About Africa and International Studies

The Africa and International Studies Working Group was formally established in summer 2007. The Group aims to provide a forum in which to bring together a diverse range of scholars to discuss and debate:

substantive issues arising from a study of Africa and ‘the international’;
theoretical and conceptual debates about the relationship between generalities of the discipline of International Studies and African historically-based specificities; and
ideas about the relationship of issues and theory in the pedagogy of International Studies in and of Africa.

Since its inception the group has established an active presence at the BISA annual conference, ISA annual conference, and has organised a number of our own workshops. Previous activities include the following:

an ESRC Research Seminar series on 'African Agency in International Politics' in 2011, which resulted in a number of outputs including 'African Agency in International Politics' (Routledge, 2013) edited by William Brown and Sophie Harman.
a BISA and HEA funded series on 'Teaching Africa and International Studies' in 2013.
an ESRC Research Seminar series on UK Africa Policy after Labour in 2014-16, which led to a collection edited by Danielle Beswick, Jonathan Fisher and Stephen R. Hurt, Britain and Africa in the twenty-first century: Between ambition and pragmatism, (Manchester University Press, 2019).
A series of workshops, leading to a special issue project, on the history of African theorising in International Relations. This project has been co-ordinated with the International Relations and Diplomacy Section of the South African Association of Political Science.
A discussion of ECOWAS co-organised with colleagues in Nigeria, and roundtable on hybrid governance co-organised with colleagues in Madagascar.
Regular workshops on methodologies, aimed in particular at postgraduate students, co-ordinated by Dr Tarela Ike.
Work-in-progress sessions, again aimed at postgraduate members, where experienced members of the working group provide feedback on draft manuscripts in a supportive environment. These have been co-ordinated by Peter Brett.