Student advocacy brings African philosophies to Augustana

Three years after leaders of the African Student Union first advocated for African-focused curriculum, Augustana will offer a new African Philosophies course in the spring 2027 semester.

The new course will teach students African worldviews, philosophers and how African philosophy has shifted through the colonial and post-colonial periods.

Stephen Minister, professor of philosophy, developed the course and will teach it in the spring. He said the course “completes the map” for his department’s curriculum.

“We've got philosophy courses that cover philosophies from a variety of places in the world: Europe, the Americas, Asia, but there are none that are focused completely on Africa,” Minister said. “This was a place where we had a gap in the curriculum.”

Minister said that while he considered creating an African philosophy course for years, student advocacy helped prompt its development.

Three years ago, two African Student Union (ASU) leaders — current ASU president Chilotam Okafor and then-president Benita Manzengo, a 2024 graduate — visited Minister’s office to ask why Augustana lacked courses dedicated to Africa.

Okafor credited Manzengo with initiating the push.

She was the one who spearheaded this movement,” Okafor said. “I felt like it would be important to have such courses, especially when we have courses representing different regions.”

In March 2024, Manzengo made that case in a column for The Augustana Mirror, writing that excluding Africa from on-campus courses was an “academic failure” that left a hole in the university’s liberal arts curriculum.

Initially, Okafor and Manzengo hoped to establish an African Studies major or minor and met with the Augustana Student Association (ASA) curriculum committee. Then, they approached faculty members who might teach an Africa-focused class, which led them to Minister.

“Benita was really close with Dr. Minister, so we just went up to him and had that conversation, and he received it well,” Okafor said. “He was very onboard with that idea.”

Minister said developing the course took years because of the research necessary to compile academic materials while managing a regular teaching load.

“In my undergraduate and graduate philosophy study, I don't think I ever read any African thinkers,” Minister said. “That's where it takes some effort on the part of us instructors who want to diversify the curriculum, to go out and to do the reading and studying.”

Despite the three-year timeline, Okafor said the development and approval moved faster than she anticipated. 

“I think it takes a lot to plan a class, and you have to go through everything to get it approved, so it’s kind of a long process,” Okafor said. “I’m happy that it did go in a relatively short amount of time.”

She also said that the addition aligns with Augustana’s liberal arts mission. 

“I feel like having all these different classes that teach us about different backgrounds and ways of thinking helps us,” Okafor said.

Minister said he believes all students can benefit from taking African Philosophies by getting a better understanding cultures of people around them. 

“We need to listen to each other's thinkers and understand each other’s worldviews,” he said.

Jacob Saunders, a sophomore philosophy major, said he’s interested in the course and that learning about contemporary African thinkers would be “eye-opening”.

“I would totally be happy to take it,” Saunders said. “I don’t think I could name a single African philosopher right now.”

Students can register for African Philosophies during spring registration. The class will meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11 to 11:50 a.m.