African Research Institute
Annual Report for 2004

African Research Institute Committee:

Dr David Dorward- History (Director), Prof. Martin Chanock- Law & Legal Studies, Dr Elizabeth Dimock [Seminar Coordinator] , Issah Farah (Post-Graduate Representative), Eva Fisch (Library Representative).

Members of the Institute:

Dr David Dorward (History)
Professor Martin Chanock (Law and Legal Studies)
Dr Paul Cocks (Law and Management)
Dr Sue Thomas (English)
Dr Nicola Stern (Archaeology)
Dr Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe (Business)
Eva Fisch (Borchardt Library)

Associate Members:

Dr Elizabeth Dimock [seminar coordinator]
Colin Fenwick (University of Melbourne)

Postgraduates:

Derek Overton (History)
Matthew Durban (Grad. School of Business Management)
Issah Farah (History)
Teresa McMahon (History)
Allison Simons (Archaeology)
David Wines (Archaeology)
Mary Ross (English)

Postgraduate Affiliates:

Kwebena Adu-Boahen (Women's Studies, University of Melbourne)

Summary of the Activities:

During 2004 the African Research Institute;
* held seminars on African issues,
* served as secretariat for the African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific (AFSAAP),
* provided briefing to Australian diplomats posted to Africa and to the corporate sector
* maintained on-going liaison with the Australia-Southern African Business Council as part of its links with the corporate community.
* maintained links with the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) and various Non-Government Organisations involved in aid to Africa.
* provided informed media commentary of a range of African issues

Dr Dimock served as Acting Director while Dorward was on Study Leave during the first semester of 2004.

Dr Chanock took up his appointment as Smuts Visiting Fellow at Cambridge in the latter part of 2004, a well deserved recognition and a singular honour for both the Institute and the University.

Seminars

Dr Dimock co-ordinated the African Research Institute seminar program for 2004. A series of seminars concerning the African diaspora in Melbourne was held during 2004. This was an opportunity to discuss issues facing African communities, to hear about research in progress and to consider research that could usefully be undertaken. The series was well attended and enabled dialogue between service providers and academics. The program consisted of:

Lindee Conway, AMES, on Issues around Language and Language courses

Dr Irene Donohoue Cline, Melbourne University, The Dinka Women's Literacy Project

Dr Apollo Nsubuga-Kyobe, La Trobe University, 'Reflections on Tensions in
African-Australian Families (Melbourne Experiences) and What Appears to Challenge the Family Court.'

Dr Marion Bailes, Centre for International Mental Health, 'Somali Mental Health Project'

Issa Farah, La Trobe University, 'Issues concerning Somali Youth in Australia and the Somali diaspora'

Yusuf Sheikh Omar, 'Problems that face Somali students in Australia, and some solutions'

Hailu Gooch & Dr Greg Gow, 'Oromo Experiences in Australia'

Dr Dorward participated in a symposium on the "Darfur Crisis in the Sudan", organised by the LaTrobe Politics Society. (The other presenters were Prof. Anthony Low (retired) and Tim Costello

Dr David Dorward, 'The Political Economy of a Quango State: Civil Society and Economy of Puntland, Somalia' History Seminar, LaTrobe University

Dr Dorward, "Puntland: Political Economy and Civil Society in a Non-State", University of Western Australia

Conference papers:

Dr Dorward, " Puntland: Currency in a Non-State", in Section on Money, Currency and Power, with Focus on Africa at the Third International Conference Hierarchy and Power in the History of Civilization, Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute for African Studies, Moscow, June 2004.

Publications:

Dr Dimnock co-authored with T. Lyons 'The state of African Studies in Australia', Paul Zeleza, (ed.) African Studies in a Global Context, U of Rochester Press, 2004

David Dorward, African Editor, SBS World Guide (Melbourne: Hardie Grant, 2004)

Dr Dorward wrote and illustrated the African section of Treasures of the Museum of Victoria (2004) published by Museum of Victoria to commemorate its 150th anniversary. (ISBN:0957747152)

Postgraduates:

Matthew Durban (Grad. School of Business Management) was awarded his doctorate for a thesis 'Barriers to Foreign Direct Investment in South Africa: Implications for attraction strategies for corporate DFI'

Derek Overton submitted his doctoral thesis on 'Decolonisation and the Kenya Highlands Settler Community' at the end of 2004.

Donations:

The Institute wishes to acknowledge the generous donations of African demography publications from Dr David Lucas, formerly of the Australian National University. The Institute continues to transfer research material to the Borchardt Library as collections are completed and collated

Research in Progress

Dr Liz Dimock continued her research for a Routledge six-volume series on Women and Anglo-imperialism, 1750-1930 to be published in early 2006. She is editor of the volume on Africa, which will comprise a collection of primary sources with head-notes and a scholarly introduction. Dr Dimock had a fruitful period of research in the UK in mid-year, spending time in the British Library, Rhodes House and the Royal Commonwealth Society Library. In November she had one month in Cape Town, examining archives in the University of Cape Town Archives and Manuscripts Collection, Cape Archives, which is part of the National Archives Collection of South Africa, and the National Library.

The visit to Cape Town was funded out of a Central Large Grant from La Trobe University for the project, which includes Drs Sue Thomas and Sue Martin, editors of the West Indies and Australia volumes in the Routledge series.

Dr Dorward, has been engaged in research on a biography of Arthur London, Chief Agent for Swanzy & Co on the Gold Coast (Ghana) in the early twentieth century, undertaking research at the Family Research Centre in London, the Croydon Municipal Archives and the Roman Catholic Parish records, Croydon. He also spent part of the year researching in the British National Archives, Kew, on the Role of the Crown Agents in the Investment Accounts of the Colonies. He has also been completing a book on The Darfur Crisis and ethnic politics of the Sudan from publication in 2005 by Scribe Publishers.

Nicola Stern continued with research-in-progress on SxJj43, a 1.5 million year old archaeological site in northern Kenya.

Sue Thomas is writing on Charlotte and Branwell Brontë's juvenilia, set in an imaginary African region, for a book on Imperialism, Reform and the Making of Englishness in Jane Eyre. Her preparation of an anthology for Routledge's History of Feminism series Women and Empire: Primary Documents on Gender and Anglo-Imperialism, The West Indies 1799-1920 is entailing research on the black African diaspora in the West Indies, Britain and Australia.

Other Activities:

During the year, the Director met with the President of Mauritius, the High Commission for Botswana, the High Commission for Kenya, the High Commissioner for South Africa, the Australian High Commissioner (designate) to South Africa

Dr Dimock continued as Vice-President of AFSAAP through 2003-4. She has worked towards a closer liaison between the AFSAAP committee and the African Working Group (AWG) of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA) shortly to be re-named Australian Council for International Development (ACFID).

Dr Dorward was re-elected to the executive committee of the Australia-Southern African Business Council (Vic). He undertook a valuation of the African collection of the Australian National Gallery in Canberra at the invitation of the registrar. He was also reappointed as a consultant to the Museum of Victoria and remains a valuer of African art under the Commonwealth Taxation Incentive Scheme for the Arts. Dr Dorward was also appointed a patron of the Ogaden Relief and Development Association.

Issa Farah presents a weekly Somali-language program of SBS Radio. Issa has also undertake a number of trips to Dubai and Somalia in conjunction with his volunteer humanitarian aid work, as well as in his capacities as a journalist.

The African Institute has been assisting the Somali community in Australia in the collection of academic books and computers for the new University of East Africa in Bosasso, Puntland, northeastern Somalia.