Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies

The most important goal of the Academy is to intensify academic exchange between Africa-related and other fields of research, especially in the humanities and social sciences. The "Bayreuth Academy" is situated at Hugo-Rüdel-Straße 10, right on the foots of Bayreuth's famous „Grüner Hügel (Green Hill)“. The Bayreuth Academy is to demonstrate that African studies offer precious impulses for scholar

ly debates within and beyond the so-called area studies. In doing so, the Bayreuth Academy emphasizes that Area Studies work systematically, just as much as the so-called systematic disciplines find their empirical evidence regionally. Moreover, the Bayreuth Academy discusses Africa in its given global contexts. Entanglements with Diasporas matter just as much as those with other regions and world histories. The Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies operates at an international scale. Its work focuses on one overriding project theme for several years. Research on this theme is based on [sonst zuviel “anchored”] a number of specific group projects and is carried out predominantly by young post-doctoral researchers. In order to intensify the interdisciplinary dialogue on the overriding theme across regional divides, the different Sub-Projects meet on a regular basis in Working Groups that run for one semester each, discussing selected aspects of the overriding theme. To widen the debates, a number of short-term Guest Fellows are associated to the Bayreuth Academy through its visiting scholars’ programme. Another essential aim of the Academy is to present results from its researches and debates to the wider public. Workshops, panel discussions, readings, film screenings, and exhibitions will serve as forums for dialogues with experts actively involved in politics and economics as well as, cultural production and exchange. It starts off from the assumption that perceptions and representations of “Future” in Africa and its Diasporas are highly innovative and dynamic, that they hence invite for stimulating comparisons , and that they have an increasingly global relevance. . It demonstrates that research focusing on the “Global South” contributes significantly to wider, systematic debates on “Future”.