The Institut des mondes africains (IMAF) is a French academic mixed and interdisciplinary research unit for

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography ...

, in which the national research organisation CNRS (

Centre national de la recherche scientifique The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science Basic research, also called pure research o ...

), three other French national academic research institutions and two universities collaborate. They are the

Institut de recherche pour le développement The Institut de Recherche pour le Développement or IRD () is a French science and technology establishment under the joint supervision of the French Ministries of Higher Education and Research and Foreign Affairs. It operates internationally ...

(IRD, French Research Institute for Development), the

École pratique des hautes études The École pratique des hautes études (), abbreviated EPHE, is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is highly selective, and counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions. It is a constituent college o ...

(EPHE), the

École des hautes études en sciences sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

(EHESS, School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences) and the

Aix-Marseille University Aix-Marseille University (AMU; french: Aix-Marseille Université; formally incorporated as ''Université d'Aix-Marseille'') is a public research university located in the Provence region of southern France. It was founded in 1409 when Louis II o ...

and the Pantheon-Sorbonne University. IMAF was founded on January 1, 2014 by merging three research centres: the Centre d'études des mondes africains (CEMAf), the Centre d'études africaines (CEAf) and the Centre d’histoire sociale de l’islam méditerranéen (CHSIM). The institute is located both at the Campus Condorcet Paris-Aubervilliers in

Aubervilliers Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''. Geography Localisati ...

and at Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme (MMSH) of

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

Research areas

# The creation and circulation of knowledge # The long history of political economies and globalization in Africa # Power, space, time and uses of the past # Religious spaces: Genealogies, textualities, materialities # Art as a political object # Gender, bodies, subjectivities.

IMAF academic journals

IMAF is involved in several academic journals: * ''Afriques. Débats, méthodes et terrains d’histoire'', online journal. * ''Anthropologie et développement'', formerly ''Bulletin de l'APAD'', published by the Association euro-africaine pour l'anthropologie du changement social et du développement (APAD)., online at revue.org * '' Cahiers d'études africaines'', founded in 1960. * ''

Politique africaine ''Politique africaine'' is a quarterly francophone academic journal that publishes articles and book reviews on current issues in African politics. It was established in 1981 and is published by Éditions Karthala in Paris Paris () is th ...

'', in collaboration with the institute Les Afriques dans le monde (LAM, Bordeaux), published by

Éditions Karthala Karthala is a French publishing house specializing in the history, sociology, religion, languages and geopolitics of developing countries. Its headquarters is at 22-24 boulevard Arago in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. Karthala wa ...

Collaborations

IMAF is a member of the

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. History and organisation AEGIS was founded in 199 ...

(AEGIS), a European academic research network for African studies. Within France IMAF participates in the

multidisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

research group ''Études africaines en France'' (African studies in France) of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) and houses its secretariat. IMAF co-organised biannual meetings of Africanists in France, such the ''3e Journées du Réseau des études africaines'' (REAf) at Bordeaux in 2014, the ''6th European Conferences on African Studies'' (ECAS 2015) in Paris and the ''7e Rencontres des Études Africaines en France'' (7e REAf and 6e JCEA) at

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

in 2022 (JCEA : Rencontres des Jeunes Chercheur·e·s en Études Africaines).

Libraries

The Bibliothèque de recherches africaines (BRA) has been transferred to the library Grand équipement documentaire (GED ) of the Campus Condorcet in Paris. The library of the Centre d'études africaines (CEAf), founded in 1957 and containing about 25.000 monographies and more than 500 academic journals, has been subsumed by the Paris Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC) in 2011. At Aix-en-Provence the old library of the Institut d'études africaines has been integrated into the Multimedia library of the Maison méditerranéenne des sciences de l'homme (MMSH).

References

2014 establishments in France Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies African studies Aix-Marseille University Anthropological research institutes French National Centre for Scientific Research School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences French UMR