The Center for African Studies - Harvard Yenching Institute Training Program in African History and Cultures

In collaboration with the Harvard Yenching Institute, the Center for African Studies established a nine-month Training Program in African History and Cultures in 2019.

The training program is designed for young Asian faculty with PhDs or advanced graduate students considering a career in academia or policy research on Asia and Africa and includes opportunities to conduct research, take courses, learn an African language, and participate in an East Africa field trip.

South-South trade has gained a new prominence in Africa’s relations with Asia with China becoming Africa’s largest trading partner and lender in 2009. The scale of China’s presence in Africa in the last two decades obscures the equally important initiatives of other Asian countries in Africa, and their lengthy histories of engagement with Africa.

These significant developments have heightened the need and urgency for a deeper understanding of Africa’s historic relations with Asia; for an intellectual engagement and understanding of Africa on its own terms; and for an appreciation of how Africa’s long history shapes the continent’s current engagement with Asia.