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About CAS

CAS promotes the teaching of Africa through curricular and faculty development. It informs a broader public through a vigorous outreach program of community projects and educators' workshops for K-12 teachers and coordinates a large offering of Africa-related courses throughout the university system. Building on the Rutgers commitment to international education, CAS also supports faculty research in Africa and builds linkages with Africa-based scholars, institutions of higher-learning and non-governmental organizations. CAS members serve as consultants to public officials, businesses, schools and non-governmental organizations.

CAS is based in New Brunswick on the Livingston campus and works closely with the Department of Africana Studies and the African Studies Association Secretariat, now located on the Douglass campus. The Center is funded by grants from Rutgers University and external agencies and foundations.

In 1996 the national Secretariat of the African Studies Association (ASA) announced its intention to relocate from Emory University in Atlanta. When the Association put out a call for bids to host its headquarters, a committee of ten Africanist faculty members from Rutgers University developed a proposal to bring the Secretariat to New Jersey. Thanks to timely and substantial financial support from the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers was ultimately chosen over several other more well-established African Studies programs to host the largest professional organization of Africanist scholars in the world.

Rutgers administrators were quick to try and build on this initial success by providing additional support for African Studies on campus. In 1997, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences formally established the Rutgers African Studies Coordinating Committee (ASCC). In 1998 the Dean helped the ASCC set up new office space, appointed Rutgers' first Director of African Studies, and authorized funds to hire a full-time Assistant Director and part time secretary. In 1999, the ASCC was dissolved and the Center for African Studies (CAS) was formally established in its place.

Since 1999 the Center has been sustained through generous support from Rutgers University and through external grants from such agencies as the Department of Education, the Ford Foundation, and the New Jersey Council for the Humanities.

The Center for African Studies does not collaborate with military or intelligence agencies of any government in any fashion. Our mission – to develop and disseminate knowledge regarding Africa and Africans – cannot be reconciled with either the goals, the methods, or the structure of such institutions. We urge our members and the bodies to which we belong to adopt a similar principle.

Ousseina Alidou, Director (July 1, 2009 - June 30, 2011)

Discipline: African Languages and Literatures

Richard Schroeder, Associate Director

Renée DeLancey, Assistant to the Director

Ousseina Alidou, Director Program African Languages and Literatures

Discipline: African Languages and Literatures

Akinbiyi Akinlabi

Barbara Cooper

David Hughes (on leave 2009-2010; resumes 2010- 2011)

Julie Livingston

Discipline: History

Richard Schroeder

Faculty Research

CAS Publications

Recent Faculty Publications