About the Centre
CakeForBreakfast, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Guillaume Danet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Our focus
The Exeter Centre for Research on Africa (ECRA) is an interdisciplinary community of researchers working on Africa, its pasts, presents and futures, and on its relationships with the rest of the world. We undertake innovative, cross-disciplinary research throughout the continent, across the humanities, arts and social sciences, and in collaboration with colleagues in health, environment and life sciences. Our researchers pursue critical and cutting-edge theoretical and empirical approaches that place African experiences at the centre of our study and are guided by principles of interdisciplinarity, collaboration, sustainable research, and the co-production of knowledge.
ECRA is committed to supporting transformative models of global North-Africa research collaboration that work to redress the unequal power structures embedded in academic knowledge production. We acknowledge the privileges we benefit from due to our position within a Global North university. We have a strong commitment to supporting the development of the next generations of African researchers, and researchers working on Africa, particularly through our postgraduate research community. The University of Exeter is a signatory to the Africa Charter on transformative research collaboration that seeks to advance and uphold the continent’s place in the global production of knowledge. ECRA is also a member of the South-West and Wales Africa Research Network.
Aims
ECRA will:
- Provide a supportive and inclusive cross-disciplinary research environment for scholars working on Africa, and its relationship with global and diasporic communities
- Work together to develop transformative, ethical and sustainable approaches to research on, with, and for Africa
- Support the development of postgraduate and early-career African researchers and those working on Africa
- Develop collaborative research and training partnerships with African institutions
Our research themes
ERCA members conduct research across multiple research fields and countries in Africa, but we have particular research strengths and interests in the following thematic areas:
- Creative African Economies
- Heritage, Conservation and Environment
- Peace, Justice and Equality
- Development and Good Governance
- Research Methods, Ethics and Indigenous Knowledge Economies
- · Technology, Digital Media and African Futures
ECRA is part of the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Global and Area Studies initiative, promoting intellectual collaboration on global challenges with colleagues working on South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America.
ECRA members also contribute to Exeter’s Strategy 2030 research themes of: Health and Wellbeing; Climate Emergency and Ecological Crisis and creating Fair, Socially Just and Inclusive Societies and across thematic Exeter Research Networks .
Contact us
Contact us at ecra-africa@exeter.ac.uk
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