Dear friends,
As the year begins, I am excited to share with you this edition of our newsletter focused on the region, which covers a wide array of scholarship, cross-disciplinary programs, and partnerships. Across Yale, researchers and practitioners from the continent continue to further academic scholarship and foster public-facing engagement on campus, while academic centers at the university develop novel partnerships with institutions, particularly focusing on African art.
I look forward to seeing and sharing the results of these partnerships throughout 2024. As always, please do not hesitate to be in touch.
A new pan-African initiative co-led by Yale researchers and supported by a Yale-Smithsonian, and a Yale Planetary Solutions grant is exploring approaches to manage ecosystems and improve public health across Africa. At a recent workshop organized with African stakeholders, strategies to integrate health, environmental sustainability, and novel financing methods were identified.
The Jackson School of Global Affairs hosted “Peace & Security on the African Continent: What Does the Future Hold?” on October 16, 2024, commemorating the 20th anniversary of the African Union’s Peace and Security Council. In collaboration with the Blue Center and the Peacebuilding Initiative, the event featured diplomats discussing Africa’s security challenges and engaging the Yale community in a Q&A format.
For over a decade, Yale lecturers Amy Vedder and Bill Weber have led students to Rwanda to study its innovative conservation efforts. Through field visits, students explore how ecotourism protects endangered species like the mountain gorilla while boosting economic growth. The program fosters collaboration between Yale and Rwandan students, and recent funding has expanded participation and its local conservation impact.
The Yale MacMillan Center’s Council on African Studies has welcomed three distinguished visiting fellows for the 2024-2025 academic year: Rawia M. Tawfik Amer, Yemiamrew Jorgi Teferi, and Uchenna Okeja. These scholars bring expertise in development studies, anthropology, and political philosophy, enriching Yale’s engagement with African scholarship and bringing fresh insights into the continent’s complex challenges and opportunities.
As part of the Peacebuilding Initiative, Professor Catherine Panter-Brick and Senior Fellow Bisa Williams conducted research on “everyday peace” in Mauritania this summer. Using fuzzy cognitive mapping, they engaged students, diplomats, and community members to explore how peace is understood and sustained.
A recent analysis by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health reveals that vaccinating children under five in endemic areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo could significantly reduce mpox deaths. The study emphasizes the urgent need for effective vaccination strategies to combat the ongoing outbreak, particularly among the country’s most vulnerable population.