The International African Institute (IAI) was founded (as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures - IIALC) in 1926 in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for the study of

African languages The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Souther ...

Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

was the first chairman (1926 to his death in 1945);

Diedrich Hermann Westermann Diedrich Hermann Westermann (June 24, 1875 – May 31, 1956) was a German missionary, Africanist, and linguist. He substantially extended and revised the work of Carl Meinhof, his teacher, although he rejected some of Meinhof's theories only impl ...

(1926 to 1939) and Maurice Delafosse (1926) were the initial co-directors. Since 1928, the IAI has published a quarterly journal, ''

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

''. For some years during the 1950s and 1960s, the assistant editor was the novelist Barbara Pym. The IAI's mission is "to promote the education of the public in the study of Africa and its languages and cultures". Its operations includes seminars, journals, monographs, edited volumes and stimulating scholarship within Africa.

Publications

The IAI has been involved in scholarly publishing since 1927. Scholars whose work has been published by the institute include Emmanuel Akeampong, Samir Amin, Karin Barber,

Alex de Waal Alexander William Lowndes de Waal (born 22 February 1963), a British researcher on African elite politics, is the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Previously, he w ...

, Patrick Chabal,

Mary Douglas Dame Mary Douglas, (25 March 1921 – 16 May 2007) was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism, whose area of speciality was social anthropology. Douglas was considered a follower of Émile Durkheim ...

, E. E. Evans Pritchard,

Jack Goody Sir John Rankine Goody (1919–2015) was an English social anthropologist. He was a prominent lecturer at Cambridge University, and was William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology from 1973 to 1984. Among his main publications were ''Death ...

Jane Guyer Jane I. Guyer (born 31 December 1943) is the George Armstrong Kelly Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. Biography Before coming to Hopkins, Guyer taught at Northwestern University, Harvard University, and Bos ...

, Monica Hunter, Bronislaw Malinowski, Z. K. Matthews, D. A. Masolo, Achille Mbembe,

Thomas Mofolo Thomas Mokopu Mofolo (22 December 1876 – 8 September 1948) is considered the greatest Basotho author. He wrote mostly in the Sesotho language, but his most popular book, '' Chaka'', has been translated into English and other languages. Biography ...

, John Middleton, Simon Ottenburg, J. D. Y. Peel,

Mamphela Ramphele Mamphela Aletta Ramphele (; born 28 December 1947) is a South African politician, an activist against apartheid, a medical doctor, an academic and businesswoman. She was a partner of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, with whom she had two chil ...

Isaac Schapera Isaac Schapera FBA FRAI (23 June 1905 Garies, Cape Colony – 26 June 2003 London, England), was a social anthropologist at the London School of Economics specialising in South Africa. He was notable for his contributions of ethnographic an ...

Monica Wilson Monica Wilson, née Hunter (3 January 1908 – 26 October 1982) was a South African anthropologist, who was professor of social anthropology at the University of Cape Town. Life Monica Hunter was born to missionary parents in Lovedale in t ...

and

V. Y. Mudimbe Valentin-Yves Mudimbe (born 8 December 1941, Jadotville, Belgian Congo) is a Congolese philosopher, professor, and author of poems, novels, as well as books and articles on African culture and intellectual history. Mudimbe is Ruth F. DeVarney Prof ...

. IAI publications fall into a number of series, notably International African Library and International African Seminars. The International African Library is published from volume 41 (2011) by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

; Volumes 7–40 are available from

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

. , there are 49 volumes.

History

Africa alphabet

In 1928, the IAI (then IIALC) published an "

Africa Alphabet The Africa Alphabet (also International African Alphabet or IAI alphabet) was developed by the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures in 1928, with the help of some Africans led by Diedrich Hermann Westermann, who served as di ...

" to facilitate standardization of Latin-based writing systems for African languages.

Prize for African-language literature, 1929–50

From April 1929 to 1950, the IAI offered prizes for works of literature in

.Sow, Alfa I., and Mohamed H. Abdulaziz, "Language and Social Change," Ch. 18 in Ali A. Mazrui (ed.), ''Africa Since 1935'' (UNESCO General History of Africa, Vol. 8). University of California Press, 1993, pp. 526–7.

List of chairmen

* 1926–1945:

Frederick Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...

; first chairman * 1945–1949:

Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell Major-General Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell (25 October 1895 – 15 March 1978), known as Lord Rennell, was an army officer and the second but eldest surviving son of the diplomat Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell. He served as a ...

* 1949–1957: Sir John Waddington

Notes

External links

IAI website
International organisations based in London Languages of Africa Organizations established in 1926 {{UK-org-stub