Paper long abstract:

Based on reflections of the 1955 Asian-African Conference (Bandung) and fuelled by the recent initiatives of the Africa-Asia Collaborative Framework (the 2012 Roundtable in Lusaka; the 2015 A-Asia conference in Accra; the 2018 A-Asia conference in Dar es Salaam; the 2020 workshop in Kasetsart Bangkok; and the future 2021 A-Asia conference in Saint-Louis, it was necessary for the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to initiate and eventually set to launch the Africa-Asia Research Platform (A-ARP).

Having three constituent colleges (two for education and one for health), six campus colleges at the Mlimani Main Campus, five schools, five specialized academic Institutes (including the Confucius Institute), nine Directorates, twelve Centres (including Korean Studies, Chinese Studies, Indian Studies Centres), four Bureaus, four Service units and one Company, UDSM had been experiencing diversities in engaging with Asia. Establishment and formalization of the A-ARP not only bring together the UDSM faculty and graduate students from across the university with scholars from different parts of the world to identify key areas for research, theoretical and practical interventions and knowledge production and exchange (and/or sharing) but also enhance the spirit of unity and integration that is delivered by engaging with Asia in its entirety rather than in blocs and compartmentalization.

This paper documents the trails of fostering the unity and integration through Africa-Asia collaborative networks and situates the A-ARP on the same while highlighting an acceleration of the viable possibility of intervening in and reshaping the prevailing Africa-Asia collaborative interventions. The paper emphasizes the enduring lessons of the Bandung spirit residing in the challenges of resolving the tensions over the appropriate context for pursuing self-determination and paves ways for re-emergence of Africa-Asia concrete collaborative initiatives built in the sense of unity and integration.

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