The International African Institute (IAI) aims to promote the scholarly study of Africa's history, societies and cultures. The institute realizes its aims primarily by means of scholarly publishing. Read more about us.
The IAI publishes the long established and prestigious journal, Africa, the annual Africa Bibliography, the International African Library series, the African Arguments series; and the Readings in… series, for use in tertiary level teaching of African studies.
NEWS
Local intellectuals strand - call for papers
The aim of this strand of the journal is to introduce and analyse texts – whether oral, manuscript or print – produced by authors outside the literary or academic mainstream.
Read more and view the call for papers >>
Call for papers: Africa Bibliography Introductory Essays
Articles of 5,000-8,000 words on topics relating to research, libraries, archives and publishing in and on Africa, and in African studies, are invited.
Find out more here or contact Managing Editor Stephanie Kitchen for further details, sk111(at)soas.ac.uk.
International African Library series - call for proposals
The Institute and series editors welcome new proposals for this series. Please see further details at The International African Library page.
IAI at ASAUK 2018 At ASAUK 2018
The IAI is organising a stream 'Africa 90 years on'.
For more details see: www.asauk.net/stream-90-years-of-the-international-african-institute/
We are also hosting a workshop/roundtable on the African Arguments book series. See www.asauk.net/african-arguments-book-series-and-blog/
NEW TITLES
Coastal Sierra Leone: Materiality and the Unseen in Maritime West Africa
Jennifer Diggins
Jennifer Diggins offers a dynamic account of post-war Sierra Leone, through the examination of a precarious frontier economy and those who depend on it. One can go a long way towards mapping the town's shifting networks of friendship, love, and obligation simply by watching the vast daily traffic in gifts of fish exchanging hands on the wharf. However, these mundane social and economic strategies are often inflected through a cultural dynamic of 'secrecy', and a shared sense of the unseen forces understood to inhabit the material world.
Read more >>
The Trial of Hissène Habré: How the People of Chad Brought a Tyrant to Justice
Celeste Hicks
When Hissène Habré, the deposed dictator of Chad, was found guilty of crimes against humanity in 2016, it was described as ‘a watershed for human rights justice in Africa and beyond’. For the first time, an African war criminal had been convicted on African soil. Having followed the trial from the very beginning and interviewed many of those involved, journalist Celeste Hicks tells the remarkable story of how Habré was brought to justice. Read more >>
Quranic Schools in Northern Nigeria: Everyday Experiences of Youth, Faith, and Poverty
Hannah Hoechner
In a global context of widespread fears over Islamic radicalisation and militancy, poor Muslim youth, especially those socialised in religious seminaries, have attracted overwhelmingly negative attention. In northern Nigeria, male Qur'anic students have garnered a reputation of resorting to violence in order to claim their share of highly unequally distributed resources. Read more >>
