Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies

ECAS Conference in Edinburgh 2019

AEGIS is a research network of European centres in African studies, which aims to create synergies between experts and institutions. With primary emphasis on Social Sciences and Humanities, 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, Bordeaux, Leiden, London, and Uppsala. 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, composed of Patrick Chabal (London, Chairman), Gerti Hesseling (Leiden) and Franz-Wilhelm Heimer (Lisbon). 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).^[1]

AEGIS organises itself into small thematic groups (also called Collaborative Research Groups, or CRGS.) Such thematic groups focus on specific subjects within the field of African Studies. Examples include 'CRG Africa in the Indian Ocean', 'CRG African Borderslands Research Network' and 'CRG African Migration, Mobility and Displacement (AMMODI)'.^[2]

The current board consists of AEGIS President and Professor Amanda Hammar (CAS Copenhagen), Dr. David Ambrosetti (LAM Bordeaux), Professor Michael Bollig (Cologne), Professor Jan-Bart Gewald (Leiden), Dr. Tom Molony (Edinburgh) and Dr. Isabella Soi (Cagliari).^[3]

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  ECAS Conference in Paris 2015

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  ECAS in Lisbon (2013)

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  Conference in Leiden (2007)

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.^[4] ECAS 2021, scheduled to be held in Cologne, was postponed to June 2023.

• 2005 : School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London
• 2007 : African Studies Centre, Leiden (Netherlands)
• 2009 : University of Leipzig (Germany)
• 2011 : Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala (Sweden)
• 2013 : Centro de estudos africanos, Lisbonne (Portugal)
• 2015 : (IMAF) et (LAM), Paris (France)
• 2017 : Centre for African Studies Basel, Swiss Society for African Studies, Bâle (Switzerland)
• 2019 : Centre of African Studies, Edinburgh

References[]

List of ECAS Conferences (and archived websites)

External links[]

• AEGIS official website
• 1st European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2005 London
• 2nd European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2007 Leiden
• 3rd European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2009 Leipzig
• 4th European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2011 Uppsala
• 5th European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2013 Lisbon
• 6th European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2015 Paris
• 7th European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2017 Basel
• 8th European Conference on African Studies: ECAS 2019 Edinburgh

See also[]

• African Studies Association - US-based research network focusing on African studies.
• African Studies Association of the United Kingdom - UK-based equivalent.