Our Story

The Institute of African Studies (IAS) was established in 1962 by the Governing Council of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka to offer the postgraduate programme, Master of Arts (MA) in African Studies. The Institute officially commensed operations on 23 September 1963, with a four-day seminar entitled "The Emergence of African Political Thought." A keynote address was delivered in the seminar by Professor William Leo Hansberry, who is the first Director of the Institute. Participants came from all over Africa and beyond to discuss various aspects of African societies, laying the interdisciplinary background for: “the study of African history and antiquities, its languages, its societies, its rocks and soils and vegetation and animal life” (Ikoro, 1984, p. 6), which later formed the general objectives of the Institute. The mission of African Studies in the IAS at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka is encapsulated in the following statement by Professor A. E. Afigbo:
a means of consolidating the independence and building up the cultural identity of the
new states of Africa .… It was conceived not just as a centre for research into the culture
of the African continent, but also as a rallying point for all men of colour who can trace
their descent to the African continent, no matter in what part of the world they now find
their habitation (Afigbo, 1971, p. 89).

As an interdisciplinary institute, the research areas of the IAS span African indigenous laws, technology and science, literature, religion, music, health care, politics, and gender. Following the end of the Nigerian Civil War, the Institute's objectives were redefined as follows:

• dealing with the current social problems, and
• encouraging and projecting their living art and culture.

To achieve these objectives, the Institute has established several mechanisms for delivering its mandate, which include:

1. The organisation of:
   • public lectures
   • staff seminars, and
   • workshops.
2. Coordination of research programmes for individual Research Fellows of the Institute.
3. Building an ethnographic museum to hold artifacts and archaeological pieces and remnants of the Nigerian Civil War to preserve the culture of the Nigerian people.
4. Maintaining a research library, which holds documents, bibliographies, books, and rare publications, as well as the assembling of oral and written sources for African studies.
5. Publications, such as:
• Ikenga – the Institute’s journal, first published in 1971.
• ii. Ikoro – the Institute’s bulletin, first published in 1971.

The Institute has been approved to offer a master's degreeprogramme since 1963. The approval was intended to enable the Institute to prepare and present candidates for postgraduate degrees in African Studies in its own right. However, this objective was not realised due to the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970), and other inexplicable factors. The MA programme later commensed in the 2009/2010 academic session following a comprehensive review and redesign of its curriculum and course content by the Curriculum Review Committee, constituted by the then Director of the Institute, Professor Emeka Otagburuagu. Subsequently, in the 2015/2016 academic session, the programme, “peace and conflict studies”, was approved by the university senate to respond primarily to the multifarious conflict situations in Nigeria and Africa.