Yesterday I taught African politics for the first time. Ever. I'll be honest; it scared me a little. After all that time in graduate school and dissertation writing and TA-ing for African politics classes and thinking about African politics, the thought of actually importing knowledge on the subject? It was exhilarating and frightening all at once.I've been debating back and forth for oh, six years or so, as to whether I'd have the nerve to begin my class the way the legendary Bill Foltz began his: with a postcolonial reading of Babar's adventures in becoming civilized by the Old Lady (aka, France). Today we ran out of time, but come colonialism week, I'm absolutely going to do it. Kate was thoughtful enough to remind me of the above picture, and, really, what kind of educator would I be if I didn't include this in their introduction to the study of the continent's politics?