Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies


AEGIS is a research network of European centres on African studies in the fields of social science and humanities. AEGIS' main goal is to improve understanding about contemporary African societies.
WWW aegis-eu.org

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, which included Patrick Chabal as chair. 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.
AEGIS organises itself into small thematic groups, focusing on specific subjects within the field of African Studies. Examples include 'CRG Africa in the Indian Ocean', 'CRG African Borderlands Research Network' and 'CRG African Migration, Mobility and Displacement '.
The current board consists of AEGIS President and Professor Amanda Hammar, Dr. David Ambrosetti, Professor Michael Bollig, Professor Marleen Dekker, Dr. Tom Molony and Dr. Isabella Soi.

European Conferences on African Studies (ECAS)

In the new millennium, the organization of European Conferences on African Studies, open to everybody, became the central activity. The conferences take place every two years, always in a different country. ECAS 2021, scheduled to be held in Cologne, was postponed to June 2023.