CSUN political scientist Jennifer De Maio focuses her research on Sub-Saharan Africa. She’s working on a new book: “Africa’s Scramble for Africa: The Changing Nature of Africa’s International Relations.”

Northridge Magazine: Why do you focus your research on civil wars and conflict management in Sub-Saharan Africa?

De Maio: Conflicts in Africa affect not only the continent itself but the global community. You hear about injustice, genocide, the plight of child soldiers, the spread of disease, and it strikes something at a very human level. It makes me ask, “What can we understand about what’s driving these conflicts? Why are we not doing anything about it? Or should we, meaning the West, be doing anything about it?” I see bumper stickers that say “Save Darfur,” the conflict I’m studying most right now. But this idea of saving Darfur has so many overtones of westerners parachuting in to save poor Africans. I’m not comfortable with the notion of “saving” Africans. They don’t need to be “saved” by the West.

NM: What interests your students most about Africa?

De Maio: It surprises them how much the U.S. and Africa have in common. For example, our students think of apartheid in South Africa as awful, shocking. But then I’ll point to the fact that, in the U.S., we’re not that far away from the apartheid mentality, historically. We’ll discuss life under the Jim Crow laws in the South, and that brings it home to them. I have a responsibility as an Africanist to bring Africa into the interdisciplinary dialogue.

NM: What baffles them most?

De Maio: Controversial issues like female circumcision. I use these topics as a way to help students realize they are looking at African issues through a Western lens. One of my goals in teaching my classes, especially on Africa, is to have students question they way they view things, not necessarily to change their viewpoints, but to deconstruct them.

NM: Do you see a way to integrate the Sub-Saharan region into the global economy?

De Maio: The global economy likes to keep African countries at the bottom of the food chain. We tell them what to grow and we set the prices at which they can sell those goods. We’ve made the African economy so dependent on the European market, there’s no incentive for them to grow and sell to other Africans. We see Africa as the supplier, with countries like Kenya growing tulips for the Danish market instead of food to feed its own population. Not enough consideration is given to what would most benefit African societies, in terms of growing and refining products.

NM: In “Confronting Ethnic Conflict,” your most recent book, you contend that conflict management in Africa—or indeed, anywhere—works best if all parties “own” a negotiated peace. Is “Africa’s Scramble for Africa,” due out in 2011, a natural outgrowth of your previous book?

De Maio: It is. It focuses on bringing Africa into the international relations dialogue…The fact that we’re now seeing increasing conflicts between countries, instead of just civil wars, is part of the normal state development. War is never something we want from a human perspective, but from the perspective of developing a state, it’s …the way power becomes consolidated. After almost 40 years of uneven development and growth, the spectrum between weaker and stronger African states is becoming more clearly defined. That’s why I call my book “Africa’s Scramble for Africa.” Within the next 50 years, we’ll see a lot of positive growth in terms of stable governments…But Africa’s position in the global economy has to be re-conceptualized first. Absent that, it can’t be independent of Western influence.

NM: What do you want your students to appreciate about Africa?

De Maio: I want them to know how much variation there is among African countries…there’s so much diversity. Yes, I focus on conflicts, but far more evident is the beauty. The story of Africa today is not one of tragedy, but actually a story of triumph and achievement. Africa has a way of getting into your soul.

For information on DeMaio’s current book, “Confronting Ethnic Conflict,” visit www.northridgemagazine.com/faculty-in-print/

— Brenda Roberts

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