"African Humanities Program Culminating Report" and "The Vector
of Ideas: Reflections on the African Humanities Program" Explore
Successes and Challenges of Humanities Program in Ghana, Nigeria, South
Africa, Tanzania, and
Uganda
NEW
YORK, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- For
decades, African-based, early-career scholars of the humanities
worked under unfavorable conditions with little access to funding
or time off from teaching for research and mentorship beyond their
immediate institutions. From 2008-2023, the African Humanities
Program (AHP), administered by the American Council of Learned
Societies (ACLS) with generous support from Carnegie Corporation of
New York, worked to counter these
challenges. The program strengthened the humanities in Ghana, Nigeria, South
Africa, Tanzania, and
Uganda by championing Africa-centered intellectual interventions
through fellowships, grants, mentorship, publications, and more.
Taking stock of its successes and challenges through program data
and participant testimonials, ACLS presents two reports: "African
Humanities Program Culminating Report" and "The Vector of Ideas:
Reflection on the African Humanities Program."
"AHP has made great strides in
strengthening African humanities, but support for humanistic
inquiry on the continent is still insecure. We hope this report
encourages new investment in the future of humanities in
Africa."
During the program's tenure, AHP assessed over 3,500
applications and awarded nearly 500 fellowships. Through the
program, ACLS offered direct support for early- to mid-career
scholars while fostering an Africa-centered community of reviewers and
mentors that would flourish beyond the program's term. This dynamic
new community of thinkers now continues through the African
Humanities Association (AHA), a new academic society, created and
led by past fellows and advisors from AHP. AHA has already won an
independent research commission from the African Academy of Science
and held its inaugural conference in partnership with ACLS in
November 2023.
The "African Humanities Program Culminating Report" provides
insights into the incredible work and collaborative efforts that
made AHP a turning point for the humanities in the participating
countries and how it championed a shift in professional
development, institutional perception, and paradigms for critical
inquiry.
The report highlights African Humanities Program's resounding
success—evident in the numerous research publications, the renewed
interest in intra-continental collaborations and mentorship, and
the reinvigoration of humanistic scholarship. The program's
transformative impact on the fellows' professional trajectories is
particularly noteworthy, with scholars reporting career
advancement, and increased authority and standing in institutional
and cultural contexts that were previously unfriendly to or
dismissive of humanistic inquiry.
"The study of African languages, history, religion, philosophy,
literature, and the arts is key to self-understanding and
self-critique, communication across difference, and the fostering
of inclusive community identities—all enormously important in a
region where intellectual life has been distorted for generations
by colonial domination and its imposition of European and north
American narratives and research priorities," said ACLS President
Joy Connolly. "AHP has made great
strides in strengthening African humanities, but support for
humanistic inquiry on the continent is still insecure. We hope this
report encourages new investment in the future of humanities in
Africa."
As a companion to the Culminating Report, "The Vector of Ideas:
Reflection on the African Humanities Program (AHP)" captures the
voices of Africa-based scholars
who participated in the program as fellows, reviewers, advisors,
and mentors. Using excerpts from a series of essays about their
experience with the program, The Vector of Ideas showcases the
program's impact in the words of the participants themselves. The
testimonials illuminate how individuals and fields of study in the
humanities in Africa benefitted
from the program. Based on "The Dialogues Project," initiated by
former ACLS Director of International Programs Andrzej Tymowski, and Senior Advisor
Sandra Barnes during the final two
years of the program, the essays were collected by five teams of
editors from each AHP country, and compiled and summarized by two
general editors, Sati Fwatshak and James Ocita.
ACLS looks forward to continued partnership with the AHA to
sustain the impact of AHP and support scholarship, research, and
knowledge sharing on the continent in the coming years.
Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 81 scholarly organizations. As
the leading representative of American scholarship in the
humanities and interpretive social sciences, ACLS upholds the core
principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member
organizations, ACLS utilizes its endowment and $37 million annual operating budget to expand the
forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our
commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS
collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to
strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship. In all
aspects of our work, ACLS is committed to principles and practices
in support of racial and social justice.
Carnegie Corporation of New
York was established by Andrew
Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of
knowledge and understanding. Today the foundation works to reduce
political polarization through philanthropic support for the issues
that Carnegie considered most important: education, democracy, and
peace. @CarnegieCorp
Media Contact
Anna Polovick Waggy, American
Council of Learned Societies, 6468307661, awaggy@acls.org,
https://www.acls.org/
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SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies