The Cluster is conceived as a transformative space in which to advance the study of African and African-diasporic ways of life and world-making, via the pursuit of inter- and transdisciplinary forms of cutting-edge research and theory-building. Starting in 2019, Africa Multiple has established four Cluster locations at African institutions (Rhodes University, Makhanda, South Africa; Moi University Eldoret, Kenya; Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; the University of Lagos, Nigeria), thus pioneering changes to power imbalances in the production and transmission of knowledge in African Studies.

The second funding phase will be devoted to expanding the scope of joint knowledge production and continuing the reconfiguration of African Studies by organizing the Cluster’s future research in Research Sections that address the empirical, analytical and ethical dimensions of world(s) and world-making in synergetic ways. Researchers from all five Cluster locations will collaborate in six new Research Sections called Accumulation, Digitalities, Ecologies, In/securities Re:membering, and Translating. The joint empirical and analytical focus on world-making will enable deeper explorations of what world can mean from and for Africa. Examining how world(s) are made and unmade in relational processes will shed light on the politics of world-making and helps to understand the multiple world(s) Africa and its diasporas co-constitute, thus contributing to a broader re-imagining of the world from African perspectives.

The emphasis on intersectionality and critical diversity approaches in research as well as the innovative collaborative formats of research data management and science communication will continue to constitute integral parts of the Cluster’s agenda, as will the international fellowship scheme and the comprehensive early career support measures, especially through the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies. Africa Multiple also features a Knowledge Lab, which forms the core of the Cluster’s work on theory, methodology and critical reflection of knowledge production in African Studies.

Involved institutions:

• Moi University
• Rhodes University
• Université Joseph KI-ZERBO
• University of Lagos