Our Story
A federation of scholars,
returning home.
Founded in June 2013, the International Institute for African Scholars exists to deploy the talents of African-origin researchers, practitioners, and elders on the African continent — what we call the work of Africanization.
Mission
The International Institute for African Scholars helps African-origin scholars and professionals deploy their talents in service of the African continent. We are a federally tax-exempt nonprofit corporation under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, organized to convene the dispersed brilliance of the African intellectual diaspora and direct it toward the questions that matter most: governance, public health, education, food sovereignty, and economic self-determination.
Our work is shaped by a single proposition — that African scholarship belongs at the center of conversations about Africa's future, and that the pen, in skilled hands, is mightier than any sword.
A Chronology
From Accra to the world
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2013
Founding in Accra
IIAS is incorporated in June 2013 with its first headquarters in Accra, Ghana. Professor Emeritus Obed Anizoba serves as inaugural Registrar, setting the institute's scholarly tone.
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2015
First Pioneer Fellow
Dr. Victor Oluwi is named the institute's Pioneer Fellow, inaugurating the Fellowship program that now spans more than a dozen countries.
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2018
ONE AFRICA Roundtable launches
The flagship convening series begins, bringing scholars from twelve member nations into structured dialogue on continental policy.
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2020
U.S. registration
IIAS receives federal 501(c)(3) status (EIN 85-1471026) and establishes its current headquarters in Fayetteville, North Carolina, while maintaining its African operational presence.
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2024
Doctoral Research Support
The institute formalizes its doctoral support program, providing methodological guidance and publishing pathways for African PhD candidates working on continental questions.
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2026
A continental network
Today, IIAS connects more than two hundred fellows and scholars across twelve member nations, with publications, fellowships, and roundtables in continuous operation.
The diaspora is not a wound. It is a longitude — and the work is to reconnect what distance separated, so that African questions find African answers, written in African hands.
The Council
Directors representing twelve nations
The institute is governed by a board of directors drawn from across the African continent and its diaspora. Each director represents a regional scholarly community.
- Zimbabwe Southern Africa
- Nigeria West Africa
- Ghana West Africa
- South Africa Southern Africa
- Somalia Horn of Africa
- Kenya East Africa
- Sierra Leone West Africa
- Togo West Africa
In Partnership With
- Global Peace Missions Inc.
- Carochen International Group
- African Rights Corporation
- Journal of Functional Education
- Emmanuel University
Become part of the federation.
Whether through fellowship, partnership, or sustaining support, there is room at this table.