LSE is proud to announce a new blog ‘Africa at LSE’, which launches today and forms part of the School’s African Initiative, this development seeks to forge stronger links with African institutions and academics. Editor Syerramia Willoughby looks at some of the events that have led to it being set up.

The initiative, Africa at LSE will bring together all the African-related activity going on at the School. This will include showcasing our world-leading research as it relates to Africa, covering everything from relevant public events programme through to scholarships and major research projects.

A little journey through the LSE archives leaves no doubt as to the strong bond that ties this institution  from its foundation in 1895 to the African continent. LSE had only been in existence for four years when the Boer War broke out and the School was rapidly caught up in the debates of the time, with many of the students and some of the staff taking a strongly anti-colonial line. After the Second World War, several African independence leaders, studied here including Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta and Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. So popular was LSE across the continent that in 1956 there were 144 African students at the School, and they outnumbered those from mainland Europe.

Former South African President Nelson Mandela recognised the part played by LSE in the struggle against apartheid when he spoke at the School in 2000, saying:

LSE, as part of the University of London, was in the vanguard of the great army of men and women across the world who responded to the call to isolate the apartheid regime. They insisted that human rights are the rights of all people everywhere.

Bearing this history in mind, the School’s governors were keen for these traditional links to be brought into the present day. There were similar discussions amongst LSE’s academics, who are very keen to establish closer working links with their African counterparts.  A 2008 article published in the LSE students newspaper, The Beaver entitled “Where is Africa in the Curriculum?” was evidence that a similar debate was taking place within the student body.

LSE’s African Initiative officially came into being in 2009 when Professor Thandika Mkandawire was appointed as the School’s first African Chair. There are many exciting developments taking place in the School such as the Lalji Programme for African Leadership, which launches next year, and a series of philanthropically-supported fellowships for African scholars.