Introduction of PKUCAS

Founded in 1998 and based on Institute for Asian and African Studies of Peking University, the Centre for African Studies Peking University（PKUCAS）is an integrated, trans-disciplinary and cross-department institution for African studies, making Peking University one of the few first universities in China to set up a center specifically for African studies. The missions of PKUCAS include organizing and coordinating African studies within the university, holding seminars and lectures, assisting in fostering Master and PhD students, providing consultation and personnel training on and off campus, organizing and promoting various domestic and overseas academic exchanges.

As one of the bases of African studies insightfully initiated by country leader back in the 1960s, African studies in Peking University have so far accumulated a rich cultural heritage. Since PKUCAS was founded in 1998, a variety of qualified researches have gained recognition and therefore brought high respect from the whole society to the center. So far, PKUCAS link together researchers and professors from Department of Arabic Language and Culture, Department of Asian and African Languages and Cultures, School of Archaeology and Museology, School of International Studies, and Department of History, sufficient to form a kind of strength of interdisciplinary approach to any research project. All the researchers of the center are very experienced in their own fields of studies and have close connections and cooperation with the academia in China and abroad. It has been a tradition for the centre to frequently hold academic exchange activities with scholars on and off the campus, and it is also a powerhouse for African students in China to get both spiritual and physical support now and then. The centre published PKU-African-Tele-info（weekly）, Annual Review of African Studies in China and series in order to provide information about Africa and present the achievements of both Chinese and international Africanist.

Missions of PKUCAS:

1. Organizing and coordinating African studies within the university；

2. Holding seminars and lectures, assisting in fostering Master and PhD students；

3. Accepting consultation and personnel training on and off campus；

4. Organizing and promoting various domestic and overseas academic exchanges, especially working with Peking University African Students Association（PUASA）；

5. Publishing the African Studies Series；

6. Collecting books and materials about African studies and making databases for relevant topics.