The Vector of Ideas: Reflections on the African Humanities Program

From 2008-2023, the African Humanities Program (AHP) strengthened research in the humanities in five African nations—Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda—through a competitive fellowship program funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and administered by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS).

The African Humanities Program was a success by many measures. Scholars in the five AHP countries testify that they were able to publish research and scholarship that they otherwise would have had to abandon due to other responsibilities and pressures, both personal and professional. The fellowship increased their authority and standing in institutional and cultural contexts unfriendly to or dismissive of humanistic inquiry.

This publication includes highlights from “The Dialogues Project,” a series of essays written by Fellows, reviewers, mentors, and advisors in response to prompts concerning the program. Thirty-two scholar-participants contributed pieces on their experience, five teams of editors from each country collected the essays and wrote analytical summaries, and two general editors compiled all the documents and wrote a general summary. Together, the essays illustrate the lasting impression AHP left on individual scholars and scholarly communities across Africa.