CODESRIA/ZASB 7th Summer School in African Studies and Area Studies in Africa 2026: Historical Reference

CODESRIA/ZASB 7th Summer School in African Studies and Area Studies in Africa 2026

This page is a historical reference for the completed 7th CODESRIA/ZASB Summer School in African Studies and Area Studies in Africa. The official CODESRIA call gave the programme the theme “Honouring Mudimbe: Rethinking Research through African Thought”, listed Dakar, Senegal as the venue, and scheduled the school for 20–24 July 2026. The application deadline was 1 May 2026. That deadline and programme period have passed, and the official application page now says that the form is no longer available.

CODESRIA’s current official programme page does not announce a later cycle. There is therefore no verified future deadline to add here. The historicalReference = true front-matter flag is intentional: it preserves the details of the 2026 call without presenting it as an opportunity that can still receive applications. Readers looking for a future CODESRIA/ZASB summer school should check the organisation’s current announcements for a new call rather than reuse the archived application instructions.

At a glance

What the summer school was designed to do

The call presented the summer school as an intensive academic setting for examining how Africa is studied, how knowledge is produced, and how research tools can be reshaped by African intellectual traditions. Its scope was broader than a short course on a single method or a general conference about the continent. CODESRIA and ZASB described the programme as a place to connect African Studies with Area Studies and to consider what African scholarship can contribute to research about other parts of the world.

The central question was not simply how to collect more information about Africa. It was how to think about the concepts, categories, theories, and methods used to produce that information. The call asked participants to examine Africa as a subject of knowledge and to reflect on the contribution of African perspectives to general scholarship. That made the programme relevant to researchers in several disciplines, provided their work engaged seriously with conceptual, epistemological, or methodological questions.

The 2026 theme honoured the work of V. Y. Mudimbe. The official description referred especially to ideas associated with The Invention of Africa and the “Colonial Library.” Those concepts help frame a critique of the intellectual systems through which Africa has been represented, classified, and studied. The programme used that legacy as an invitation to continue the work: not only to question inherited descriptions of Africa, but also to ask how African thought might contribute to renewing the tools of scholarship itself.

The stated goals were practical as well as philosophical. Under the guidance of senior scholars, current doctoral students and early career scholars were to engage with new theoretical, conceptual, and methodological issues relevant to their research. The organisers also wanted participants to consider the value of African epistemology and ontology for improving disciplinary and interdisciplinary work. A further goal was to build a scholarly community committed to African-informed research.

Eligibility for the completed cycle

The official call targeted PhD students and early career scholars affiliated with higher education institutions on the African continent. It also encouraged PhD students from Swiss universities to apply, reflecting the partnership between CODESRIA’s scholarly community and the African Studies community in Switzerland. The call did not describe the programme as open to every academic discipline. Applications were sought from the social sciences and humanities.

Preference was to be given to PhD students in their first or second year of enrolment. That preference did not mean that a later-stage doctoral researcher or early career scholar was automatically excluded, but applicants outside the preferred stage would have needed to explain why the summer school was particularly useful for their current work. A strong fit would have involved a research project that could benefit from discussion of African or Global South conceptual and epistemological framings, as well as from close engagement with Mudimbe’s work.

This was not a general travel award, a postdoctoral salary, or a dissertation grant. The official call described an academic summer school and specified the audience in terms of research stage, institutional affiliation, and disciplinary area. The page also mentioned a limited number of applicants who could pay the cost of participation themselves. That sentence matters because the programme should not be described as universally fully funded. The stated travel, accommodation, and meals support applied to participants from African institutions.

Support and what was not promised

For participants from African institutions, the organisers stated that travel, accommodation, and meals during the summer school would be provided. This is substantial practical support, especially for doctoral researchers who could not otherwise afford an international academic programme. It should still be read as in-kind participation support rather than as a cash fellowship.

The official call did not state a stipend, tuition payment, research grant, living allowance, or individual cash prize. It also did not provide a monetary award amount. The metadata therefore records the support accurately instead of repeating the broader but misleading label “fully funded.” Applicants who needed money for expenses outside travel, accommodation, and meals would have needed to verify those details with the organisers before the application deadline.

