Research Resources:
Subject Research Guides:
African Studies:
Selected Internet Resources
Libraries and Research Institutions
An A-Z African Studies in the Internet
This guide encompasses Internet sites, discussion lists and any other e-resources of relevance to Africa or African studies
Africa Research Central
Gateway to archives, libraries, and museums with important collections
of African primary sources. The focus is on repositories in Africa, but
there are also links to the web sites of institutions in Europe and North
America.
African and Middle Eastern Reading Room (Library of Congress)
Description of collections and services.
Africa South of the Sahara
Provides a comprehensive index of Africa-related web pages; organized by region, country,
and topic.
Africa South of the Sahara - Dissertations and Theses
A compilation of links to theses from a broad range of geographic locations.
African Studies Center (University of Pennsylvania)
Information about the Center and
online resources including the East African Living Encyclopedia, multimedia
archives, maps and information on African countries, and links to additional
Web sites. You may find a link to the library resources in this site and an
explanation of the Library Consortium project.
African Studies Internet Resources (Columbia University Libraries)
Compilation of electronic bibliographic resources and research materials on
Africa available on the Internet.
American Memory
American Memory is the Library of Congress gateway to rich primary
source materials.
Ancient Manuscripts from the Desert Libraries of Timbuktu
Timbuktu, Mali, is the legendary city founded as a commercial center in West
Africa nine hundred years ago. Dating from the 16th to the 18th
centuries, the ancient manuscripts presented in this exhibition cover
every aspect of human endeavor and are indicative of the high level of
civilization attained by West Africans during the Middle Ages.
Archives du Senegal
Includes collections from colonial Senegal, the AOF, the Mali Federation and the independence of Senegal periods.
Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA)
Website for the ADEA, a network of partners promoting the development of effective
education policies based on African leadership and ownership.
Bibliotheque d'Orientalisme (Universite Catholique de Louvain)
Home page for a library with a strong collection of resources for North African and Arabic studies.
In French.
Bibliotheque Nationale de France
The BNF has a strong collection in Africana. Connect to BN-OPALE PLUS to
search the online catalog. English version available.
British Library - African Collections
Overview of the Library's collection on the history and
cultures of Africa, including printed books, newspapers, manuscripts, archives,
music, sound recordings, prints, drawings, photographs, and stamps.
Canadian Association of African Studies=Association Canadienne des Estudes Africaines
An organization brought together by common goals and affiliated with the African
Studies Association.
The Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO)
The Centre for Modern Oriental Studies is the only German research institute
devoted to an interdisciplinary and comparative study of the Middle East, Africa,
South and Southeast Asia from a historical perspective.
Centro de Estudos Africanos do ISCTE
The principal activity of this research center is the development of interdisciplinary
and comparative studies of Africa.
Centro de Estudos Africanos/Universidade do Oporto
Their principal interest is the area of Africa Social Sciences, specifially economy
and development, history and language and culture.
Centro Interdisciplinar de Historia Cultura e Sociedad
Universidad de Evora.
The Núcleo de Estudos sobre Africa (NESA) is a group of African Studies
researchers within the Center that promotes research as well as contacts in the region.
Council for the Development of Social Sciences Research in Africa.>
Headquartered in Dakar Senegal. It was established in 1973 as an independent
Pan-African research organization with a primary focus on the social sciences.
Derscheid Collection Guide
Jean-Marie Derscheid, whose wide-ranging intellectual interests and
life-time devotion to Africa are amply reflected in the collection of
documents he has left to posterity, and on which part of this work is
based. The Derscheid Collection Guide is available in pdf.
Ecole du Patrimoine Africain
EPA University trained museum specialists and have a network of twenty
five Francophone, Lusophone and Spanish-speaking research centers around
the world.
Eldis: The Gateway to Development Information (Institute of Development Studies, Sussex)
A gateway to
online information on development in countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America,
and the Middle East. Coverage includes social, economic, political,
and environmental issues.
Frobenius Institut
The Frobenius Institute's assignment is to do ethnological, historical and prehistoric
research which, ever since the Institute's foundation, has focused primarily on Africa,
but also covers South and Southeast Asia, Australia, South and North America and Oceania.
Guide to Web resources for the study of Africa (Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University)
Guide to Web resources with links and instruction on evaluating Web resources.
Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies (NYU)
Supports advanced study, graduate
training, and public events to encourage new understandings of the politics,
cultures, and history of the Middle East and related world regions. Site
includes a calendar of events and descriptions of programs.
Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora/York University
The Harriet Tubman Resource Centre on the African Diaspora is a digitalized research
facility that focuses on the history of the African diaspora and the movement of Africans
to various parts of the world, particularly the Americas and the Islamic lands of North
Africa and the Middle East.
