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About the Institute for the African Child

The Institute for the African Child:

  • Encourages holistic approaches to the understanding of children and childhood in Africa.
  • Expands the conversation among African Studies scholars across all academic disciplines.
  • Seeks partnerships and affiliations with professional organizations focused on Africa's children.
  • Promotes research and advocacy for children and childhood in Africa.
  • Sponsors international conferences, seminars and courses about childhood and children in Africa.
  • Publishes an online, peer reviewed journal, Childhood in Africa: An Interdisciplinary Journal

Childhood in Africa: An Interdisciplinary Journal is the journal of The Institute for the African Child at Ohio University. Childhood in Africa is published online on a bi-annual basis. It follows the mission statement and goals of the Institute for the African Child by encouraging holistic approaches to the understanding of and issues impacting children and childhood in Africa.

Childhood in Africa seeks to reflect African and Africanist perspectives regarding children and childhood. It includes all academic disciplines in the discussion of childhood in Africa and also attempts to further the professional interests of Africanists by disseminating knowledge about children and childhood in Africa.

Submissions are welcome from any discipline that concerns Africa's children, and from practitioners in governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). We wish to particularly encourage our colleagues in Africa to use this forum.

For submission guidelines please contact Steve Howard, Director of the Center for International Studies, at howard@ohio.edu.

The Institute for the African Child has faculty members in six colleges at Ohio University :

  • College of Arts and Sciences
  • Scripps College of Communication
  • Patton College of Education
  • College of Fine Arts
  • College of Health Sciences and Professions
  • Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine

Listed below are IAC faculty and a sampling of their research interests:

College of Arts and Sciences

  • Arthur Hughes, Street Children: Language Acquisition
  • Diane Ciekawy, Cultural Anthropology: Health and Healing in Africa, African Children and Human Rights
  • Ghirmai Negash, Linguistic rights of children, use of mother tongue
  • Tom Smucker, Geography,

College of Communication

  • Vibert Cambridge, Telecommunication: Broadcasting for African Child Survival
  • Stephen Howard, Educational Studies: Participatory Research with Children, The Possibilities of African Childhood

College of Education

  • Yegan Pillay, Counseling: Cross Culture, HIV/AIDS counseling, Teacher Education: African Children's Literature
  • Sandra Turner, Instructional Technology: Technology in the African Classroom

College of Health and Human Services

  • David Holben, Human and Consumer Sciences: Nutritional Issues in Zimbabwe

College of Osteopathic Medicine

  • Gillian Ice, Social Medicine: Impact of HIV/AIDS on older adults and orphaned children
  • William Romoser, Biological Sciences: Vector-borne Disease and Children