The book is available online in the open access formula on the website of the Jagiellonian Research Center for African Studies (the tab ‘Publications’) and in the Jagiellonian University Repository.

We are pleased to announce that a new collective work Pioneers of African Studies in Kraków edited by prof. Robert Kłosowicz has been published by Księgarnia Akademicka Press.The publication is a revised translation of the earlier original Polish version – Pionierzy krakowskiej afrykanistyki (ed. R. Kłosowicz, Księgarnia Akademicka, Krakow 2017).

The book is available online in the open access formula on the website of the Jagiellonian Research Center for African Studies (the tab ‘Publications’) and in the Jagiellonian University Repository.

 

For Kraków-based African studies, the 1930s were a turning point, during which the developing interest in Africa would bear fruit in the form of the first independent research projects conducted in the field – on the African continent. The best example would be the studies conducted by Roman Stopa (1895-1995), considered to be the father of Polish research into African linguistics, a professor of the Jagiellonian University, a world-renowned expert on click languages. In 1935, Roman Stopa conducted linguistic studies for a few months in the area of modern-day Namibia and Botswana among its indigenous inhabitants: the San and the Khoikhoi, at the same time collecting a significant amount of ethnographic material on the culture of the San peoples. Today, this unique collection is housed by the Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Kraków.

In reference to the rich tradition of African studies at the Jagiellonian University and in response to the increasing interest in Africa and Africans, the idea emerged to form a research centre that would bring together Kraków-based Africanists, scattered across various University units. In 2014, by the decision of the Jagiellonian University Senate, the Jagiellonian Research Center for African Studies was created as an interdepartmental unit of the University.

 

                                                           Excerpt from Introduction by Prof. Robert Kłosowicz

 

 

 

R. Kłosowicz (ed.)

Pioneers of African Studies in Kraków

Księgarnia Akademicka

Kraków 2019

Language of publication: English

Pages: 188