Harvard Institute For International Development
Multidisciplinary center for coordinating development assistance,
training, and research on Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and
Latin America. Site includes online publications such as research articles,
discussion papers, and reports.
Human Rights Internet
A gateway for human
rights information on the Web. Includes publications and periodicals, directories
of organizations, people, and events, and more.
Illinois University African Studies Subject Research Guide
Among the top academic collections in the United States. The collection
is particularly strong in anthropology, folklore, linguistics,
literature, history and political science. It covers Africa South of the
Sahara at a research level, and North Africa at a general level.
Institute de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain
Site operated by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs with research on the humanities,
social sciences, and natural sciences in northern Africa. In English, French and Arabic.
Institute of
African Linguistics (Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt am Maim)
Description
of the Institute, its programs, projects, and publications, and information
on African Linguistics as an academic field. Primarily in German.
Islamic Language
and Art Resources
A gateway to information and resources on the Internet
relating to language, art and related studies relevant in cultures in Muslim
civilization.
John Henrik Clarke Africana Library (Cornell University)
Description of the Library and its collections;
selected digital historical texts; full-text periodicals, and more.
Library of Congress Office, Cairo, Egypt
The mission of the Cairo office is to acquire and process commercial materials and government
documents in six languages from twenty-one countries in the Middle East and North Africa,
including Sudan and Turkey.
Library of Congress Office, Nairobi, Kenya
The Library of Congress Office, Nairobi, Kenya, is one of six overseas offices administered by
the African/Asian Acquisitions and Overseas Operations Division of the Library. These offices
acquire, catalog, preserve, and distribute library and research materials from countries where
such materials are essentially unavailable through conventional acquisitions methods.
Maps of Africa (Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, U. of Texas-Austin)
Political and relief maps of Africa and of individual countries, primarily
courtesy the CIA.
Modern
African Art: A Basic Reading List (Smithsonian Institution Libraries)
A continually updated bibliography on Modern African art, consisting primarily
of books and exhibition catalogs.
National African language Resource Center (NALRC)
At the University of Wisconsin Madison, was established in September 1999. It is a federally funded, nonprofit national foreign language center dedicated to the advancement of African language teaching and learning in the United States.
National Archives of Nigeria, Enugu Branch
Site includes guides, indices, and finding aids for the
Archives' collection and for specific aspects of Nigerian history.
National Heritage
Cultural Studies Centre (University of Fort Hare, South Africa)
Description of the Centre and its holdings, and online finding aids for some collections.
National Library of South Africa
The Netherlands Center for Research and Documentation on Africa
The African Studies Centre in Leiden is the only resource and
documentation centre solely devoted to the study of Africa in the
Netherlands.
Nordiska Afrikainstitutet (Nordic Africa Institute)
Information on the Institute, its research, publications,
and Library, and a guide to information sources on Africa on the Internet.
In English and Swedish.
Northwestern University Library - Africana Collection
Includes information on the collection,
links to the NUL Library Catalog and the Africana Vertical File Index,
and a list of video recordings in the Library.
The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa
Provides an annotated webliography of key research centers in Africa.
Projecto Rescate no Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino
Documents from Portugal Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino related to the history of
Brazil and other countries of Latin America as well as Portuguese African countries.
The collection includes documentation from Portuguese central government institutions,
specially the Conselho Ultramarino (1643-1833) and the Secretaria de Estado da Marinha e
Ultramar, founded in 1736.
Royal Museum for Central Africa
Includes a digital information Center with a catalogue of data sets and data sources related to Central Africa (including Angola, Burundi and Rwanda). It is also the Digital Information Centre of the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Their data set includes documents, metadata information on institutions and research projects, library catalogues and collections. The Museum housed a Research Institute
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
Includes general information, digital collections and exhibitions, and a guide to selected
Internet sources.
School of Oriental and African
Studies (University of London)
Descriptions of programs, current research, library, museum, and archival collections.
Truth Commissions Digital Collection
United States Institute for Peace.
The Truth Commissions Digital Collection, part of the Margarita S.
Studemeister Digital Library in International Conflict Management, is a
collection constantly under development by the Jeannette Rankin Library
Program, containing decrees establishing truth commissions and similar
bodies of inquiry worldwide, and the reports issued by such groups.
UK National Archives
United Nations and Decolonization
History of decolonization, a collection of relevant
documents, maps of the world in 1945 and today, and the latest news on
decolonization issues.
University of Florida Center for African Studies
Description of programs, Library resources, events, and
more.
University of London/ Research Library Services Archives
Includes summaries of archival collections as well as full catalogues pertaining to Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
University of Pretoria: Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Full texts theses and dissertations
Virtual Institute of Mambila Studies (University of Kent, Canterbury)
Site seeks to collate and connect the
different research and researchers with an interest on the Mambila people
of the Nigeria-Cameroon borderland. Includes abstracts or full-text
of papers, bibliographies, and other resources.
