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So far eight of the 17 scholars have arrived in Bayreuth to take up their work as Cluster Fellows at the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies.

On point with the start of the academic year 2023/24 at UBT the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies welcomed the first arrivals of its latest cohort of Cluster Fellows – it is the fifth cohort since the Cluster’s beginnings in 2019. Since then, the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence has selected a total number of 94 fellows from all over the world in a highly competitive process, and invited them to Bayreuth. During their stays ranging from one to ten months, the scholars have worked on various research topics within the African and Afrodiasporic context, productively crossing disciplinary and conceptual boundaries - whether politics or religion, education and law, history and literature . In a special branch of the fellowship programme the Bayreuth Academy has also invited eight artist fellows to come to Bayreuth and bring Arts and Academia into a stimulating dialogue.

“We are excited that we can continue the inspiring activities at the Bayreuth Academy during this academic year,” Robert Debusmann, the programme’s coordinator states. The fellowships are designed to enable scholars of African Studies to pursue their own individual projects of significance while contributing to the Cluster of Excellence’s theoretical and thematic agenda. “The fellows’ contributions to the Cluster’s research endeavours have been tremendous,” Debusmann explains. During their stay at the University of Bayreuth the fellows are teamed up with a senior Academic Host and join a Research Section pertaining to their respective research context. At the same time, they are immersed in the Cluster’s vibrant community of researchers coming from more than fifteen academic disciplines.

The latest cohort of the running academic year consists of 17 scholars from 12 countries, including two artist residencies and an associated external fellow. In the last months of 2023, eight of the fellows have already arrived with their successors following in the first part of 2024.