This is an exploratory approach to the question of what universities have to do with nation-building in Africa, and to the more general question of how people learn to behave like nationals.

Before 1960 there was little general interest in the Belgian Congo, and the published material available on any aspect of its development was extremely limited. The accession of the Congo to independence in July 1960 and the prolonged crisis which followed has, however, completely altered this situation, and in the last three years more books and articles have been published on the Congo than on any other country in Africa. The purpose of this article is to list and evaluate at least some of this material and to suggest the main sources which exist for a study of the various aspects of the Congo crisis.

In 1961, a Nigerian newspaper commented, with reference to the economic integration of East Africa, ‘these three States have stolen a march on the older African States. They have achieved one of the main objectives of pan-African nationalism, without tears.’1 Two years later the leaders of Tanganyika, Uganda, and Kenya announced their intention of going beyond economic integration by forming a federation. If this comes about, economic integration will have led to political integration, but at the same time Africa will be deprived of a chance of testing the viability of economic and administrative unions that stop short of federation. Whatever the outcome, the experience of East Africa will be of great importance, not only to African leaders concerned with the economic development of relatively small States, but also to economic and political theorists.

In 1959 the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London received a grant from the Nuffield Foundation to finance a comprehensive plan for the systematic recording and restatement of African customary law. The Project was an ambitious one, aiming to cover 16 countries in Anglophonic Africa, containing several hundred different bodies of customary law. Although limited in the first instance to the law relating to marriage, the family, land tenure, and succession, this is still an enormous undertaking. After a rather slow start, the Project is now well under way, and the appearance in print of its first major publication1 affords a convenient opportunity for an assessment of its methods, aims, and progress to date.

It is not, I imagine, necessary to argue in this Journal (whose birth I welcome) that the study of African politics should never be separated from the study of African history. There was a time when the political institutions of African states (except in a few special cases, such as Ethiopia) meant ‘colonial political institutions, together with such indigenous African institutions as had been permitted to survive within the colonial framework’. For students of colonial government the study of African history had no obvious relevance. For those who wished to explain such institutions as Legislative Councils in British-controlled territories, Communes Mixtes in French-controlled territories, or the Conseil de Gouvernement in the Belgian Congo, the history of the European state which had imposed the institution was understandably more significant than the histories of the African peoples upon whom it had been imposed. As for such indigenous African political systems as had survived, in a modified form, within the colonial administrative structure, their study was—by a kind of unwritten convention—left to the social anthropologists, whose historical interests varied according to the character of the system and the approach of the anthropologist.

The Institute was founded in January 1963 as a department of the Haile Selassie I University, for research in all fields relating to Ethiopia. It is at present organised in three main sections, the Amharic collection, the library, and the museum. The Amharic collection, a unique assortment of books, pamphlets, and periodicals published in this language, is under the charge of Mr Stephen Wright, a life-long specialist in Ethiopian affairs. Mr. S. Chojnacki is responsible for the Institute's valuable library of books on Ethiopia, and for an ethnological and a small but growing historical museum.

Although many scholars scoff and old hands grow exasperated, Africanists refuse to stop trying to ‘introduce’ the politics of Africa to the uninitiated. Doubtless some of this effort is sustained by visions of cash customers, laymen, and students, eager to state the curiosities awakened by the great changes that have transformed the continent since 1955. As the revolution shows few signs of losing momentum, the prospects are rather dim for any immediate shrinkage in the mass market. But a purely exploitative interest should not mask the basic importance of a reliable guide to the dynamics of political reconstruction in Africa today.

The Republic of Somali has recently been conducting a militant campaign for the reunification of ‘the five parts of the Somali nation’—British Somaliland and Italian Somalia (already united), French Somaliland, the Ethiopian regions of the Ogaden, the Haud, and the Reserved Area, and the Northern Frontier District (N.F.D.) of Kenya. The two principal weapons in this campaign have been diplomacy and the radio. This article is concerned with one aspect of the radio war—the series or Somali songs and poems broadcast regularly between September and December 1963 from Mogadishu, and to a lesser extent from Radio Cario.

The University introduced area courses on the Middle East and North Africa into its regular offerings in the academic year 1960–1. This Program is a part of the School of International Relations, and focuses on contemporary area problems, in contrast to the more traditional approach of oriental studies. It also differs by concentrating on both the Mashriq (East) and the Maghreb (North Africa), rather than solely on the eastern Mediterranean. The community of interests, language, and culture of these two regions, plus the increasing importance of North Africa in world affairs, emphasises the practicality of this treatment.

I.F.A.N. was first established by the central government of l'Afrique Occidentale Française in 1936, as a successor to the Comité d'etudes historiques et scientifiques. At the time of the break-up of the A.O.F. federation, in March 1959, it became an Institute of the University of Dakar, and since then has been financed by the French Ministry of National Education.

The 6th Section of l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes is devoted to teaching and research in the economic and social sciences, Although recently established, this section has the most professors (called directors of studies )and the greatest number of research centers, of which the African Studies Centre is one. It was organised out of the first ‘Directorship of Studies in the Sociology of Black Africa’ established in 1954 under G. Balandier During succeeding years, four new directors of studies—and one associate director—were appointed, besides others in charge of courses and practical work. The Centre is thus effectively equipped for work of various kinds, which includes teaching and the initiation of research.

