African Studies Home: Home

What is in this guide?

This guide provides an introduction to African Studies Resources at UNC libraries.

Articles - online access to journals and magazines

Newspaper Resources - online access to current and historical African newspaper collections

Primary Sources - online access to primary source databases

Background Information - reference materials relating to general and introductory topics and research on Africa

African Collection Overview

Collection History

UNC’s Africana research collections date from the late 1970s, when the cooperative programs with Duke for the continent began. UNC complements Duke’s focus on the Anglophone British Commonwealth countries by concentrating on the francophone and lusophone nations. During the 1980s UNC also undertook major retrospective acquisition initiatives for these countries.

Major Subject Emphases

History (including European colonization/colonialism)
Political Science
Human Rights
Economics
Demography/Population
Anthropology/Ethnography
Sociology
Women
Geography
Environment
Languages/Linguistics
Belles Lettres in English and French
Health

Geographical Emphases

Western, Central, and Eastern Africa: Angola, Benin, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Congo (Democratic Republic of), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Reunion, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
North Africa: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.

Proposed Language Emphasis for North Africa Collections

English
French
Arabic (teaching needs and selectively)

African Studies Emphases

African History (all periods)
Black Atlantic

Academic Core

Atlantic Slave
African Diaspora
Race and Race Relation
Environment
Sustainable Development
Women Studies
Health and Community (including HIV AIDS)
Human Rights
French-speaking West Africa (especially Senegal)
Franco-Arab Literary Studies
Art

New Areas (Since 2005)

Selected West African languages (Wolof and Lingala)
Kiswahili/Swahili (language & popular novels)
Arabic (language & literature)
Islam in Africa
Film

African Union

The African Union
The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999).