Focus & Scope

UHURU is the undergraduate academic journal of the African Studies Program at McGill University. Founded as a platform for critical inquiry, UHURU publishes outstanding undergraduate research, creative work, and commentary that engage with Africa and the African diaspora from multidisciplinary perspectives.

The journal’s mission is to:

• Amplify undergraduate scholarship on African histories, politics, cultures, literatures, and social transformations;
• Support rigorous and ethical knowledge production rooted in African perspectives;
• Foster community among scholars, students, and creators engaging with African Studies at McGill and beyond.

The idea for the aptly named UHURU (Freedom in Swahili) originated from the initiative, intellectual talent, and perseverance of the African Studies Students’ Association (ASSA) and the many students here at McGill who, over the years, have been steadfast in promoting rigorous academic research on topics related to Africa and the African diaspora.

Indeed, UHURU speaks poignantly to advancements in the scholarship on Africa (including African cultural and artistic production) in ways that would have defied expectations only a few years ago. A product of the tireless efforts of its editorial team, headed ably by Henry Maidoh, the Journal underscores issues associated with the historical (mis)representation of Africa, the importance of working towards decolonizing scholarship and art on the continent, the vital importance of including (and centering) research produced by student authors from Africa and those of African descent, and the encouragement of any and all contributions that address African topics from a critical analytical lens.

Readers of UHURU will immediately recognize the Journal’s overall sentiment of “Sharing?” That is, the ways in which cross-disciplinary work on Africa and the African diaspora contributes to our understanding of some of the most pressing issues not only in Africa but throughout the globe. Consequently, and taken together, the contributions to this volume not only center work on Africa in new, novel, and critical ways; they foreground the avenues through which scholarship on Africa and the African diaspora paves the way for academics, students, and the wider community alike to understand that efforts at combating misrepresentations of our communities worldwide.