Paper short abstract:

African Studies saw a rapid expansion after the world war, gathering a community of experts, paired by the circulation of objects and people. This paper observes the constitution of African Studies as platform of political dispute, international solidarity and autonomy in the 1950-60s

Paper long abstract:

In the 1950-60s, saw the institutionalization of African Studies across the world, joining a large epistemic community of experts, paired by the circulation of objects (books, artefacts and art), and people (from African students and scholars, to politicians and missionaries).

For some newly independent African Countries, inaugurating centers and Afro-centered curricula of African Studies was a major achievement for consolidating political autonomy. Elsewhere, among Non-Aligned countries like India, Brazil, Slovakia or Mexico, the foundation of center of African(and Asian) Studies related to the promotion solidarity within the Third World.

This paper analysis this process, connecting trajectories of people in their search for liberation, ancestry and identity and histories of institutions and new nations motivated by agendas of political autonomy and solidarity. This proposal, part of an ongoing research, observes the role played by African Studies to the constitution of political identities of developing countries.