̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Megan Vaughan

Grants take Cambridge in Africa Programme to next level

th288 — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 11:44:30 +0000

̽��ֱ��36-month award approved by the Carnegie Corporation's Board of Trustee, alongside the four-year grant made by ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust, will significantly enhance the funding already provided by the Isaac Newton Trust, the A.G. Leventis Foundation, and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge for the establishment of the Cambridge-Africa Partnerships for Research Excellence (CAPREx).

CAPREx aims to strengthen Africa's capacity for sustainable excellence in research through close collaborative work with the region's most talented individuals.

Building on successful partnerships with the ̽��ֱ�� of Ghana and Uganda's Makerere ̽��ֱ��, CAPREx's goal is to widen the scope of engagement to include the whole of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and involve a greater number of higher education institutions in Africa.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has a long and rich tradition of research in Africa, although most of it had previously depended on discrete collaborations between individuals or specific academic departments.

A more joined-up strategy has recently emerged for holistic engagement with African universities, based on existing initiatives such as THRiVE (Training Health Researchers into Vocational Excellence in East Africa) and MUII (Infection and Immunity Research Training Programme), both sponsored by ̽��ֱ��Wellcome Trust.

These capacity-building programmes focus on PhD and postdoctoral researchers in health-related disciplines. Young African researchers are matched with leading Cambridge academics who provide mentorship and support.

Fellows spend up to one year of their research programme at their Cambridge mentor's laboratory. Supervisors or mentors from Cambridge and Africa take part in exchange visits to provide maximum support and mentorship.

Other successful Cambridge initiatives include the Cambridge/Africa Collaborative Research Programme at the Centre of African Studies, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, the Isaac Newton Trust and the A.G. Leventis Foundation.

Focussing on research in the humanities and social sciences, this programme brings up to five African scholars to Cambridge each year for a six-month visiting fellowship, with the aim of enhancing the participants' research profiles.

Such programmes, which illustrate the depth and breadth of Cambridge's current engagement and expertise, make the proposed Cambridge-Africa Partnership unique.

̽��ֱ��newly awarded funds will help in providing further support and training to African researchers (at doctoral, post-doctoral and early-mid career levels) in an even wider range of subject areas, and across more countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

̽��ֱ��'Cambridge in Africa' programme is led by Professor David Dunne (Department of Pathology), with input from Professors James Wood and Duncan Maskell (Department of Veterinary Medicine) and Professor Megan Vaughan (Centre of African Studies), and support from Dr Pauline Essah.

It works in partnership with African universities and research institutes in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda, among others.

Professor Dunne, who has collaborated with colleagues from African institutions for over three decades, said: "I am delighted that we have received generous funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and from ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust to support our Cambridge in Africa Programme.

"These funds will provide a step change in the level of support available for African academics to engage with Cambridge and build on our successful experience with a number of Wellcome Trust African Institution capacity-building programmes.

" ̽��ֱ��building of relationships has proved beneficial for both African and Cambridge research. ̽��ֱ��generous financial support will be used by Cambridge and its African partners to train the best and brightest African researchers, and to help them to develop their research careers."

̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz said: "I am delighted at the award of the grants for this major and imaginative programme which brings together academics from Cambridge and Africa.

" ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� very much values these links and these awards will help us to build further and deeper institutional relationships in order to help the development of higher education. "

For further information about the Cambridge in Africa Programme, contact Professor James Wood (jlnw2@cam.ac.uk) or Dr Pauline Essah (pae21@cam.ac.uk).

Picture Caption: Dr Robert Tweyongyere, MUII fellow, working in Professor David Dunne's laboratory, Cambridge, August 2011

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's wide-ranging and long-term strategy of engagement with African higher education institutions moved into its next phase following the recent announcement of a $1.2 million grant by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and a $1 million grant by ̽��ֱ��Alborada Trust.

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� very much values these links and these awards will help us to build further and deeper institutional relationships in order to help the development of higher education

Professor Sir Leszek Borysiewicz

Carnegie Alborada Grants

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Conversations across continents

lw355 — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:04:57 +0000

A programme of academic exchange at the Centre of African Studies is providing African scholars with a much-needed opportunity to step away from their overwhelming teaching and administrative burdens and develop their research during a six-month sabbatical in Cambridge. In so doing, the Cambridge/Africa Collaborative Research Programme is also stimulating the richness of Africa-centric research in Cambridge.

‘It has become increasingly difficult to pursue academic research in African universities,’ explains Professor Megan Vaughan, Director of the Centre. ‘Aside from teaching commitments, which can hinder researchers from having the time to complete their PhDs, there is a severe lack of funding to maintain their research. As a result, many African scholars feel increasingly isolated from academia at an international level in the social sciences and humanities.’

Over the past seven years, a total of 43 academics from 14 African nations have taken part in the Cambridge/Africa Research Collaborative Programme. Funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Isaac Newton Trust, the Programme provides the visiting scholars with an opportunity to renew their access to international scholarship and to develop collaborations in Cambridge and beyond that will continue to vitalise their research after they return to their home universities.

