Scholar Development

Since the beginning, fostering opportunities for AHP Fellows to network outside their primary institutions and providing diverse scholarly support for the creation and circulation of knowledge have been integral to the program. This has included:

AHP Publications

African Humanities Series

The publication of fellows’ output has been an important objective of AHP. The program provided a subvention to publish fellows’ monographs that meet international standards. In 2010, the AHP selection committee recommended the launch of “a landmark series in the African humanities” with a view to publishing fellows’ outputs that can have practical value in teaching and research while at the same time showcasing the best in African humanities research to the international scholarly community. The African Humanities Series initiative became a catalyst for producing new knowledge by emerging scholars. After a thorough selection process and vetting to ensure originality and quality of research, selected manuscripts received support for publication, including developmental editing and rigorous peer review. To date, twenty-two books with topics in African histories, languages, literatures, and cultures have been published in the series. The current Series Editor is Fred Hendricks, Rhodes University, South Africa. With the sun-setting of the AHP, the Series will be maintained by the African Humanities Association (AHA).

Regional Assemblies

The regional assembly was a gathering that offered an opportunity for knowledge sharing and intellectual exchange, networking, and assessment of humanities scholarship in Africa among AHP Alumni, fellows, assessors, mentors, advisers, and interested scholars from various universities, countries, and sub-regions in Africa. These assemblies were annual events hosted at any of the five participating African countries in the African Humanities Program. Apart from the official meetings during the event, the assembly offers an informal setting for inducting a new generation of scholars into an intellectual community that extends beyond their country and region. 

Manuscript Development Workshops

Fellows who have completed their fellowship tenures were also given the opportunity to apply to attend a Manuscript Development Workshop to discuss manuscripts with AHP mentors and other fellows in a weeklong, intensive retreat. Authors who participated in the workshops were encouraged to submit their manuscripts to the African Humanities Series for publication.

Residencies

AHP Fellows were encouraged to take advantage of additional opportunities offered by AHP, such as residential stays at African humanities centers and institutes for advanced study. Residency centers affiliated with AHP provided space and resources for Fellows to embark on their research and projects. Residencies have proved highly productive, granting fellows time and space to concentrate on writing. Because residencies must be taken at a location outside the home country, they foster international communication and mentorship beyond the fellow’s primary institution. Through the residencies, AHP invested in ensuring the fellows received support and guidance from accomplished scholars designated as mentors in their host institutions.  AHP Fellows were able to take residencies research institutes from South Africa to Senegal, Ghana to Tanzania.