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of the Histories of Anthropology

Africa. Journal of the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (1928- )

Africa was created in 1928 as an organ of the International Institute for the Study of African Languages and Civilizations (then the International African Institute, founded two years earlier in London, with the participation of delegates from several countries). Led by the colonialist Frederick Lugard (the inventor of the “find the chief” formula associated with the principle of the Indirect Rule), the journal originally sought to unite science with practical experiments by showing how the discoveries of the former could be used for administration, education, hygiene, well-being and “the evolution” of Africans. Renowned anthropologists, whose political position towards colonialism was diverse, participated, including Bronislaw Malinowski, who, with several of his disciples, prepared a dossier on issues of “culture contact” in the 1930s.

Keywords: Linguistics | Social and cultural anthropology | Applied anthropology | British colonialism | 20th century | African Studies | Bronislaw Malinowski | Journals and periodicals

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