Certainly more books have been written on what was once French North Africa than on most regions of the continent. Yet of the volumes written prior to the independence of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, how few are now worth reading! This judgement is not retrospective; the evidence was at hand long ago.1 That admirable compendium of scholarly accomplishments, Jean Alazard et al., Histoire et historiens de l'Algerie (Paris, Alcan, 1931), tells us that, 100 years after the French conquest of that country, there was little interest in studying the living society of the Muslim majority except as it posed legal, administrative or philological problems. After World War II, the President of the Algiers Court of Appeal, Georges Surdon, noted in La France en Afrique du nord (Algiers, Edition Alger republicain, 1946) that ‘all the books which have been devoted to the study of the implantation of the French in Algeria have given a fanciful or insufficient sketch of the native population’. Yet one of the basic arguments of his book is that since Arab authority is traditionally based on the tribe rather than on any geographical unit, Arab nationalism in North Africa stems from invalid assumptions. If one wants to learn about the problems of contemporary North Africans, less than a score of works published in French or English before Libya gained independence in 1951, Morocco and Tunisia in 1956, and Algeria in 1962 still remain essential reading.2

Since 1950, the rise of African national movements and the attainment of independence has been paralleled by an equally rapid growth in the number and scope of national development plans. Such a plan is viewed by almost all African states as one of the standard attributes of sovereignty.1

True, economic planning preceded independence. Indeed Ghana (then the Gold Coast) had its first, 10-year economic plan in 1919, and the British adoption of colonial economic development planning as a desired standard policy dates back to 1939–40. However, the rapid postwar surge of colonial public expenditure plans was closely related to attempts first to counter the popularity of the nationalist movements and later to strengthen the economic infrastructure during the terminal colonial phrase prior to independence.2

Ten years ago Kenneth Robinson published ‘A Survey of the Background Material for the Study of Government in French Tropical Africa’, in The American Political Science Review (Washington), L, 1956, pp. 179–98. In the absence of published studies dealing directly with government and politics in French African colonies, his survey was necessarily limited largely to official publications and to studies of French colonial policy, legal and constitutional developments, and ethnography. At the same time Thomas Hodgkin's Nationalism in Colonial Africa (London, Muller, 1956), the first and perhaps the most successful attempt to analyse and compare postwar political and social developments, had to rely on a few sociological studies for relevant material on French colonies. At that time, Hodgkin's own articles in West Africa (London) and a few articles by Robinson were the only available pieces of published research on politics in this area.

A University must grow from seed. It cannot be transplanted from England or Germany in full leaf and bearing … When the American University appears, it will not be a copy of foreign institutions but the slow and natural outgrowth of American social and political habits.

This quotation from C. W. Eliot, who was President of Harvard University nearly 100 years ago, provided Sir Eric Ashby with the starting text for his recent Godkin Lectures at Harvard, which have since been published under the title African Universities and Western Tradition. Ashby is concerned with the process through which the universities in Africa, still very much western transplantations, will develop into genuine national universities. He seeks to extend Eliot's prophecy to the universities of Africa, to test there its applicability and its implications.

The African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin was established in September 1961, thus formalising the co-operation which had been developing over several years between faculty members in various disciplines and departments with research and teaching interests in Africa. The Program provides a centre for the co-ordination of such teaching and research. A certificate in African studies may be obtained in association with an M.A. degree in one of the university departments; at the Ph.D. level, African studies may be offered as a minor field.

The German Africa Society was founded in 1956; it had no predecessor in Germany and is not the continuation of any pre-war institution. From the beginning it has concentrated its activities in two fields; making Africa and its problems known to the German public, and endeavouring to foster relations between Africans and Germans in all spheres of life. Research and publications are directed towards African cultures as integrated entities, including economic, social, and cultural aspects.

Bang in the middle of a dialogue now going on about African culture—its roots, its contemporary values and relevance, and its future—Chemchemi Creative Centre has been born. This has come into our midst as a sister to the three Mbari writers' and artists' clubs in Nigeria; it will be inspired by the same aims, although the methods of achieving them will obviously be guided by local national conditions.

