NYU Africa House is devoted to the study of contemporary Africa, focusing on economic, political, and social issues on the continent and programs in the arts. Part of Africa House’s core mission is to advance the understanding of the links between Africa and the rest of the world, through social, historical, economic, and other lenses. Related to this, Africa House has relationships with the African immigrant communities in New York City.
NYU has a large number of professors and students conducting research in the areas of economic development, economic growth and macroeconomics, microfinance, analysis of the effectiveness of foreign aid, politics and political economy, and law and legal institutions. NYU Africa House regularly convenes high-level talks, seminars, and forums with African heads of state, ministers, and policymakers.
Key Focus Areas
- Economic Development
- Political Economy
- Social Issues
- Arts and Culture
Distinguished Scholars and Programs
NYU Africa House has hosted several distinguished scholars who have significantly contributed to the understanding of African economies and societies. Here are a couple of examples:
Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa
Former Acting Chief Economist and Vice President, African Development Bank (AfDB) (Spring 2016)
Steve Kayizzi-Mugerwa received his Ph.D. in Economics from Gothenburg University in Sweden in 1988 and became Associate Professor at the same university in 1994. He worked as a Senior Economist at the IMF in Washington, DC., Project Director and Fellow at the World Institute for Development Economics Research (WIDER) of the United Nations University, Helsinki, and most recently as Director of Strategy, Director of Operations and Director of Research,respectively, at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Tunis and Abidjan. His last post at the AfDB, which he left at the end of 2015, was Acting Chief Economist and Vice President.
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He has collaborated with many international and national institutions and has been an external examiner of doctoral students in Africa and in European countries. He has been a consultant for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), the World Bank, the OECD and the UNDP. He considers the policy dialogue which he undertook with government leaders from across Africa, during his years at the AfDB, as the height of his career, and is planning to write a book about these experiences.
He has researched and published widely in the areas of macroeconomics, international economics and development economics, focusing especially on Africa and other developing regions. His most recent publications include a co-edited volume on Urbanization and Socio-Economic Development in Africa (Routledge, London, 2014). A volume from his work at WIDER entitled “Reforming Africa’s Institutions: Ownership, Incentives, and Capabilities” by the United Nations University Press, Tokyo and New York, was used as course material in Development at leading universities.
Steve is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for African Development at Cornell and is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Cape Town. Aside from analyzing the political economy of African institutions, he is also studying, with colleagues at a number of African institutions, the “war to peace” dynamics in the Great Lakes Region of Africa-including Uganda, DRC, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda and Burundi. Steve was born and raised in Uganda, but also holds Swedish nationality.
Belinda Archibong
Assistant Professor of Economics, Barnard College (Spring 2022)
Professor Archibong's research areas include development economics, political economy, economic history and environmental economics with an African regional focus. Her research investigates the role of historical institutions and environment in inequality of access to public services and the development of human capital, particularly in the areas of education, health and labor. Some current research studies the effects of epidemics on inequality, the economics of epidemics and vaccination, and the impacts of air pollution from gas flaring on human capital outcomes; with a focus on the ways in which institutions mitigate or exacerbate the impacts of climate change and environment on inequalities around gender and marginalized groups.
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Other works study the economics of prisons, the effects of protests on fiscal transfers and gender gaps in political participation, and the drivers of gender gaps in labor markets in African countries. She is a faculty affiliate at Columbia University's Center for Development Economics and Policy (CDEP), The Earth Institute at Columbia University, the Institute of African Studies, the Institute for Research in African-American Studies, the Columbia Population Research Center (CPRC), and the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy (CEEP), and is currently a David M.
Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora (CSAAD)
Founded in 2018, CSAAD provides opportunities for research and scholarship concerning both Africa and its Diaspora. We do this through a range of opportunities that includes a monthly Africa~Diaspora Forum; an Artist-in-Residence Program and Distinguished Speakers Series; an annual Postdoctoral Fellowship; the Africa~Diaspora Institute for Social Studies Teachers; seminal conferences; book launches; films and documentaries; and a faculty brown bag series. We are also inaugurating two new series, African Worlds in Conversation and Diasporic Africa in Dialogue, which during the 2020-21 academic year will be presented virtually.
We begin the fall 2020 semester in the midst of a global pandemic, as well as social and political upheaval, centered in and revolving around challenges faced by Africans and their descendants around the world, including the United States. These challenges include poverty, health disparities, criminal injustice, failing governance, unacceptable educational opportunities, food insecurity, and climate change that disproportionately impacts black and brown communities. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement has been a global response.
CSAAD supports the struggles of African people everywhere, and to that end we dedicate our efforts. All are welcome here!
The Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora (CSAAD) supports the struggles of African people everywhere.
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African Diaspora Series, Part 1: History
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