International African Institute

The International African Institute (IAI), originally established as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures (IIALC) in 1926, is a scholarly organisation dedicated to advancing the study of African languages, societies, and cultures. Founded in London, it emerged during a period of growing academic interest in African ethnography and linguistics. Its formation brought together leading scholars and administrators of the time, with Frederick Lugard serving as its first chairman from 1926 until his death in 1945. The institute quickly established itself as a central forum for African studies, fostering research, publishing scholarly work, and promoting knowledge of the continent worldwide.

Origins and Early Leadership

The institute was conceived to promote systematic study of African languages and cultural systems, which were then insufficiently documented within academic circles. Its first co-directors—Diedrich Hermann Westermann and Maurice Delafosse—were respected linguists and ethnographers who helped define the institute’s early intellectual direction. Their work emphasised linguistic description, ethnological documentation, and the creation of systematic frameworks for understanding the continent’s cultural diversity.
The institute’s early decades bridged colonial-era scholarship with the emerging academic disciplines of anthropology and African linguistics. Scholars associated with the IAI contributed to major projects aimed at standardising writing systems, documenting languages, and analysing cultural practices across the continent.

Mission and Activities

The IAI’s stated mission is to promote public education regarding Africa’s languages and cultures. This mission is fulfilled through a range of activities including seminars, conferences, journals, edited volumes, and monographs. The institute promotes African scholarship by encouraging collaboration among researchers within and beyond the continent and by ensuring that African voices are represented in global academic discourse.
Its work spans both the humanities and social sciences, encompassing linguistics, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and development studies. The organisation also plays a role in supporting networks of researchers and in sustaining academic debate on contemporary African issues.

Publications

Since 1927, the IAI has been a significant publisher of scholarly material on Africa. It launched its flagship journal, Africa, in 1928. This quarterly journal rapidly became one of the leading platforms for Africanist scholarship. During the 1950s and 1960s, the novelist Barbara Pym served as assistant editor, contributing to the publication’s editorial quality and international reach.
The IAI has published works by numerous influential scholars, including Emmanuel K. Akyeampong, Samir Amin, Karin Barber, Alex de Waal, Patrick Chabal, Mary Douglas, E. E. Evans-Pritchard, Jack Goody, Jane Guyer, Monica Hunter, Bronislaw Malinowski, Z. K. Matthews, D. A. Masolo, Achille Mbembe, Thomas Mofolo, Simon Ottenberg, Mamphela Ramphele, Isaac Schapera, Monica Wilson, and V. Y. Mudimbe.
Its publications are organised into series, among them the International African Library and International African Seminars. Since volume 41 (2011), the International African Library has been published by Cambridge University Press, with earlier volumes available from Edinburgh University Press.

Archival Collections

The archives of the International African Institute are preserved at the Library of the London School of Economics. These collections include correspondence, reports, administrative documents, and papers associated with the institute’s activities, providing valuable resources for historians of African studies. Catalogues and finding aids facilitate researcher access to these materials.

Contributions to African Linguistics

One of the institute’s significant early achievements was the publication of the Africa Alphabet in 1928. Developed to encourage standardisation of Latin-based writing systems for African languages, this alphabet played an influential role in efforts to harmonise linguistic orthographies during the twentieth century. The Africa Alphabet represented a concerted effort to create practical, widely applicable systems for recording a wide variety of African languages, many of which had previously existed primarily in oral form.

African-Language Literature Prize, 1929–1950

Between April 1929 and 1950, the IAI organised a prize programme dedicated to African-language literature. These awards encouraged writers to produce works in African languages and helped to elevate the status of indigenous literary traditions. The initiative represented an early recognition of the importance of supporting written expressions of African cultural and linguistic heritage. Scholars such as Alfa I. Sow and Mohamed H. Abdulaziz later reflected on the significance of these prizes in the wider context of language and social change.

Leadership and Governance

The institute has had several notable chairmen since its founding. After Frederick Lugard’s long tenure, he was succeeded by Francis Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell, who served from 1945 to 1949. Rodd was followed by Sir John Waddington, chairman from 1949 to 1957. These leaders helped guide the institute through periods of significant political and academic transformation, including decolonisation and the expansion of African studies as an international discipline.

Role in Modern Scholarship

Today, the International African Institute remains a prominent institution in African studies, continuing its commitment to high-quality scholarship and intellectual exchange. Its journals, monographs, and collaborative networks contribute to global understanding of Africa and help to support the work of both established and emerging African scholars. In sustaining research on linguistic and cultural diversity, the IAI plays a vital role in documenting and analysing Africa’s dynamic societies and their historical development.