When one contemplates the remarkable expansion in research interest in African phenomena among social scientists on both sides of the Atlantic, the need for an up-to-date inventory of completed, continuing and projected research becomes increasingly apparent. Field research is costly; knowledge should be cumulative; reproduction ought to be systematic; and effective rapport with the human actors concerned should be scrupulously preserved. These and many other considerations dictate closer liaison among scholars everywhere in the organization and planning of future research on African subjects.

The purpose of this report is to provide a brief analytical survey of the character of research on Africa recently completed, or currently being pursued, by social scientists associated with European centers. There is, of course, a certain arbitrariness in focusing upon the state of research in European centers only, particularly in view of the very close organizational links between metropolitan institutions and associated research centers and institutes in the African territories. Moreover, as an increasingly greater proportion of the total research activity is being carried on by agencies established in Africa, a survey of the European centers provides us with only a partial picture of the overall dimensions of research sponsored and supported by the European countries concerned. In this report, however, space considerations unfortunately dictate this narrower focus upon the European side only.

The provision of the National Defense Education Act which may have application to African Studies are of the following three types;

• (1) Graduate fellowships. Fellowships may be granted to students in new or newly expanded graduate programs approved by the Commissioner of Education. Institutions of higher education may apply to the Commissioner for approval of their programs, and may recommend applicants for fellowships. Fellowships are granted to individuals, but in addition a grant is made to the institution in recognition of its expenditures for training recipients of fellowships. Preference is given to applicants who are interested in teaching in institutions of higher education, normally in the field in which they study.

• (2) Language and area centers. While the purpose of the Act is to support instruction in modern foreign languages, the importance of supporting course work in all phases of “area studies” is fully recognized. New or newly expanded language and area centers may be granted one half of the cost of their establishment and operation. That is, the Act provides for funds to match new expenditures by the applying institution. Such centers are restricted to needed languages for which adequate instruction is not already available in the United States. In addition, acceptable students of such needed languages, attending such a center or other qualified program, may receive stipends if they give reasonable assurance that they intend to be available for language teaching or relevant public service.