Centre for African Studies

I'm Professor Ismail Söylemez. I am the director of the Center for African Studies (AFAM) at Inonu University. AFAM is a research and application center established in 2019. In our country; In the context of the new foreign policy developed in the coordination of the presidency, an African-dominated foreign policy was initiated. In this context, our center; it is a research and application center based on providing academic support to this policy, conducting Africa-oriented research and trying to produce academic publications. AFAM has adopted the principle of caring for African students who come to our country from Africa and especially to our university. Seminars and study halls within our center; It offers our African students the opportunity to conduct a variety of academic studies, researches and activities. On the other hand, our center; It is an organization that aims to introduce Africa to our country, our country's academy, bureaucracy and business world by doing Africa oriented academic studies. Accordingly, approximately 12 research reports have been published. Our academic studies on the study of African publications have been published. Our journal "AFRICANIA: International Journal of African Studies'', Turkey's first and only peer-reviewed academic journal of African Studies, is also published in AFAM. AFRICANIA is an international journal. Our university prepares an African profile book with the contributions of a team of its professors and researchers, as well as our professors working in different universities of Turkey, and aims to publish a series of books related to Africa. I mentioned AFRICANIA magazine. Africania magazine is published every 6 months, that is, 2 issues per year. Our magazine appeals to the whole world. In addition, African students have a number of study groups with Turkish students. The researches produced in these working groups are published in our journal and on the site opened by our university for AFAM specifically for African research. We have about 30 researchers. Here, we provide training consisting of 3 topics such as Basic African Education, Africa Specialty Training and Africa Awareness Training.
AFAM, which is in its 3rd year, has come to the forefront among the existing African research centers in Turkey with its serious work and activities. At the same time, it has worked abroad to increase the recognition of the country and the university. In this context, it has partnered with 4 symposiums held abroad, especially in Africa, and participated with its experts. In addition, participation in a number of panels held abroad was provided. About 25 online panels have been organized and various online internationally attended meetings have been held so far. AFAM has participated in various activities held abroad. In this field, it participated in 4-5 academic events held in different countries in Africa. Joint panels and symposiums were organized with different institutions and organizations in our country and abroad. Within our center, a number of in-depth studies have been carried out in relation to the important developments such as July 15 and Hagia Sophia, and how they are perceived in Africa.
Inonu University Center for African Studies is a center that aims to contribute to the work of African research centers in our country, to produce and publish content in this field. In addition, it aims to offer support to the promotions of our country abroad and in this sense to produce various contents that they can use in academia, bureaucracy and business world and other works in this direction. Under the leadership of AFAM, various studies are conducted such as organizing co-operations with universities in many countries in Africa, providing mutual faculty and student exchanges, and sharing resources. Inonu University Center for African Studies aims to contribute to the development of African studies in our country and to contribute to the formation of a serious academic literature in this field. Inonu University Center for African Studies, as its name suggests, is a research and application center established within Inonu University. Our center uses the ground floor of the foreign language building on our central campus in Malatya Battalgazi district. We welcome everyone who wants to come to AFAM and visit here, who want to work and produce here. One of the important points that we should underline about our Center for African Studies is that students from Africa carry out various studies here at the Center for African Studies. In addition to this; a communication bridge is established between Turkish and international students, and various studies are carried out in this field. As you know, one of the most important features of university campuses is that they provide culture and opportunity. Students from many countries of Africa can meet with our Turkish and other international students to promote African culture, language, art, cinema and music while carrying out various studies in our center. At the same time, African students carry out various educational, informational and country promotion activities for our other students who are interested in African languages and African culture. In this sense, I would like to point out that extremely efficient studies are carried out. We welcome everyone who is interested in Africa, who wants to take part in African studies, who wants to conduct academic, cultural and literary studies related to Africa. Everyone can benefit from the facilities in the library and study halls in our center. Here, studies are carried out by being included in communication groups with our students from different countries. Let's end here by stating this.