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Educating and hiring an “African” in America’s Colleges/Schools of Education: my voice

  • Festus E. Obiakor EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: April 21, 2022
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Abstract

Africans coming to the United States of America to go to school traditionally have the ultimate goal of getting the best education and going back to their respective countries. That was my goal when I left Nigeria many decades ago! However, considering the socio-economic and political upheavals in African nations, one is forced to rethink the goal, especially when your family arrives at the same uneasy and difficult conclusion. Leaving family members is bad enough, and not going back after one’s education is even worse. These are the psychological battles that most Africans endure when they decide to finally settle to work in the United States. Then, when one combines these family worries with searching for jobs; locating jobs; enduring departmental, College/School, and university politics; and marrying and raising families; the problems become unbearable and frequently insurmountable. The consequences are grave and require well-planned survival skills that are unimaginable. This is my story and the essence of this article.


Corresponding author: Festus E. Obiakor, Sunny Educational Consulting, Shorewood, WI, USA, E-mail:

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Article Note

Portions of this article appeared as a chapter in Obiakor’s 2020 book, Valuing Other Voices: Discourses that Matter in Education, Social Justice, and Multiculturalism published by Information Age, Charlotte, North Carolina.


Published Online: 2022-04-21

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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