Periodicals
Africa Resource Center
A Web portal to research material on Africa, including three electronic
journals: West Africa Review, Ijele: Art eJournal of the African
World, and Journal of African Philosophy and Studies; a comprehensive
collection of Web links, and many other resources.
African Journals Online (International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications)
Access to either the tables of contents or the full-text of 14 African
scientific journals.
Boletim Africanista
E-journal published by the University of Evora Núcleo de Estudos Sobre África
do Centro Interdisciplinar de História, Culturas e Sociedades (CIDEHUS).
Digital Imaging South Africa
Free digital versions of 40 South African periodicals covering South African freedom
struggles 1950-1994.
Electronic Journal of Africana Bibliography (University of Iowa)
A refereed online journal of
bibliographies, with coverage including social and economic issues, sustainable
development, literature, the arts, and the Diaspora.
H-Africa Journals
A comprehensive list of electronic journals. In alphabetic order.
Ijele: Art eJournal
Access to ejournal of contemporary art and architecture, focusing exclusively on the visual
creative expressions of artist in Africa and other regions of the world.
Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies
Access to ejournal devoted to the promotion of research and scholarship of importance to
the global African community and friends of Africa.
Links to South African Journals from Stanford University
West Africa Review
African Resource Center is pleased to publish West Africa Review [WAR],
an ejournal devoted to the promotion of research and scholarship of
importance to the global African community and friends of Africa.
Reference Sources
AfricaBib.org
Provides access to
three African Studies databases: Bibliography of Africana Periodical
Literature Database, African Women's Database, and Women
Travelers, Explorers, and Missionaries to Africa, 1763-1999: A Comprehensive
English Language Bibliography.
Africa Live Database (World Bank)
A comprehensive database of macroeconomic and sectoral indicators
for Africa. Requires registration, but is free to the general public.
Africa Policy Information
Center
Full-text of selected APIC publications, an archive of documents
on a variety of Africa policy issues, and links to other resources.
African Traditional Religion
Research articles, statistics, and a bibliography.
Environmental
Security Database (University of Toronto)
A regularly updated
database containing citations and abstracts for books, journal articles,
papers, and newspaper clippings relating to the study of the links between
environmental stress and violent conflict in developing countries. Excellent
coverage for Africa.
Maps of Africa (Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection, U. of Texas-Austin)
Political and relief maps of Africa and of individual countries, primarily
courtesy the CIA.
Modern
African Art: A Basic Reading List (Smithsonian Institution Libraries)
A continually updated bibliography on Modern African art, consisting primarily
of books and exhibition catalogs.
South African History Online
South African History Online (SAHO) is a non-partisan people's history
project. It was established in 1999 as a not-for-profit organisation, to
promote research; to popularise South African history and to address the
biased way in which the history and cultural heritage of black South
Africans has been represented in our educational and heritage institutions.
The Visual Arts Data Service
Nearly two thousand digital images from the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive.
Featuring African and Asian artists working in the United Kingdom since World War II.
Women in Development - Statistics
- Africa (Women in Development Network)
Statistics on women in African
countries, in the areas of population, family, households, health, education,
labour, and power.
Organizations
African Economic Research Consortium
An extensive resource for information about the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) based in Nairobi, Kenya.
African Union/Union Africaine
(successor to the Organization for African Unity).
The African Union member states are working to integrate the African continent to
enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social,
economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects
of globalisation.Text in English and French.
Africana Librarians Council
Introduction to the Council, publications, documents, conference and meeting
information, and resources for librarians and researchers.
The ASC - The African Studies Centre website
Based in the Netherlands, offers access to abstracts of articles from leading African journals.
The CPLP - Community of the Countries of Portuguese Language website
Provides documents concerning Portuguese-speaking countries.
The CODESRIA (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa) website
Facilitates access to a number of journals, electronic books, and other publications related to research in the social sciences in Africa.
The Economic Community of West African States
A regional organization of 15 west African nations formed in 1975.
Current member states are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire,
Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone, and Togo.
Equinet Africa
Provides links to information about Equinet, an organization dedicated to promoting equity in health services in Southern Africa.
Intergovernmental agency of Francophonie
Provides literature in education, culture, media, economy and government relating to French-speaking countries.
International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (United Nations)
Information about the organization and work of the Tribunal,
including fact sheets, photographs, press releases, legal texts, Tribunal
proceedings, and a bibliography.
International
Directory of African Studies Scholars
An on-line, updated international
directory containing records of individuals who have identified themselves
as being involved in any aspect of African Studies. Searchable by name
or keyword.
