Centre of West African Studies (CWAS) is a division of the School of Historical Studies at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

, England. The centre provides teaching and research into issues of African

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, and the legacies of the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from native Africans or people from Africa, predominantly in the Americas. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the West and Central Africans who were e ...

, particularly in the UK, the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. CWAS offers undergraduate and postgraduate study programs in a number of Africa-related fields. It is home to the John Fage Library, which houses the CWAS Archives and Electronic Music Database, and the Danford Collection, a unique collection of priceless African artifacts and cultural products.

History

The Centre was founded in 1963 by

John Fage John Donnelly Fage (3 June 1921–6 August 2002) was a British historian who was among the earliest academic historians specialising in African history, especially of the pre-colonial period, in the United Kingdom and West Africa. He publ ...

, a scholar of African (particularly

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

ian) history, who during his career wrote several seminal works on the history of the African continent, including ''History of Africa'' (now in its 4th edition), ''Africa Discovers Her Past'', and ''Ghana: A Historical Interpretation'', which developed out of a series of lectures sir john cabot read at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

in 1956. The Danford Collection evolved out of a collection of African cultural artifacts that were brought to the UK by a British civil servant after his posting in

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

, and has been expanded over time.

Scholars in residence

*Prof.

Karin Barber Dame Karin Judith Barber, (born 2 July 1949) is a British cultural anthropologist and academic, who specialises in the Yoruba-speaking area of Nigeria. From 1999 to 2017, she was Professor of African Cultural Anthropology at the University of ...

*Dr.

Stewart Brown Stewart Brown (born 1951 in Southampton, UK) is an English poet, university lecturer and scholar of African and Caribbean Literature.

*Dr.

Lynne Brydon Lynne may refer to: *Lynne (surname) *Lynne (given name) *Lynne, Florida Lynne is an unincorporated community in Marion County, in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located along Florida State Road 40 in the western edges of Ocala National Forest. ...

*Dr.

Reginald Cline-Cole Reginald Akindele Cline-Cole (born Freetown, Sierra Leone), is a retired University Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor rank) and scholar of Developmental Geography."Dr Reginald Cline-Cole." School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham ...

*Dr. Insa Nolte *Dr.

Keith Shear Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons i ...

External links

CWAS website
1963 establishments in England African studies Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies Educational institutions established in 1963 Ethnic studies organizations University of Birmingham {{Africandiaspora-stub