International African Institute


The International African Institute was founded in 1926 in London for the study of African languages, society, history, and culture. Frederick Lugard was the first chairman ; Diedrich Hermann Westermann and Maurice Delafosse were the initial co-directors.
Since 1928, the IAI has published a quarterly journal, Africa. Additional publications include the Journal of African Cultural Studies, , , , and . For some years in the 1950s to 1970s, the assistant editor was the novelist Barbara Pym.
In 1946 the Italian ethnologist Vinigi Grottanelli joined the Executive Board, and remained a participant until 1968.
The IAI's mission is "to promote the education of the public in the study of Africa and its languages and cultures". Its operations includes seminars, journals, monographs, edited volumes and stimulating scholarship within Africa.

Publications

The IAI has been involved in scholarly publishing since 1927. Scholars whose work has been published by the institute include Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Samir Amin, Karin Barber, Alex de Waal, Patrick Chabal, Mary Douglas, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Jack Goody, Jane Guyer, Monica Hunter, Bronislaw Malinowski, Z. K. Matthews, D. A. Masolo, Achille Mbembe, Thomas Mofolo, John Middleton, Simon Ottenberg, J. D. Y. Peel, Mamphela Ramphele, Isaac Schapera, Monica Wilson and V. Y. Mudimbe.
IAI publications fall into a number of series, notably International African Library and International African Seminars. The International African Library is published from volume 41 by Cambridge University Press; Volumes 7–40 are available from Edinburgh University Press., there are 49 volumes.

Archives

The archives of the International African Institute are held at the of the Library of the [London School of Economics]. An of these papers is available.

History

Africa alphabet

In 1928, the IAI published an "Africa Alphabet" to facilitate standardization of Latin-based writing systems for African languages.

Prize for African-language literature, 1929–50

From April 1929 to 1950, the IAI offered prizes for works of literature in African languages.

List of chairmen