OU Africa Society 60th Anniversary
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In the evening of June 3rd, 1958, the Oxford University Africa Society met for its inaugural meeting. Since, the Society has become the foremost platform for African issues and a vibrant and supportive community for many African students. It brings together Africans and non-Africans alike, from an assortment of backgrounds, creeds, cultures, and ethnicities who share a desire for positive change in Africa.
Long before the African Studies Centre was established in 2006, the Society contributed majorly to scholarship from and related to Africa in Oxford, as testified by the weekly lectures, seminars and discussion groups in our term cards. Some of our alumni continued to transform academia in Britain, like Prof. Patricia Daley, the first black lecturer at Oxford University, and in their home countries, like Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigerian political scientist and former minister. Many became major actors in African life and politics, and we can find two examples in Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana and Constantine Bereng Seeiso, later known as King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho. Others, like Kenyan philanthropist Adhiambo Odaga and the South African Kumi Naidoo, first African to lead Greenpeace and the next Secretary General for Amnesty international, added their contributions to the U.N and other non-governmental organizations. These are amongst many other African Oxford alumni.
2018 will mark our 60th anniversary. We would like to take advantage of the occasion to reflect on our shared history, re-assert our presence in the University and gather new ideas to reposition ourselves in an environment where African voices and Afrocentric institutions are slowly but steadily increasing, to build a framework and a community that can help future generations of African students and find inspiration for the way forward.
The Book
We are doing archive research and conducting interviews to create a small book of the history of the society. The book will use documents, original images and quotes as primary sources. Our reporting and commentary on them will aim to become a reliable secondary source. The Africa Society should serve as a focus, not a boundary, of the investigation. As such, every relevant experience of the African students in Oxford in the period 1930 - present should be included. major running themes that will be analyzed include decolonization, scholarship, and pan-Africanism.
Funds will be used to cover the cost of archive research, acquire rights over photographic and documented material where they are not provided to us free of charge, subsidize partially or totally copies of the books for our current members.
The Anniversary Day
The main event of the anniversary day will be structured in three moments which will look into the past, present, and future. In each moment, we will look at the development of the society and of the sociopolitical phenomena it engaged within the continent. Current and past members of the society, representatives of our institutional partners and distinguished guests will take part in the event.
Funds will be used to subsidize accommodation and travel expenses for alumni invited to the panel discussion, cover accommodation and travel expenses for a keynote speaker, venue and catering, art exhibitions and/or live performances.
Please consider donating to our campaign if you share with us the desire for Oxford University Africa Society to continue being, and be better than ever before, a welcoming community for students from and passionate about Africa and a meeting point for a network of change agents.
Long before the African Studies Centre was established in 2006, the Society contributed majorly to scholarship from and related to Africa in Oxford, as testified by the weekly lectures, seminars and discussion groups in our term cards. Some of our alumni continued to transform academia in Britain, like Prof. Patricia Daley, the first black lecturer at Oxford University, and in their home countries, like Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigerian political scientist and former minister. Many became major actors in African life and politics, and we can find two examples in Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana and Constantine Bereng Seeiso, later known as King Moshoeshoe II of Lesotho. Others, like Kenyan philanthropist Adhiambo Odaga and the South African Kumi Naidoo, first African to lead Greenpeace and the next Secretary General for Amnesty international, added their contributions to the U.N and other non-governmental organizations. These are amongst many other African Oxford alumni.
2018 will mark our 60th anniversary. We would like to take advantage of the occasion to reflect on our shared history, re-assert our presence in the University and gather new ideas to reposition ourselves in an environment where African voices and Afrocentric institutions are slowly but steadily increasing, to build a framework and a community that can help future generations of African students and find inspiration for the way forward.
The Book
We are doing archive research and conducting interviews to create a small book of the history of the society. The book will use documents, original images and quotes as primary sources. Our reporting and commentary on them will aim to become a reliable secondary source. The Africa Society should serve as a focus, not a boundary, of the investigation. As such, every relevant experience of the African students in Oxford in the period 1930 - present should be included. major running themes that will be analyzed include decolonization, scholarship, and pan-Africanism.
Funds will be used to cover the cost of archive research, acquire rights over photographic and documented material where they are not provided to us free of charge, subsidize partially or totally copies of the books for our current members.
The Anniversary Day
The main event of the anniversary day will be structured in three moments which will look into the past, present, and future. In each moment, we will look at the development of the society and of the sociopolitical phenomena it engaged within the continent. Current and past members of the society, representatives of our institutional partners and distinguished guests will take part in the event.
Funds will be used to subsidize accommodation and travel expenses for alumni invited to the panel discussion, cover accommodation and travel expenses for a keynote speaker, venue and catering, art exhibitions and/or live performances.
Please consider donating to our campaign if you share with us the desire for Oxford University Africa Society to continue being, and be better than ever before, a welcoming community for students from and passionate about Africa and a meeting point for a network of change agents.
Organizer and beneficiary
Temitope Ajileye
Organizer
Nchimunya Nelisa Tebeka
Beneficiary
