University of
Wisconsin-Madison African Studies Program
Outreach Services
Set Your Sites on
Africa
Internet Resources for Teachers
Prepared for A
Window on the World conference.
Compiled by the African Studies
Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Last verified April 24, 1999.
African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison
http://africa.wisc.edu
- Start here, at our own web page for K-12 Educational Resources. Includes
links to all of the sites below, as well as general information on Africa,
curriculum units, essays and articles, and links to other web sites, including
outreach programs from other universities. Also check http://africa.wisc.edu/links/
for an extensive list of Africa-related links and opportunities.
GENERAL AFRICAN STUDIES
RESOURCES
Africa News Service
http://www.africanews.org/
- Site established by Africa News Service, a non-profit
U.S. organization that distributes reports from African
newspapers, magazines, and news agencies. Information is
organized chronologically and thematically. You can
search by regions and countries, topics, and news
agencies, or go the Resource Pages for background
documents, Internet links, and archives.
An A-Z of African Studies on the Internet
http://www.lib.msu.edu/limb/a-z/az.html
- An A-Z of African Studies on the Internet is an
invaluable resource for specific country studies. Just
browsing we found ten web sites for one nation (Namibia),
including the National Archives, Fact Sheet, History,
Government Homepage, Internet Resources, Newspapers, the
National Library, Ministry of Tourism, and a discussion
group. Links are arranged by subject in alphabetical
order.
AKAN Cultural Symbols Project
http://www.marshall.edu/akanart/Akanartintro.html
- This site gives a general introduction to the Akan
culture of Ghana and provides photographs and detailed
information on Akan cloth (including Adinkra and Kente)
as well as wood carvings and metal casting, architecture,
economics, cosmology, and politics.
Africa South of the Sahara
http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/guide.html
- Africa South of the Sahara provides Internet resources by
country or region of the continent as well as by topic
(ranging from art to women). A trial search for one
country produced a listing of about sixty related web
pages. A great source for general information.
National Geographic Society
http://www.nationalgeographic.com
- This web site features two very interesting
Africa-related pages, "Escape from Slavery" and
"In Search of Human Origins." You'll also find
lessons designed to help teachers bring geography into
the classroom. National Geographic also offers a
comprehensive atlas that features maps, national flags,
and basic geographic, demographic and political
information on African countries.
Africanet
http://www.africanet.com
- Africanet.com provides country-specific information, tips
for travel to Africa, as well as a search engine to
facilitate research on specific topics and countries.
African Lives
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/africanlives/front.htm
- African Lives is a series of recent articles from the
Washington Post representing the everyday lives of people
across Africa, from Child Brides in Ivory Coast to Young
Urban Kenyans.
African Studies World Wide Web (University of
Pennsylvania)
http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/AS.html
- This site has many links including the African Studies
Association, East African Resources, Feeds from Africa,
K-12 Africa (providing lesson plans and E-mail addresses
of teachers and students in Africa), Books on Africa, and
detailed country-specific information, from flags,
languages, and maps to U.S. State Department Travel
Advisories.
Africam
http://www.africam.com/
- This site allows you to view live images taken by cameras
in the Djuma and Sabi Sabi Game Reserves, as well as
Satara and Orpen National Parks in South Africa.
South Africa: Can a Country Overcome its History?
http://www.learner.org/exhibits/southafrica/
- South Africa: Can a Country Overcome Its History? is from
the exhibits collection of the Annenberg/CPB project. The
history of South Africa from the arrival of Europeans in
1652 through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission is
covered. After each section is an Interactive Timeline
quiz. Students can use an e-mail address to be entered
into a drawing for each timeline solved correctly.
Includes a related resources section.
South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
http://www.truth.org.za/
- This web site gives legal background, transcripts,
updates and press releases, a recommended reading list,
audio recordings of Archbishop Desmond Tutu's speeches,
and photographs from the hearings.
The Nubia Salvage Project
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/PROJ/NUB/Nubia.html
- The Nubia Salvage Project web page provides background
information on Nubia, the world's first Black
civilization. Nubia stretched from central Sudan to
southern Egypt.
Ethiopia: Land of Plenty
http://www.webstories.co.nz/focus/etiopia/index.html
- (Note: This is not a typographical error. The
"h" is left out of Ethiopia in the URL.)
Ethiopia: Land of Plenty is a presentation of OneWorld
magazine, and contains beautiful images and stories about
the nation's past (e.g. Sellassie vs. Mussolini), the
land (e.g. Gelada Baboons), and the people (e.g. Women in
Power).
EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Humanities and Social Sciences Online: Teaching About Africa
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/~afrteach/
- A Teaching About Africa site developed by H-Net
(Humanities and Social Sciences Online). This excellent
site offers Discussion Lists, Lesson Plans, Unit
Outlines, Course Syllabi, Perspectives on Stereotypes,
and reviews of educational materials.
