The African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) is deeply committed to ensuring that African scholars, both on the continent and in the diaspora, play a central role in producing knowledge in African Studies and beyond. Over the first ten years of our existence, we focused on establishing the association, building our presence in the field, organizing biennial conferences, and positioning African scholars at the forefront of academic debates and discourse. In the lead-up to our most recent biennial conference (ASAA 2023 in Lubumbashi, DRC), the ASAA executives revitalized the discussion around creating a dedicated journal for the association, which led to a decision by the General Assembly and resolute commitment to its development. This vision culminated in the birth of Bokutani: Journal of the African Studies Association of Africa in 2023. The journal was officially launched in October 2023, during ASAA's 5th biennial conference and 10th anniversary celebration in Lumumbashi, DRC.
We are also pleased and proud to announce that Professor Cheikh Thiam has graciously accepted the role of inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Bokutani.
About Professor Cheikh A. Thiam:
Cheikh Thiam is a professor of English and black studies at Amherst College, USA. He holds a B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal, a master's degree in French from the University of Provence in France, and a master's and doctoral degree in comparative literature from Binghamton University in New York. He is a former associate editor of Research in African Literature and a former editor of African Studies Review. Professor Thiam is the author and editor of several volumes on Negritude and African philosophy and literature, including Return to the Kingdom of Childhood: Re-envisioning the philosophical relevance of Negritude (Ohio State University Press, 2014), Epistemologies from the Global South: Negritude, Modernity, and the Idea of Africa (University of Kwa-Zulu Natal Press, 2023 and Routledge, 2024), Negritude Reloaded: a special issue of the Journal of African Philosophy, and Pan-Africanism, African Research, and Global Futures, a special issue of Global Africa co-edited with Mjiba Frehiwot. His forthcoming volume on Transmediations: Senegalese literature, new media, and audio/visual cultures, co-edited with Doyle Calhoun, will be published by Yale French Studies in the fall of 2024. Cheikh Thiam is presently translating, with Alioune Badara Fall and Doyle Calhoun, a Senghor Reader, thereby making available in English Leopold Sedar Senghor's philosophical oeuvre, which is currently available only in French. The Senghor Reader will be published by Duke University Press.
Professor Thiam's international standing as a leading academic in Black and African studies, combined with his substantial contributions to the field, will position Bokutani as a pivotal journal for exploring questions of knowledge production and epistemology. We look forward to working with Prof. Cheikh Thiam and welcoming him to the journal.
Submit an abstract for the inaugural issue of Bokutani here.