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About the African Studies Center

The African Studies Center is one of a suite of highly respected international studies programs at MSU, whose purpose is to offer a truly global education while engaging in cutting edge research on the world's most pressing challenges.


Our Priorities

With 96 Core Faculty members in 46 different departments, we have the capacity to look at Africa from many perspectives.

Supporting Future Experts

One of our consistent priorities is to bring into being the next generation of African experts, be they academicians, policy makers or applied practitioners on the continent of Africa itself.

Teaching African Languages

It’s our job to develop, disseminate and to teach African languages. We have established one of the largest African language programs in this country, teaching on average about 12 African languages per year, with the capacity to take students from beginning level to advanced level.

Disseminating Information to the Public

We have an obligation to present to the public information that is clear, concise and contextualized about the social, political and economic dynamics of the African continent. Toward that end, we have a full-time PhD outreach director that works with local teachers to incorporate African material into our local school curriculum, as well as pedagogy in teaching faculty members how to use that curriculum.

Working with the Community

We work with local community organizations that have an African focus. We work with our partner institutions across the state of Michigan, as well as nationally.

Creating New Knowledge

We create new knowledge through our support for research, our support for print publications, and our support for digital media presentations. In keeping with our land grant tradition, we have the obligation to apply the knowledge that we generate toward solving the complex interlocking and global problems that confront the African continent today.


A Global Context

We believe that it is impossible to understand any one area of the world in isolation, so our approach to the study of Africa is rooted in a global context. As an African Studies Center, we do not isolate Africa as one geographical region that deserves special treatment in and of itself. Rather, we place Africa within the world.

MSU is a university where we continually try to bridge the gap between the intellectual and the pragmatic, between community and classroom, between academic excellence and social activism. Those are the hallmarks of an MSU education, and likewise the foundational principles of the African Studies Center.


MSU’s History in Africa

Michigan State has been connected with the African continent since the founding of the University in 1855, at first through the work of individual professors and later through formal institutional engagement. In 1960, MSU cooperated with the first president of Nigeria, Nnamdi Azikiwe, to establish a new African university at Nsukka based on MSU's land-grant model. The core values of African partnership and cooperation have characterized our approach to African Studies ever since.