Africa Access Review
http://www.inform.umd.edu/mdk-12/homepers/africa/
- Contains Africa Access Review of K-12 Materials and
Afrophile: Recommended Titles on Africa for Children and
Young People, an annotated bibliography listing over 500
titles referenced by grade level. This site is a little
bit difficult to maneuver, but the reviews of the books
are thoughtfully done.
Lesson Plans and Resources for Social Studies Teachers
http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/index.html
- This site, Lesson Plans and Resources for Social Studies
Teachers, is a collection of Internet resources gathered
by California State University-Northridge Professor Marty
Levine. Click on "Online Activities" for links
to Africa Online For Kids Only, Ancient Egypt, Ancient
Egypt WebQuest, Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Odyssey in Egypt,
and South Africa Notebook Assignment.
African Links and Resources
http://www.execpc.com/~dboals/africa.html#AFRICA
- Wisconsin resident Dennis Boals created this
History/Social Studies Site for K-12 Teachers. The Africa
section is a annotated bibliography of 72 links to
Africa-related educational sites.
Knowledge Unlimited
http://www.ku.com/
- Good source of teaching materials available for purchase.
Africa-related materials include maps (How Big is
Africa?), posters (Math of Africa), videos (The Roots of
African Civilization) and more. Click on "Knowledge
Unlimited Online Catalogue" and type
"Africa" in the search box. You can also sign
up to receive a print copy of the catalog by mail.
Peace Corps | World
Wise Schools
http://www.peacecorps.gov/wws/index.html
- World Wise Schools is an innovative global education
program that provides students in the United States with
a view of life in one of the more than 80 countries where
Peace Corps Volunteers serve.
AFRICAN NEWS
Africa News
http://www.africanews.org
- This site contains up-to-date news and analysis of issues
that impact Africa. It also provides a variety of links
and resources related to African Studies.
AJR Newslink
http://www.newslink.org/nonusf.html
- This site, developed by the American Journalism Review,
offers links to African newspapers listed by country.
This site would be of particular interest to foreign
language teachers or any individual interested in
following news directly from Africa.
Woyaa! Africa on the Internet
http://www.woyaa.com
- Woyaa offers African news and events, as well as a vast
network of information on business, government,
education, society, and much more.
Africa Online
http://www.africaonline.com/
- Africa Online offers current information on news and
weather, as well as an introduction to various aspects of
African life including: women's issues, music, education,
etc.
Newspapers on the World Wide Web
http://www.gt.kth.se/publishing/news.html
- This site allows you to access current editions of
newspapers from cities and countries around the world.
Useful for providing updates on current events in Africa
from a local perspective, and contrasting that to what,
and how, news is reported by the American media. African
papers represented include the Ghanaian Newsrunner, The
Monitor (Uganda), a variety of South African newspapers,
and the Zambia Daily Mail and Post.
Columbia University African Studies Internet Resources
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/area/Africa/
- This site features electronic journals and newspapers on
Africa. Also includes a directory of African studies
scholars, and resources organized by region, country,
organization, and topic. Teaching resources also
available.
The Washington Post: Africa
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/world/africa/
- This site offers coverage of African current events from
the Washington Post and updates from the Associated
Press. A "Search the World" section also allows
you to connect to a special page listing news, reference
data, and web resources for any country.
FACTS AND FIGURES
Index on Africa
http://www.africaindex.africainfo.no/
- Maintained by the Norwegian Council for Africa (NCA), this site contains
a very useful "Search Index on Africa" as well as links catalogued
by country and subject; also provides continually updated news on Africa.
This is an excellent site for in-depth and current information about Africa.
AFRICAN ART & MUSIC
Africa: The Art of a Continent
http://artnetweb.com/guggenheim/africa/index.html
- This web site offers an interactive map allowing you to
focus on the artistic culture of each region of Africa,
giving geographical trends and explanations along with
photographs. This exhibition is meant to celebrate the
extraordinary contribution of the African continent to
the world's visual culture. This exhibition includes
works ranging from the tools and rock art of early
humankind to objects produced well into the twentieth
century.
African Odyssey Interactive
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/odyssey.html
- African Odyssey Interactive, which was developed by the
Kennedy Center, welcomes you with African music and
images of African culture and art. This site offers a
listing of African arts events around the world and a
variety of educational resources. African Odyssey
Interactive also features a section entitled Spinning
Africa: Stories from Life, which invites teachers and
students to share their own interpretation and
understanding of African cultures through stories, music,
dance, and other forms of creative expression.
Cutting to the Essence, Shaping for the Fire
http://www.fa.indiana.edu/~conner/africart/home.html
- Cutting to the Essence, Shaping for the Fire is an
experimental online catalog for an exhibit of Yoruba and
Akan art. This great web site includes photographs of a
variety of pieces along with their histories.
Tamarin: Art and Africa Online
http://www.tamarin.com/
- Tamarin: Art and Africa Online provides an online exhibit
of art and sculpture, with descriptions of the meaning of
the work in cultural terms. This site is available in
English and French.
California Newsreel
http://www.newsreel.org/nav/topics.asp?cat=4
- The Library of African Cinema offers descriptions of
contemporary African films on a wide variety of topics.
