Our Mission
A pan-African research institute, built to last.
WhoWeAre
Mikaelson Institute for African Studies is a Pan-African academic research institute dedicated to the study, preservation, production, and dissemination of knowledge about Africa and its peoples.
WhyWeDoThis
For too long, there has been a profound lack of thorough, internally-driven academic research into African history, civilizations, and philosophies. Knowledge shapes how societies understand themselves, and we exist to change this paradigm. Africa must not only be studied by the world; it must be a place from which the world produces knowledge.
OurMission
Our mission is to foster rigorous, historically grounded, and imaginative scholarship. We create intellectual spaces where Africa's histories, civilizations, and possibilities can be studied, debated, and connected by a new generation of thinkers.
OurVision
We envision a robust intellectual ecosystem where African scholarship speaks directly to African communities while contributing profoundly to global intellectual life, free from colonial frameworks.
GlobalImpact&UNGoals
Our work directly advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Quality Education (Goal 4), Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10), and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (Goal 16). By empowering African scholars, we contribute to a more equitable global knowledge economy.
Relationship to the Mikaelson Initiative
MIAS is a new initiative of the Mikaelson Community Development and Tech Initiative. The Institute shares the parent organization’s brand system but operates with its own editorial and academic independence: the credibility a research institute needs is separate from, though connected to, the Initiative that founded it.
Interested in what we do and you’d like to be involved? Contact us.
Does our mission resonate with you and you want to build with us? Join our team.