all of the come with expectations pretty much defined and entrenched in their minds. The teacher who teaches otherwise risks, among other things, receiving uncomplimentary evaluations for his or her unpardonable deviancy.

 

When in his feedback, one of the students noted that I was perceived as a “propagandist” after the first lecture, it was not surprising. I came in and declared from the beginning that I subscribed and practised African culture, and that, in fact, I was being initiated to become igqirha/sangoma – a traditional doctor wrongly referred to in English as a “witchdoctor”. I made this declaration fully aware that many in academic institutions think that those of us who have had the “privilege” of being educated in white values-driven academic institutions are “elevated” from the “superstitious” masses of the Africans. This was confirmed to me when an Afrikaans female student in her feedback wrote that she cannot “understand how educated, westernised, liberal people can still believe in sangomas and witchcraft”. So shocked was one female Afrikaans student about my stand, that she came to the office almost in tears, to ask me not to talk about African rituals in class. That was because, she said, as a result of the lecture I gave about rituals in the river where Africans communicate with their ancestors, she suffered nightmares. Remarkably, she referred to these rituals as “witchcraft” quoting the Bible to back up her point. Kindly, but firmly, I told her that the Bible was not the only point of reference, and that was precisely why I was teaching African culture, so that students would know that there many paradigms in the world.

 

One of the significant observations that Nnaemeka (2005:60) makes regarding teaching cultural studies is the overemphasis on differences. She asserts that in the struggle for human dignity “we could accomplish much by teaching similarities and connections as well as differences”. While her focus and emphasis were on teaching about African women, her observation that it makes sense for teachers to “teach connections, thereby reducing the distance between the student and the foreign culture and increasing points of interaction and identification”, made sense. I did this by examining the logic behind certain approaches in the students’ cultures against mine. This meant that I took the responsibility to learn about the students’ cultures as well.

 

There is no guarantee that when journalism students’ are informed about others’ cultures that they will practice ethical journalism. They could still choose to prostrate themselves to their pre本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。