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INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL UNION COMMISSION ON AFRICAN STUDIES
Introduction
INTERNATIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL UNION COMMISSION ON AFRICAN STUDIES
1. Introduction The origins of the IGU Commission on African Studies can be traced to the pioneering efforts by Proff Inocent Moyo and Proff Christopher Changwe Nshimbi who wrote a proposal to the IGU in 2016 for the establishment of an African Commission. The IGU Commission on African Studies was formed in May 2017.
It is headquartered in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, University of Zululand, South Africa, with members, associates and affiliates located in major centres and institutions of research and learning across Africa and other parts of the world.
Members of the Steering Committee of the Commission are, for instance, currently drawn from Benin, Ivory Coast, Namibia, New Zealand, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and the United Kingdom (UK). The Commission is a research and scientific body composed of and dedicated to African and Africanist scholars researching on issues around and in Africa, ranging from social sciences to natural sciences, but informed in the main by geographical, multi and interdisciplinary perspectives. Therefore, the overarching aim of the African Studies Commission is to promote and provide a platform for African geographies. This aim is achievable through the establishment of Commission sessions.
The sessions are organized under the auspices of the International Geographical Congress meetings and IGU regional congresses. The IGU Commission on African Studies also organizes and runs thematic sessions under the guidance and endorsement of the IGU. These are complimented by initiatives such as symposia, workshops, fairs, etc. which are held in between IGU major events, in institutions across the continent’s major regions.
For these reasons, the following is an indicative but not exhaustive list of sessions that are organized under and/for IGC and IGU meetings:
a) Africa and the global imaginary
b) African population geographies
c) African cities
d) African geopolitics
e) African borders and borderlands
f) Africa and climate change
g) Conflict, war and development
h) African development challenges and trajectories
i) Environmental issues and problems in Africa
j) Migration in Africa
k) Water resources management and governance
l) Africa and natural resource use/management
2. Objectives of the Commissio a) Provide a platform for academic and scientific debate for scholars in Africa and abroad on Africa-specific issues, challenges and problems b) Establish a channel for the international showcasing of African geographies c) Establish a channel for the international showcasing of geographical research and scholarship in Africa d) Achieve adequate representation of Africa in the IGU e) Stimulate, improve and/or increase participation in IGU scientific activities by Africa-based scholars and researchers f) Grow, nature and expand IGU scientific and other activities in Africa
