Previous listings of African Studies offered at American universities have appeared each year in the Bulletin, the last one being in March 1964. The Editors thank all those who kindly supplied the information on which this summary is based, and they welcome any suggestions for improving the usefulness of this annual presentation or of extending the coverage. Later numbers of the Bulletin will include summaries of African Studies in Canada, Africa, Western Europe, the USSR, and Asia.
The summary divides institutions into two main classes. First, there are those with a formally constituted Program, Center, or Committee, where African Studies has some institutionalized existence. Second, there is a group of universities which, while having no formal African Studies Program, nevertheless offer, through their regular departments, courses dealing with Africa. The latter list does not pretend to be exhaustive; there are many other institutions which might have been included, but we have no information on them at the present time.
Students who are deciding to which school they should apply might bear in mind such factors as caliber of faculty, availability of fellowships (though the closing date for most applications for 1965/66 is already past), library facilities, other institutions in the vicinity, and research opportunities. Most scholars now agree that the area studies approach cannot exist without the more theoretical comparative approach, so that the presence of certain other scholars becomes very significant: in political science, for example, it would be advantageous to have available faculty who specialize in the comparative study of processes of modernization, or of revolutions, as well as those who concentrate on Africa as an area. Therefore, this guide merely outlines some of the main features of African Study Programs in the United States.
Introduction