Myth and modernity

̽��ֱ��research of the five scholars currently visiting takes its cue from this year’s theme – Myth and Modernity in African Literature – and is providing a fascinating glimpse of how African nations place themselves in a global context.

Dr Chris Warnes, a specialist in postcolonial literature in the Faculty of English and a member of the Centre, leads the research programme: ‘This is a very exciting topic,’ he explains. ‘ ̽��ֱ��talented scholars we have with us are using mythology as a key to unlock important questions about Africa both past and present, exemplifying the contributions that such research can make to societal concerns of today.'

For instance, mythology can tell us about national identity, explains Dr James Tsaaior, one of the visiting scholars: ‘How African novelists have dealt with mythology reveals the struggle to construct nationhood and a sense of an African identity.’

‘By studying authors such as Naguib Mahfouz from Egypt, Ngugi wa Thiong’o from Kenya, Ayi Kwei Armah from Ghana and Ben Okri from Nigeria,’ he continues, ‘it is clear that there is a confluence of certain strong and recurrent themes, including slavery, the slave trade and (neo-)colonialism, which have shaped the way that Africans think about Africa and perceive the world.’

Understanding relations between identity and myth is an issue that is particularly salient in the Sudan where religious tensions have increasingly divided the country. In her research, Dr Eiman El-Nour is hoping to document and record some of these myths, which frequently take the form of verbal storytelling. ‘Mythology is tremendously strong and influential in Sudan, providing the codes by which ordinary people live their lives,’ she explains. ‘I’m interested in looking at how myth influences the recreation of Sudanese identity, whether Islamic, African or both.’

Likewise, in the west of Africa, mythology has had a major influence on the identity, culture, philosophy and beliefs of the Yoruba people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Dr Oyeniyi Okunoye is interested in how a genre of Yoruba poetry (Ewi) is being shaped by modernity.

‘My task,’ he maintains, ‘is to clarify why Ewi, despite being rooted in the past, dynamically responds to the various experiences that Yoruba people have witnessed within the global environment.’ He will be looking at how the poetry, which is both written and chanted, is actively involved in inventing a pan-Yoruba identity today.

Mythology also has the potential to sustain and preserve the literature of African modernity, says Dr Tunde Awosanmi: ‘A challenge set by novelist Ayi Kwei Armah has been to encourage African writers not just to use ancestral myth and history as a cultural resource, but also to engage in the creative modernisation of primitive mythology. I am interested in how this is being played out in modern African drama, through identifying contrasting attitudes in terms of orthodox

and unorthodox users of myth.’

‘Myth and modernity are concepts that have increasingly come to mark our world,’ adds Dr Kenneth Simala. ‘From African mythology we can make deductions that tell us not just about times that have passed but also about issues that are relevant today. ̽��ֱ��legend of Fumo Liyongo [see below] is a wonderful example of this modern-day resonance for what it has to say about civilisations in conflict and the need for civilisations to engage in dialogue.’

Unlocking research potential

As the African scholars come to the close of their sabbatical, they will have attended a seminar series that brings international speakers to Cambridge, presented their findings at a workshop at the Centre in March and a conference in Nigeria in August 2011, as well as published their research as a book.

Professor Vaughan and her colleagues are immensely proud of the Programme: ‘Without an initiative such as this, there is a real danger that African countries will fall further behind in a global economy that is ever more dependent on expert knowledge. This Programme provides our hard-pressed colleagues in African universities with a break during which they can carry out research and create new research networks based on collaborations that are just as valuable for the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Africanists.’

Each year, academic dialogue is enriched at the Centre of African Studies by the arrival of a group of African scholars who spend up to six months researching and working together.

This Programme provides our hard-pressed colleagues in African universities with a break during which they can carry out research and create new research networks based on collaborations that are just as valuable for the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Africanists.

Professor Megan Vaughan

Mark Mniszko

From left: O. Okunoye, T. Awosanmi, K. Simala and E. El-Nour

Swahili Odyssey: a tale of civilisations, conquests and resolving conflict

A centuries-old epic poem describing the travels of a Swahili hero could provide valuable lessons for modern society on avoiding conflict between civilisations.

Among the abundant myths, legends and stories of the Swahili people of eastern Africa, perhaps the most celebrated are those attributed to the Swahili Chieftain Fumo Liyongo and his epic poem of almost 232 stanzas.

Passed down for centuries as an oral tradition, the poem includes a narrative of how he interacted with the other civilisations that came to explore, trade with, proselytise or conquer the African territories he ruled over. Although the poem is shrouded in mystery – it’s unclear how much of the poem is accurate and even when Liyongo lived (variously given as the 13th–17th centuries) – it is generally agreed that it has a strong historical basis.

African scholar Dr Kenneth Simala is attempting to resolve some of the questions surrounding the poem. But, as he explains, it is the relevance of the poem’s content to modern times that especially fascinates him: ‘Fumo Liyongo observed how different civilisations interacted at a time when East Africa was at the crossroads of meeting cultures. As a result, he provides lessons of experience on disputes, tensions, conflicts, power, globalisation and the need for peaceful coexistence.’

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