The University of the Witwatersrand’s African Centre for Migration & Society has been awarded the right to host the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Migration and Mobility after competing with several other good universities for the hosting right.
ARUA CoEs are intended to be focal points for aggregating world-class researchers from member universities to undertake collaborative research in priority thematic areas while providing opportunities for graduate students from the region and elsewhere to work with the researchers. The CoE is therefore an assembly point for good and committed researchers and students from all member universities seeking to do cutting-edge work. The motivation behind the development of ARUA CoEs is drawn from the need to work collaboratively to expand significantly the generation of knowledge in the region.
As part of the ARUA initiative, ACMS will be conducting a five-year research programme entitled Mobility and Sociality in Africa’s Emerging Urban. This initiative is a scholarly response to unprecedented levels of urbanisation and mobility driven by conflict, ambition, and respatialising economies. It is intended to develop African-based contributions to theories of human mobility and transforming modes of social engagement, authority, representation, and expression.
This initiative brings together five African universities dedicated to cultivating a generation of African scholars dedicated to reshaping global social theory and scholarly conversations on mobility, cities, and social change. It promises to open novel scholarly frontiers and enhance pedagogy and partnerships in ways that positively transform the continent’s universities. The initiative is dedicated to fostering interdisciplinarity, engagement with the arts, and creative research and outreach methodologies.