The call allowed the convenors to accept a limited number of applicants who were willing and able to pay the cost of participation. That option did not turn the programme into a fee-free opportunity for everyone, nor did the page publish a general participation price in the information reviewed for this entry. The safest reading is that funded places were intended for eligible participants from African institutions, while a small self-funded group could be considered.

Application materials requested for 2026

The 2026 application package had several components. CODESRIA stated that incomplete applications would not be considered for review. The requested materials were:

• A motivation or application letter of no more than 500 words. It needed to explain how the applicant’s work would benefit from participation.
• A concept paper of no more than 2,500 words. The paper needed to explain what the applicant was working on, how the research resonated with African or Global South conceptual and epistemological framings, and how it connected with Mudimbe’s work. It also needed to state expectations from the summer school and identify a book relevant to the theme that the applicant had read or would like to read for discussion.
• A detailed curriculum vitae.
• One recommendation letter from the applicant’s institution of affiliation or PhD supervisor.
• A copy of the applicant’s passport.
• Proof of PhD registration at an African or Swiss university for PhD applicants, or a copy of a doctoral certificate for early career scholars.

These requirements made the concept paper the intellectual centre of the application. A generic statement about wanting to attend would not have answered the call. The paper needed to connect a real research project to the programme’s questions about African thought, knowledge production, and research design. It also needed to show that the applicant had a concrete reason for discussing Mudimbe and a relevant book with other participants.

How a strong application would have approached the call

The best preparation would have started by defining the research problem in plain language. A reviewer should have been able to understand the project’s main question, the material or field it addressed, and the reason its concepts or methods were open to reconsideration. Technical vocabulary could support that explanation, but it could not replace it.

The African or Global South dimension needed to be part of the project’s structure. It was not enough to add a paragraph about African perspectives after presenting an otherwise unchanged research design. Applicants could instead have explained how African scholarship changed the question being asked, challenged a category used in the project, or suggested a different way to interpret evidence. That connection would have demonstrated the kind of reflection the summer school sought.

Mudimbe’s work also needed more than a passing citation. A useful application would have identified a specific idea, tension, or question in his writing and shown how it related to the applicant’s own research. The point was not to claim expertise in every part of his scholarship. It was to show serious reading and a willingness to ask what his critique means for a contemporary project.

The motivation letter should have supplied the missing context: why this programme, why this stage of the research, and what the applicant hoped to contribute to the group. A first-year PhD student might have sought help clarifying a conceptual frame before fieldwork. A second-year student might have needed a sharper method before drafting substantial chapters. An early career scholar might have been revisiting doctoral work and looking for a stronger African-informed foundation. The letter needed to make that timing credible.

Administrative preparation mattered too. Applicants would have needed to request the recommendation letter early, check that their proof of registration or doctoral certificate was legible, and ensure that the passport copy matched the identity information in the application. Because incomplete applications were excluded from review, document checking was part of the application rather than an afterthought.

Status and next steps for readers

The 2026 call is closed. The programme dates have passed, the recorded deadline is retained as 2026-05-01 for archival accuracy, and the official application form is no longer available. There is no announced next cycle on the official CODESRIA programme and news pages checked for this update. This entry should not be used as an active application route.

If CODESRIA and ZASB publish another summer school, its theme, dates, eligibility, support, documents, and deadline must be verified from that new official call. A later edition may change the venue, funding terms, preferred research stage, or relationship between CODESRIA and the Basel centre. Readers should not assume that the 2026 requirements or support package will carry over automatically.

For historical and research purposes, however, the 2026 call remains useful. It records a substantial collaboration between CODESRIA and ZASB, an emphasis on African-informed scholarship, and a programme structure built around discussion rather than passive attendance. It also shows the distinction between a funded academic event and a cash fellowship: selected participants from African institutions were promised travel, accommodation, and meals, but no separate cash award was stated. Those details are preserved here so that the completed cycle can be understood accurately while the page remains clearly marked as an archive entry.

The verified official source for the completed programme is the CODESRIA 7th CODESRIA/ZASB Summer School page. Future applicants should use CODESRIA’s current announcements and a newly published application form if a later cycle is announced.