News
Dr. Megan Quimper in Liberia
Last April, Dr. Megan Quimper was part of a physician leadership team traveling to Liberia to assess the feasibility of establishing a…
Ohio State welcomed an Angolan government delegation to campus on April 10, 2026 at the Wampler Family Conference Room in the Kunz-Brundige Franklin County Extension Building. João Ernesto dos…
Center for African Studies Renaissance 2026
Established by the Center for African Studies, the Renaissance Fund augments the Center’s vitality. Income will be allocated by the Director of…
Study is first genome-scale analysis of iconic umbrella acacia
Emily Caldwell
Ohio State News
Young umbrella acacia trees in Africa survive severe drought by…
CAS held its second Africa @ Noon lecture of the new academic year on Wednesday, October 29. Abraham Toluwase Owodunni, is a foreign student from Nigeria undergoing his PhD matriculation…
On Saturday, October 11, CAS was the honored guest at Ohio University’s Africa Night organized by members of OU’s student body. As the guests of honor, CAS’ director (Dr. Ousman Kobo), and…
CAS jointly hosted King Tackie Teiki Tsuru II, King of the Ga Peoples of Accra (Ga Mantse), with the City of Columbus and the Wexner Center for the Arts on August 1st. The Ga Mantse was in…
In July, the Center of African Studies took part in the annual Columbus African Festival held in Genoa Park. The Center partnered with African Studies at Ohio University, Kent State Center for…
In May, Ohio State and the Center for African Studies hosted a delegation of ministers from Ghana to discuss future collaborations and strengthen the Columbus-Accra sister-city relationship…
On May 22, the City of Columbus hosted its 3rd Annual Columbus Africa Day celebration. Africa Day salutes the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in 1963. In 2002, the OAU was…
Janet I. Lewis will present "Harnessing Networks to Counter Anti-Refugee Rumors: A Field Experiment in Uganda."
Sharing and vetting uncertain information about out-groups…
This year, CAS hosted the Association for African Studies Programs (AASP) annual meeting on the campus of The Ohio State University. The meeting lasted two days from March 12 to 13. The venue was the…
At our Mershon Monday event on March 3, Dr. Jacien Carr presented his research on the Poro (men’s power associations) history, folklore, and warfare during the First Liberian Civil War (FLCW) from…
A statement from CAS Director Dr. Ousman Kobo on the passing of former Director Dr. Robert Agunga:
In Memorial Professor Robert Agunga It is with a heavy…
22 February 2025
CAS, in collaboration with CIBER (Dominic DiCamillo and Emily Salopeck), hosted the first of several CAS-CIBER Africa seminars to train U.S. Army Civil Affairs soldiers from…
20 November, 2024
CAS, Rita Koryan, and Maureen Miller hosted Ohio State House Representative Ismail Mohamed (District 3) to speak about his journey from Somalia to Columbus, and to the Ohio…
15 November 2024
The September 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation turned the world’s attention to the strategic connections between China and African nations. This forum, which was held…
22 January 2025
On January 22, CAS held its first 2025 Africa at Noon lecture featuring Dr. Thelela Ngcetane-Vika at the Hale Black Cultural Center. Her lecture was entitled “The…
In this episode of Buckeyes Abroadcasts, we hear from Ousman Kobo and Jacien Carr from the Center for African Studies (CAS). The mission of the Center for African Studies is to disseminate…
Please take a look at "Congolese Rumba: Soundtrack to African Political Struggle" in Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. Origins revisits and unfolds…
On 9 October, CAS hosted Liberian Senator Dabah M. Varpilah of Grand Cape Mount Country. Senator Varpilah was in Columbus visiting members of the Liberian community when she…
Further strengthening our partnership, CAS hosted Ohio University’s African Studies Program (ASP) and Center for International Studies (CIS) for a full day of meetings and activities aimed at…
Jack Fernandes, a 4th year Ph.D. candidate, conducted research in Malawi last July measuring the relationship between disaster management, politics, and the challenges facing a variety of actors…
EMPOWERING CHANGE: RESEARCH STRATEGIES FOR POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT IN MALAWI
Twelve Ohio State undergraduates studied abroad in Malawi this summer as part of the Global…
Please Join CAS in Congratulating Dr. Amanda Robinson!