The UNESCO Archives Portal
Provides a common access point to archives information, including links to websites of archival institutions all around the world.
Special Projects
African and Asian Visual Artists Archive
The Visual Arts Data Service is based at The Surrey Institute of Art &
Design, University College. VADS is a part of the Arts and Humanities
Data Service (AHDS).
Africa Focus: Sights and Sounds of a Continent
Online collection of digitized visual images and sounds of Africa contributed over the
years to the African Studies Program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
African Virtual Library Initiative
A project dedicating to connecting and developing online library and other
information services in the East African region.
Aluka.org
Aluka is an international, collaborative initiative building an online digital library of scholarly resources from and about Africa.
American Overseas Digital Library
Although AODL's first goal is to provide bibliographic access to the
centers' resources, it also aims to provide document delivery of unique
materials held in or accessible to the AORC libraries. Under this rubric
CAORC formulated and received funding from UNESCO to work with the West
African Research Center (Senegal) on a project to create the online
African Language Materials Archive (ALMA), which forms part of AODL's
F-LANG component.
The DISA - Digital imaging South Africa - Southern African Freedom Struggles 1950-1994 website
Provides access to forty journals that have been digitized by DISA.
The Great Lakes Documentation Network website
Provides an index of documents related to the Great Lakes area of Africa.
Libraries of Timbuktu
Project for Information Access and Connectivity (Ford and Rockefeller Foundations)
Reports on and descriptions of programs
designed to improve access to information and Internet connectivity in Africa.
Project Gutenberg
The Project Gutenberg digital library philosophy is to
make information, books and other materials available to the general
public in forms a vast majority of the computers, programs and people
can easily read, use, quote, and search.
Rhodes eResearch Repository/Rhodes University Library/South Africa
The ReRR is an open access institutional repository of the academic and
research output from the Rhodes University community. Current contents
include full-text theses, journal articles and papers from conferences,
workshops and other events.
South African History Online
SAHO has committed itself to involve heritage and academic institutions and ordinary South Africans in rewriting South African history.
Southern African Freedom Struggles 1950-1994
A selection of anti-apartheid periodicals published during the period
1960 to 1994. Forty periodical titles have been selected from a very
comprehensive list, with a view to presenting not only a wide spectrum
of political views published during these years, but also a diversity
of subjects such as trade unions, religion, health, culture, and gender.
University of Johannesburg
Electronic theses and dissertations
Books and Publishing
African Books Collective
A distrubution network for African publishers, through which their books
can be promoted and sold overseas. Web site includes a searchable catalog,
author profiles, a list of member publishers and links to their Web sites,
and ordering information.
African Children's
Literature (University of Florida)
A starting point for research in the area of African Children's Literature.
Includes biographies and bibliographies
for notable authors, Web links, and a research bibliography.
African Imprint Library Services
Catalog for a supplier of African books, including commercial
imprints, privately published titles, institutional reports and journals,
African government documents, and more.
African Publishers Network Online (APNET)
Website for the organization formed to promote indigenous publishing in Africa. ALinks/Archives@ section contains
sources for locating African publications.
Book Aid International
Home page
for this organisation, which supports literacy, education, training, and
publishing projects in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan
Africa.
Clarkes Africana and Rare Books
A South African antiquarian bookseller specializing in books, prints, maps,
and ephemera concentrating mainly on Africa south of the Sahara.
Zimbabwe International Book Fair
Information
on the annual exhibition of books, magazines, journals, CD-ROM and publishing
and printing technology and services in sub-Saharan Africa.
Current Events and Newspapers
African Studies Gateway
A network of scholars interested in the latest research and teaching in African studies,
providing links to newsletters, scholarly journal abstracts, and book reviews.
Africa News Online (Africa News Service)
An electronic network of more than 40 African news organizations.
Disseminates news articles, interviews, documents, and reports covering
the entire African continent.
Africa Online
A news source, Internet guide, and communications service connecting seven African countries.
Africana.com
The companion Web site
to the Microsoft Encarta Africana CD-ROM. Includes articles from the Encyclopedia,
and current news on the African world, lifestyle, heritage, and arts.
Al-Ahram Weekly Magazine
The electronic edition of the independent English-language newspaper published
in Cairo, Egypt. Provides objective, in-depth coverage of Egyptian
and Arab politics, economy, culture, and society.
BBC
News: Africa
The latest breaking stories from the African Continent,
from Britain's leading news source.
CNN News: Africa
The latest African news from the United States' leading news source.
Electronic
Newspapers of Sub-Saharan Africa (Union List of African Newspapers Project)(Columbia University)
Links to full-text newspapers available online without
subscription.
Norwegian Council for Africa
Page with links to sites for major newspapers from Africa.