This Project was initiated two years ago with three main objectives: (i) fundamentally, to carry out a coherent set of applied research studies of important economic development problems of the East African countries; (ii) to contribute East African readings and research experience to university teaching of economics; and (iii) to assist the East African Governments in using economic research for development planning. Organisationally, the Project is simply a group of economists working on related topics under the leadership of the director, Professor P. G. Clark. The group forms the economics section of the East African Institute of Social Research (which has similar sections for sociology and anthropology and for political science); the Institute in turn is the social sciences research department of Makerere University College. The four-year project is now in mid-course, and it can be fairly said that at least some progress has been made toward all three objectives.

This College—Højskole for Udviklingslandene—opened in August 1964 with 22 students from six countries of the eastern half of Africa, who had come for a four-month course. Behind this lies a story of years of effort by many people, principally Danes, and more especially those within the folk high- school movement, who were persuaded and inspired by the zeal of the indefatigable Dr Peter Manniche, who conceived the original idea. This was to aid the developing nations by inviting some of their citizens to come and study how Denmark itself had in the past developed from poverty to affluence by the efforts of its own people; and to provide a college for this purpose, organised along the lines of a folk high-school community.

This Institute is one of those rare projects which both look good on paper and, once initiated, far exceed the hopes of their originators. Starting in Nairobi in October 1963, in a single office, with the publication of a journal and the sponsorship of seminars, it today has five separate departments, all of which are growing rapidly.

The Institute is the result of a meeting held in Berlin in early 1963 between representatives of foundations and a group of prominent East Africans, including Tom Mboya, who wished to establish a private organisation which could serve as a discussion forum on problems of regional public interest. From this idea emerged the East African Institute of Social and Cultural Affairs, which is fortunate to have as its patrons President Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, President Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, and Dr Milton Obote, Prime Minister of Uganda.

The Institute for Research and Experiment in Development Methods is an international, private, non-profit-making association under Swiss law. Its headquarters are in Geneva and its management in Paris (Rue Réaumur). The constitution requires that all its activities shall be carried out without political, religious, or racial distinction.

I.R.A.M. was born along with the newly independent countries, to answer the historical need for research and action to ensure the participation of the people in development programmes. It is based on the notion of‘animation’, which arose resulting from a meeting between African and South American leaders and a small group of Europeans who had been actively involved in the struggle for independence in many countries under colonial rule before 1956.

When the Centre of African Studies came into being three years ago, the lack of specialists in many branches of African studies in Poland and the resulting scarcity of teachers made it seem likely that development might be initially rather slow. Nevertheless, some evaluation of the Centre's work is already possible.

There were four practical objectives in establishing the Centre: (1) to build up a collection of books and other printed materials for African research; (2) to offer a two-year diploma course in African problems for holders of Master's degrees of various departments and faculties (for example, the M.A. of the Oriental Institute of the University of Warsaw, a five-year course which can include specialisation in African philology/linguistics); (3) to organise a centre of advanced research; and (4) to issue our own publications.

This seminar was held under the auspices of the Department of Adult Education and Extra-Mural Studies, at the University of Ibadan. For a number of years, the Department has attempted to encourage African writing and the study of African literature, largely under the leadership of Chief Ulli Beier, originator and editor of the magazine Black Orpheus; and now that African works in English are included in the list of set books for the West African School Certificate, it seemed necessary to discuss systematically the teaching problems involved.

I.N.A.D.E.S. is a research and training institute run by a number of Jesuit Fathers presently depending on the Province of Paris. It was established three years ago at Abidjan; its activities are by no means restricted to the Ivory Coast, but are directed towards the whole of black Africa and Madagascar, although priority is in fact given to the francophone countries.

The Institute now employs eight Fathers in various capacities, according to their respective skills. They are Fr Claude Pairault (director), Fr Albert Hanrion (administrator), Fr Pierre Souillac (executive secretary), Fr Jean- Louis Fyot (deputy-director), and Fathers Xavier Baronnet and Marcel Forey, with Fr René Bureau due later this year. At the moment the team has seven full-time assistants and secretaries.

Organised in 1958 and directed by a committee of 30 business, professional, and civic leaders in the United States and South Africa, the Leader Exchange Program increasingly is fulfilling its mission of building a ‘bridge of understanding and co-operation’ by means of private, non-governmental efforts. In both countries, lack of accurate information and often sensational news reporting have not contributed to an atmosphere of genuine understanding of each other's problems and of the progress being made toward solving these problems. No attempt is made by the Program to mould opinion. Rather, the aim is to permit ‘exchangees’ to see for themselves and to enable them to have frank, face-to-face discussions with a variety of individuals representing the widest possible range of outlooks. Not only have effective lines of communication been established between university professors, journalists, medical doctors, social workers, business executives, artists, authors, and scientists in the two countries, but these lines are continually being strengthened and expanded, due in large part to the enthusiasm of the exchangees, who do not regard their visit as a ‘one-shot’ contact with the other country.