Amanda Lea Robinson (Associate Professor of Political Science) has been appointed as the co-editor of
CAS Participation in Diplomacy Lab
On 4 March 2024, CAS submitted a proposal to conduct research and provide a policy paper for the US Department of State’s…
CAS & GOHi Delegation to Ghana
Center for Africa Studies and Global One Health Initiative (GOHi) have united to expand the Global One Health Initiative to West Africa. Ghana…
CAS participated in the annual Columbus African Festival (CAF) at Genoa Park. The festival which took place from July 27 to 28 is a celebration of Africa in Ohio. CAF is an excellent venue to not…
On July 10, CAS met with Simona Vaclavikova, the civilian chief of staff to General John Harris of the Ohio National Guard (ONG). The purpose of her visit was to propose a partnership with CAS…
On June 4, CAS hosted a working lunch with Dr. Thelela Ngcetane-Vika from the University of the Witwatersrand located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Ngcetane-Vika specializes in corporate…
On June 20, CAS was hosted by Ohio University’s African Studies Program (ASP) and Center for International Studies (CIS) for a full day of discussions aimed at restoring ASP-CAS-CIS partnership. …
Columbus is home to immigrants from fifty African countries. For city reporting demographic purposes, members of the same immigrant community are counted as country when their population reaches…
CAS Africa at Noon will provide a monthly platform for Africanist faculties, graduate students, and staff from all disciplines to share their research and receive…
April 5th of this year signaled the return of the Owomoyela lecture series after a hiatus of several years due to the covid epidemic and staff transitions within the Center for African Studies. Dr…
Dear Africanist Colleagues and Friends,
The staff at the Center for African Studies is thrilled to welcome you back to campus. We are looking forward to an active 2023/24 academic…
This semester marks the launch of a series of African affairs-oriented events at Mershon. With support from the Global Arts & Humanities Discovery Theme on ‘Archival Imaginations’, two seminars…
Ousman Murzik Kobo, associate professor in the Department of History, has been appointed director of the Center for African Studies. In this role, he will be responsible for developing a strategic…
For the first time, OSU Model African Union students attended the Regional Southeast Simulation sponsored by Savannah State University November 8-10th. As with the national conference held in…
The Center for African Studies is pleased to announce the launching of the
Owomoyela Yoruba Studies Graduate Scholarship Competition
Purpose: The…
Salome Fouts, senior lecturer and the director of African Languages at the Center for Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, has received the Provost's Award for Distinguished Teaching by a…
For the eighth consecutive year, OSU students from the Model African Union (MAU) organization took part in the annual international simulation hosted by Howard University in Washington, DC…
This year’s Oyekan Owomoyela lecture, “Semioptics of Yoruba Language: Word as Image”, delved into the confluence of spoken and visual word in Yoruba painting sculpture, installations, proverbs,…
Researchers working in Africa in any field—from social science to hydrology to epidemiology—need data to be able to develop and guide best practices and produce actionable scholarly results…
Three young Ghanaians and two adults representing Ghana 4H and YMCA recently spent a week visiting Columbus and experiencing programs that engage youth in agriculture. The visit was a culminating…
The Center for African Studies, Global Water Institute and the Global One Health Initiative are continuing the Voices from the Field brown bag speaker series featuring…
For the second summer, the Center for African Studies and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs co-hosted a six week Public Management Institute for 25 Mandela Washington Fellows. Twenty-five…
A delegation of 16 Model African Union students traveled to Washington D.C. this past February to participate in the National Model African Union conference. Convening every year at Howard University…
The Global Water Institute and the Center for African Studies announce a new informal lunchtime forum to highlight the work of Ohio State faculty who have had significant experience working in…
The first cohort of young African professionals to attend OSU as part of a Public Management Institute this summer exceeded already high expectations as representatives of emerging leadership on…
Three new OSU summer programs – two in Tanzania and one in Rwanda – will be added to nine existing OSU programs in Africa for the 2016/17 academic year. Dr. Hollie Nyseth Brehm from the Department…
Beginning in mid-June, The Ohio State University will host 25 young professionals from across Africa in a six-week Public Management Institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The…
How are We to Live in Our Common Home? Reflections on Laudato Si, Pope Francis' Encyclical on Ecology
Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council…
This new course focuses on African Union (AU), including its foundations, mission, accomplishments and challenges. The first part of the semester course will examine the AU’s genesis in the ideas…
Dr. Shaaban Ali Kachenje Mlacha, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Planning, Finance, and Administration at the University of Dodoma, Tanzania recently visited Ohio State University to explore collaborative…
“Marx, Freud and the Gods of the Yoruba Atlantic: European Social Theory and the Real-Life ‘Fetish’” was the topic of the 3rd annual Oyekan Owomoyela Yoruba Studies lecture on March 13th. Dr. J…
November and December saw a flurry of exchange between OSU two partner universities in Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University and the University of Gondar. Dr. Yemataw Wondie, from the President’s…
On November 7th, a unique coalition of community and campus groups, including the Center for African Studies, held a music benefit, “Voices to End Ebola” at the Ohio Union. Diaspora civic…
Over 75 participants from across the US, Africa, and beyond gathered at OSU in late October to discuss the role of agricultural extension in achieving food security throughout the continent. The…
Yoruba is spoken by 30 million West Africans, in Nigeria as well as in Togo, Benin, and Sierra Leone. It is also spoken by millions in the Diaspora, in Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Trinidad and Tobago…
The Center for African Studies (CAS) and partnering departments will host an international conference October 20th and 21st, 2014 on Agricultural Extension and Food Security in Africa.…
Twelve OSU students with diverse backgrounds traveled to Ethiopia this May through a new study abroad program. Supported by a grant from the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural…
A forum for conversations about issues of importance to Africa, recently organized by a group of OSU students, faculty, and staff, held its first session on October 11th in Hale Hall. Remarks by Dr…
2014 will feature a wide variety of Ohio State sponsored programs in Morocco, Senegal, Ghana, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. You can learn more about individual or all Africa…
Several forthcoming publications will disseminate themes and ideas explored at two CAS-sponsored conferences. Discussions from a 2009 conference will be reflected in two volumes entitled…
A new May Session study abroad program will introduce students to the development field, in the rich and complex environment of Ethiopia. Partnerships with two Ethiopian universities, Addis Ababa…
Seventeen OSU students from diverse majors traveled through Uganda this May, observing its history, culture, and the lives of its citizens through the lens of human security. Students…
In her first year as CAS's second year student assistant, Darby O'Donnell discovered the National Model African Union online and thought it would be fun for OSU to participate. Three years later,…
The Second Annual Model African Union Simulation for Ohio high school students was held on Saturday, November 17, 2012 at Columbus International High School. It provided over 80 students from 8…
Dr. Robert Agunga, Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Communication, Education and Leadership (ACEL) in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, has been…
The Ohio State University Center for African Studies has been awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to increase academic collaboration and…
Yoruba Club 21, a Columbus-based socio-cultural group for people of Yoruba descent from Nigeria, has donated $15,000 to the Owomoyela Yoruba Studies Fund at The Ohio State University. The fund was…
Vice Provost for Global Strategies and International Affairs William Brustein has selected Kelechi Kalu as the next Associate Provost for Global Strategies and International Affairs at Ohio State…