Mehler, Prof. Dr. Andreas
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Andreas Mehler is director of the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute and Professor of Political Science at Freiburg University since October 2015 after having served as director of the GIGA Institute of African Affairs in Hamburg (2002 - 2015). He is member of the Executive Council of the Maria Sibylla Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA). Mehler is director of the Africa Centre for Transregional Research (ACT) as well as Co-Speaker of the Emerging Field Comparative Area Studies and Transregional Studies (2019 - ongoing). From 2009 to 2018 he was co-editor of the academic open access review ‘Africa Spectrum’ (together with Henning Melber; last issue under this editorship is 1/2018). With various co-editors, he has published the yearly ‘Africa Yearbook. Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara’ at Brill publishers (Leiden; 2005 - ongoing). He is member of the Editorial Advisory Boards of African Affairs, Critique Internationale, and International Area Studies Review. Mehler is founding member of CrossArea, member of the Afrikagesprächskreis of the Federal Foreign Office and member of the scientific advisory board of the german foundation for peace research. He is member of the German Association of African Studies (Vereinigung für Afrikawissenschaften in Deutschland, VAD).
Publikationen
The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, the forein poicy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa - all related to developments in one calendar year.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought into the spotlight both past imbalances and chances for convivial scholarship. In this article, we consider main challenges that are at the same time opportunities for better cooperation: African contributions to academic journals must increase, including on conceptual issues. The material investment in Africa’s research institutions has to increase as well.
The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa – all related to developments in one calendar year. The Yearbook contains articles on all sub-Saharan states, each of the four sub-regions (West, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa) focusing on major cross-border developments and sub-regional organizations as well as one article on continental developments and one on African-European relations.
Die Restitutionsdebatte gewinnt an Brisanz. Berlin, die alte Kolonialmetropole, und „ihr“ Humboldt-Forum ziehen viel Aufmerksamkeit auf sich. Einer der Gründe für diese Anziehungskraft ist die in Gang gekommene Beschäftigung mit den Verbrechen der Kolonialmacht Deutschland. Ursprünglich sollte mit dem Haus lediglich die Berliner Museumslandschaft der „Weltkulturen“ ergänzt, die über Jahrhunderte gesammelten Schätze im Besitz der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz im Herzen Berlins ausgestellt werden. Aber das erscheint vielen nicht mehr als legitim.
The recent upsurge of interest in restitution and repatriation debates by practitioners and scholars might offer appropriate chances for true interdisciplinary research. Not only should historical, anthropological and legal studies take part in such a conversation, but also, political science, archaeology and heritage studies. Resolutely and systematically giving voice to both African stakeholders and African researchers is an imperative.
The Africa Yearbook covers major domestic political developments, the foreign policy and socio-economic trends in sub-Sahara Africa – all related to developments in one calendar year. The Yearbook contains articles on all sub-Saharan states, each of the four sub-regions (West, Central, Eastern, Southern Africa) focusing on major cross-border developments and sub-regional organizations as well as one article on continental developments and one on African-European relations.
This compilation of chapters of the Africa Yearbook (2009-2018) confirms that the people of Central African Republic experienced dramatic events over a period of ten years, not only from 2013 onwards when the Séléka rebels managed to take the capital Bangui. The scattered arenas of conflict demand a differentiated look at local dynamics and actor constellations.