This note attempts to evaluate the more significant studies on migratory labour in Africa,1 and to suggest some of the information needed not only to advance knowledge but also to provide a basis for governmental policy.

There are two important elements of migratory labour as discussed in this note: the impermanent attachment to the labour force, and the absence from home. An increasing proportion of ‘wanderers who travel in search of wage labor’ (Carter Goodrich, ‘Migratory Labor’, in Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, New York, Macmillan, 1933) become, at least during their individual working lives, permanent members of the wage labour force.2 Petty traders, as well as the still frequently expatriate high-level manpower, who manifest some of the characteristics of migrant labour, are excluded from any discussion in this note.

The African Studies Center at U.C.L.A. was established in June 1959, with the following objects: to bring together scholars from all of the social sciences, the humanities, education, law, and linguistics; to provide a framework for interdisciplinary collaboration and communication; to promote the organisation and development of undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes; and to further research on African subjects by both staff and students. It also serves to provide liaison with other institutes, centres, and associations in the same field, and works to improve the University's resources of Africana. In addition to its academic and professional functions, the Center furthers interest in Africa among the University community and the public at large.

This Program was established in 1954. It is inter-disciplinary in character, and has the following primary purposes:

1. To provide an opportunity for students at Howard University to acquire as a part of their general education an objective view of the present position of Africa in the modern world, and an understanding of its economic, social, and political problems.

2. To enable African students attending the University to view objectively and in a larger perspective the problems of their own continent.

3. To provide training and education for a small number of graduate students, who will either continue their studies at other centres, or will be prepared to work in Africa.

Historically, Japan has had neither political nor cultural contacts with Africa. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, however, Japanese scholars took some interest in the European ‘scramble for Africa’, and some works by explorers and administrators in Africa were translated; the emphasis was placed upon colonial policy, rather than upon Africans themselves. The first Japanese report of a visit to Africa was Afurika isshu by Naokichi Nakamura and Shunro Oshikawa, published in 1910. Soon afterwards, economic development in Japan stimulated the search for new markets, and many fact-finding missions, both official and unofficial, were sent to South and East Africa. A Japanese consulate was opened in Cape Town in 1917; a shipping service to East Africa was inaugurated in 1926, and others to West and North Africa in 1933. During the 1930's further translations were made of European works on African arts, sociology, anthropology, and geography. By this time, there was a professional chair of colonial policy in most Japanese universities.

This Program is one of the five area studies operating in conjunction with the School of International Affairs at Columbia. It consists entirely of graduate work, and offers a Certificate in African Studies, which must be taken together with a post-graduate degree; this normally requires two years' residence at the University. The aim is to educate a limited number of highly qualified graduate students concerning the peoples and problems of tropical Africa especially, and to give them knowledge in depth of a particular area of the continent. Through this training, students will be prepared for careers dealing with African political, social, and economic affairs. The program also hopes to perform a national service by increasing American understanding of our relations with the new states of Africa.

This Institute came into being in order to provide information on Africa and its problems for official institutions, private organisations, and the general public throughout Scandinavia. It functions as a part of the University of Uppsala, but has its own board of governors and its own budget. The need for such a centre was first discussed in the Swedish Parliament in 1961; the matter was then referred to a Royal Commission which at the time was dealing with Swedish aid to under-developed countries, in particular with the recruitment and training of technical assistance experts.

This symposium was organised by the Inter-African Committee on Linguistics—a committee of C.C.T.A. whose chairman is Professor M. Guthrie. It was planned to coincide with the second meeting of the Committee, which accepted responsibility for implementing the recommendations of the symposium after approval by member governments of C.C.T.A.

The rich history and original culture of the peoples of Africa have long attracted attention in Russia. The first Russian books on Africa appeared as far back as the end of the eighteenth century. Since then about 600 books on Africa, including fundamental monographs, special anthologies, and booklets, have been published in our country; but the new encyclopaedia, Africa, is the first comprehensive reference book on this subject to be produced in the Soviet Union. It has been sponsored by the Africa Institute of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences and the ‘Sovetskaya Encyclopaedia’ State Scientific Publishing House, with research assistance from several institutes of the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences and other educational and scientific institutions.

This Committee was organised by interested scholars meeting in December 1962 at McGill University in Montreal. Representatives were present from the Islamic Institute, the Universities of Alberta (Edmonton), McGill, Montreal, New Brunswick, and Toronto, and from Loyola College and the Ontario Agricultural College. Expressions of interest were also received from Alberta (Calgary), British Columbia (Vancouver and Victoria), Manitoba, Memorial, Queens, Carleton, Waterloo, and York Universities. Professor Ronald Cohen (McGill) was elected chairman, Professor Donald C. Savage (Loyola) executive secretary, and Professor Donald L. Wiedner (Alberta-Edmonton) editor of a proposed annual bulletin. Organisational support and assistance was given by Dr J. R. Kidd, executive secretary of the Social Science Research and Humanities Research Councils of Canada, with which the Committee on African Studies is to be affiliated for its first two years.