AEGIS is a research network of European centres on

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

in the fields of

social science Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among members within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the ...

and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

. AEGIS' main goal is to improve understanding about contemporary African societies.

History and organisation

AEGIS was founded in 1991 by African studies centres in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

. Initially an informal grouping of related African Studies' organisations and groups, AEGIS would formalise in 1998 through the adoption of a formal statute. In the same year, it elected its first executive committee, which included

Patrick Chabal Patrick Chabal (29 April 1951 – 16 January 2014) was an Africanist of the late 20th and early 21st century. He had a long academic career. Patrick Chabal's latest position was Chair in African History & Politics at King's College London ...

as chair. In the course of a decade, it developed into a network that included centres from more European countries./ Starting in 1998, international conferences on a variety of thematic areas were organized in different countries. AEGIS continues to host thematic conferences (not to be confused with the ECAS gatherings, detailed below). AEGIS organises itself into small thematic groups (also called Collaborative Research Groups, or CRGS), focusing on specific subjects within the field of African Studies. Examples include 'CRG Africa in the Indian Ocean', 'CRG African Borderlands Research Network' and 'CRG African Migration, Mobility and Displacement (AMMODI)'. The current board consists of AEGIS President and Professor Amanda Hammar (CAS Copenhagen), Dr. David Ambrosetti (LAM Bordeaux), Professor Michael Bollig (Cologne), Professor Marleen Dekker (Leiden), Dr. Tom Molony (Edinburgh) and Dr. Isabella Soi (Cagliari). Chabal toespraak.jpg, Patrick Chabal, ECAS Conference

2007 ECAS2007Leiden.jpg, Hall, ECAS Conference Leiden 2007 ECAS2011Lisboa.jpg, Crowd and stage, ECAS Conference

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

2013 File:JemimaPierre2015.jpg, Jemima Pierre, ECAS Conference Paris Sorbonne 2015 File:EdgarPieterse2017.jpg, Edgar Pieterse, ECAS Basel 2017 ECAS2023Cologne.jpg, ECAS 2023 in Cologne (Germany)

European Conferences on African Studies (ECAS)

In the new millennium, the organization of European Conferences on African Studies (ECAS), open to everybody, became the central activity. The conferences take place every two years, always in a different country. ECAS 2021, scheduled to be held in Cologne, was postponed to June 2023. * 2005 : ''Approaching the post-colonial half century in sub-Saharan Africa'',

School of Oriental and African Studies The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS University of London; ) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury area ...

(SOAS), London (UK) * 2007 : ''African alternatives: initiative and creativity beyond current constraints'', African Studies Centre Leiden (Netherlands) * 2009 : ''Respacing Africa'', Institute of African Studies, University of Leipzig (Germany) * 2011 : ''African engagements: on whose terms?'',

Nordic Africa Institute Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) () serves as a research, documentation and information centre on modern Africa for the Nordic countries. The Institute conducts independent, policyrelevant research, provides analysis and informs decisionmaking, with ...

, Uppsala (Sweden) * 2013 : ''African dynamics in a multipolar world'', Centro de estudos africanos, Lisbonne (Portugal) * 2015 : ''Collective mobilisations in Africa: contestation, resistance, revolt'', Institut des mondes africains (IMAF) et Les Afriques dans le monde (LAM), Paris (France) * 2017 : ''Urban Africa - urban Africans: New encounters of the rural and the urban'', Centre for African Studies Basel, Swiss Society for African Studies, Bâle (Switzerland) * 2019 : ''Africa: connections and disruptions'', Centre of African Studies,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

(UK) * 2021 : no ECAS because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

* 2023 : ''African futures (ECAS9)'', Global South Studies Center (

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

) & IARA, Institute for Anthropological Research on Africa ( University of Leuven).

References

External links

AEGIS website
{{authority control Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies

History and organisation

European Conferences on African Studies (ECAS)

See also

References

External links