Professor David Wiley, former Director of the Michigan State University African Studies Center, is interviewed by MSU Librarian Peter Limb and John Metzler, MSU Professor of Education. Wiley reflects on his youth in Harrisburg, Illinois and an upbringing of manual labor and familiarity with rural life which he says prepared him for his career studying Africa. Wiley describes attending Yale Divinity school and going to Africa on an internship to work on race issues. He talks about life in Rhodesia and Southern Africa, Apartheid, poverty, education, religion, and class. Wiley also explains why he came to MSU after teaching at the University of Wisconsin, appreciating the activism at MSU, and his relations with other faculty associated with the African Studies Center. Wiley describes a number of MSU initiatives in Africa, his activity in the anti-Apartheid movement and finally visiting a free South Africa. Part of the African Studies Interview Series sponsored by the MSU Libraries and the MSU African Studies Center.
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