Archie Mafeje Research Institute

OVERVIEW The University of South Africa (UNISA) established Archie Mafeje Institute for Applied Social Policy Research given the synergies that exist between the vision of UNISA and the aspirations reflected in Archie Mafeje’s work. The origin of the idea of establishing an Institute is rooted in the desire to: • Celebrate Archie Mafeje’s intellectual legacy; • Name an institute in his name and anchor it on his approach to generating new knowledge; and • Honour the legacy of Archie Mafeje, a committed Pan Africa intellectual by asserting a Pan-Africanist approach to knowledge creation In order to ensure that AMRI is focussed and coherent, and that its contributions add value to the on-going intellectual work at UNISA and the Continent, AMRI’s main purpose is to enhance endogenous and Pan African research which will serve the following objectives: a) Creating new knowledge and alternative critical research on Africa towards building theories and epistemologies reflecting endogenous thought; b) Building, sustaining and strengthening Pan Africanist research communities in order to leverage a critical mass of endogenous scholarship; and c) Promoting innovative ways of influencing change on the continent through research that informs policy process, training and community empowerment The Archie Mafeje Institute for Applied Social Policy Research will be an African knowledge production and application hub. The Institute will facilitate research that promotes a rigorous understanding of African social formations and the processes required for a social transformation that yields social justice and poverty eradication. The institute will ensure that researchers use original Afro-centric perspectives and approaches with universal relevance for knowledge production. Given the Pan African grounding of AMRI, its research will primarily entail: • Generating knowledge that affirms Africa and aims to contribute to its renaissance; • Understanding the social conditions of the peoples of Global Africa; • Enhancing an Africa centred perspectives based on endogenous knowledge including articulating local knowledge ; and • Promoting comparative research in African countries and the diaspora The Archie Mafeje Institute for Applied Social Policy Research approach should in particular encourage scholars to think differently about Africa, question the euro-phone library and euro-phonic ideas about Africa; and promote new perspectives that inform critical thinking on Africa.