The Africa Institute of South Africa was established in April 1960. It is an autonomous body, incorporated under the Companies Act as a non-profit association, and administered by a Council presided over by the Chancellor of the University of South Africa, Dr F. J. de Villiers. The Council is composed of representatives of the South African universities, the South African Academy of Science and Arts, and other interested bodies. The chief executive officer is the Director, Professor P. F. D. Weiss, who is also chairman of the Council of the University College at Fort Hare. Its headquarters are at the University of South Africa, in Pretoria.

This seminar was sponsored by the European Centre for Overseas Development (C.E.D.I.M.O.M.), which has included since its foundation in 1957 about 40 public and private countries, established in the Common Market countries and in Africa, interested in the exploitation of mineral and power resources in the under-developed countries, particularly in French-speaking Africa. This conference, like others organised from time to time by the Centre, was attended by a large number of business executives and civil servants from Europe and Africa, as well as university representatives and economic journalists. The chairman was M Roland Prć, governor and president of C.E.D.I.M.O.M.; others included MM J. Alibert, a director of the Banque Internationale de l'Afrique de l'ouest (B.I.A.O.), P. A. Forthomme, Director- General of the Belgian Department of Foreign Trade and Co-operation, R. Sailer, Minister of Finance from the Ivory Coast, R. Triboulet, the French Minister of Co-operation, J. M. Jeanneney, a former Minister and Professor of the Faculty of Law and Economics at Paris, G. Panouillet, Director- General of the Banque centrale des états d'Afrique équatoriale et du Cameroun, and R. Rouques, Director-General of B.I.A.O. There were also several university professors: J. Devisse from Lille, Dupriez from Louvain, L. Hamon from Lyon, G. Leduc and M. Luchaire from Paris, besides the Ambassadors in Paris of Senegal, Congo (Brazzaville), Dahomey, Madagascar, and Niger.

The rapidly growing interest shown by the people of Scandinavia in the developing countries of Africa has affected librarians too. Though perhaps the Swedes were rather slower than the Danes to respond to the stimulus of the conference on public libraries in Africa held in Copenhagen in 1961, they are now attempting to recapture the initiative. The 1965 conference, organised jointly by the Swedish National Board of Education, the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, and the Norrköping City Library, was designed as a springboard for further action.

The Transcription Centre opened in January 1962 with the primary object of designing and making cultural programmes on tape for African radio stations. It was started by Dennis Duerden because he felt that there was room for a new kind of radio service in which there would be greater opportunity for the contact and interchange of ideas between artists, writers, musicians, actors, and critics than is usually afforded by the large broadcasting organisations. It set out to be a cultural centre with a reading room and an informal atmosphere for discussion, to which recording studios were subordinate. From the beginning it worked closely with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (I.C.A.), cultural bodies, and art galleries in Britain and Africa, and was stimulated by constant visitors bringing new ideas and information from many parts of the world. It is a non-profit-making organisation supported by a direct grant from the Farfield Foundation.

This conference was attended by 115 participants, representing 29 member governments, three other governments and the Holy See, six units of the U.N. family, and three other organisations. Reviewing the situation over the past two years, it was clear that agriculture was not yet playing its full part in the economic and social development of Africa. The role of agriculture is to provide food and raw materials for domestic consumption; to earn and save foreign exchange; to supply capital, labour, and raw materials for the development of other sectors of the economy; and to ensure the market for other industries. Yet, taking the region as a whole, the rate of increase in production, and especially in food production, appeared to have slowed down in recent years, and had barely sufficed to keep up with the growth of population. Food imports had increased rapidly in some countries, using up scarce supplies of foreign exchange that were needed to import capital goods essential for the execution of economic development plans. Earnings from agricultural exports, which account for the great bulk of the foreign exchange earnings of almost all African countries, had risen only slowly, and the trend had been aggravated by lower prices for such commodities on world markets, and by a rise in prices of the industrial products imported by African countries.