Teaching Economics: Viewing Africa in a New Light

In his 1991 Presidential Address, then president of the National Economic Association (NEA) Thomas Boston gave a speech that discussed the widespread commercial activity in the Indian Ocean region during premodern times. However, most economists are unaware of the history of this region. This paper argues that the Swahili Coast, which was part of the premodern Indian Ocean trading network, can be used as a case study to spur discussion of several important economic concepts and as an opportunity for the economics discipline to change the way it features Africa in the classroom. The paper showcases four instructional tools to illustrate this argument. It ends with a discussion of a contemporary debate about the epistemology of the economics discipline.