This is a great resource for anyone looking for a diverse
collection of African and African-American film.
African Music Encyclopedia
http://www.africanmusic.org
- This site includes lists of musical artists by country,
but also offers links to general, country-specific
information on all the countries of Africa.
Africa Online: Music
http://www.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/covermusic.html
- This site offers information concerning the history,
trends, and artists of African music. This web site,
which is divided regionally, includes a listening booth
where you can hear selected songs online.
Africa on Roots World
http://www.rootsworld.com/rw/africa.html
- This site includes reviews of African recordings by
region, interviews with African musical artists, sound
files, and links to related sites.
Art and Life in Africa
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/index.html
- An introduction and guide to the related CD-ROM project.
Online resources include profiles of 107 African cultures
and 27 Sub-Saharan African countries, a databank of 47
lesson plans for K-12 teachers, and a Teacher's Forum
with a discussion group and chat room.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
African Wildlife Foundation
http://www.awf.org
- The African Wildlife Foundation seeks to conserve African
wildlife and its natural habitat. This site includes news
and information about conservation efforts and wildlife.
Wildnet Africa
http://wildnetafrica.co.za/index.html
- In addition to travel information, this site includes
wildlife news and a kid's corner with photos and games.
Earthlife Africa
http://www.earthlife.org.za/
- This site is the home page of Earthlife Africa, a South
African environmental organization. Includes sign-up for
an e-mailing list regarding environmental concerns in
South Africa and fact sheets that can be downloaded. A
section specifically for children will be launched later
this year.
The Environment Internet Guide
http://environment.miningco.com/
- Detailed site on environmental issues worldwide, with a
new article each week on an environmental topic with
associated Internet links. Scroll down and click on
"More Links" to find "Africa."
The Real WORLD Resources Guide
http://www.gn.apc.org/eco/resguide/index.html
- The Real WORLD Resources Guide was published by the
Campaign for Political Ecology in 1996. This site
features a bibliographical study about the growing
imbalance between human activities and the capacity of
environmental systems to sustain them. Scroll down to
1.7, Specific Countries & Regions, to find an
excellent bibliography of books related to the African
environment.
The World Wildlife Fund
http://www.wwf.org
- The World Wildlife Fund details the work they are doing in Africa and Madagascar,
providing maps and conservation analyses, which can be viewed using the Macromedia
Flash plug-in. World Wildlife Fund publications, such as The Challenge of
African Elephant Conservation (4/97), Balancing Population and Conservation
(12/96) and Is Sustainable Use Sustainable? (6/96) can be purchase from this
site.
K-12 RESOURCES FROM OTHER
NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTERS
Institute of African Studies-Columbia University
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/area/Africa/
- This site for the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University, NY
includes links to African Studies Programs, electronic journals and newspapers,
and African Studies resources by region, country, and topic (including Teaching
Resources).
SITES RELATED TO REGIONAL
EXHIBITS AND PROGRAMS
Africa: One Continent, Many Worlds
http://www.lam.mus.ca.us/africa/
- This on-line exhibit is from the traveling museum exhibit
with the same name. It includes over sixty minutes of
video and hundreds of photos of African cultural objects.
Menu choices include African Stories, Atlas, and
Classroom Ideas. The exhibit is at the Science Museum of
Minnesota in St. Paul through 5/9/99. Check the web site
for future dates and locations.
Africa's Elephant Kingdom
http://discoveryschool.com/specials/aek/
- Discovery Channel School has developed an educator's
guide to the new IMAX film "Africa's Elephant
Kingdom." This film is currently being shown at the
Humphrey IMAX Dome Theater in Milwaukee.
Public Broadcasting Service
http://www.pbs.org
- Online resource for current and past programming as well
as Teacher's Guides. This web site features information
about past PBS programs related to Africa including
"Night Creatures of the Kalahari, and the
"Electronic Field Trip to the United Nations."
FRANCOPHONE RESOURCES
Jeune Afrique
http://www.jeuneafrique.com
- Jeune Afrique is a weekly magazine published in Paris by Africans from all
francophone areas of Africa. The magazine--and this web site--provides an
interesting perspective on events occurring in French-speaking areas of Africa.
KIDSTUFF
Africa Online: Kids Only Page
http://www.africaonline.com/AfricaOnline/coverkids.html
- This "Kids Only" page of Africa Online has games to play and messages
to decode, Kenya's Rainbow Magazine for kids, information about Africa and
its schools, and an excellent interactive quiz for younger children to learn
about Africa's geography, climate, languages, and cultures. Kids can join
the Global Friends club, and in the "Educators Only" sections, teachers
can send for a catalog of Global Friends Curriculum Guides (African countries
covered are Egypt and Kenya). Students can even submit pictures for display
in "Our African Art Gallery."
ADVENTURE
Envirolink
http://www.envirolink.org/
- Click on education, and in the "Quick Library
Search" box, type in "Africa." This will
lead you to several links, including AfricaQuest, an
online educational expedition.
Essays and Articles: