Knowledge Lab 2.0

The Knowledge Lab (KL) is the central intellectual and collaborative hub of the Cluster. It connects researchers across geographical locations, academic disciplines, and Research Sections to foster exchange, identify synergies, and contribute to the reconfiguration of African Studies through the principles of multiplicity, relationality, and reflexivity. A KL planning committee, comprised by researchers from the five AMRCs, has been established.

The KL brings together two complementary forums: the Reconfiguring African Studies Forum, featuring public plenary events and keynote lectures by leading scholars, and the Theory and Methods Forum, providing space for discussions of conceptual, theoretical, methodological, ethical, and cross-cutting research questions, including digital methodologies and Data Science.

Alongside these central activities, the KL supports decentralised formats such as Research Section sessions, the Intersectionality and Critical Diversity Literacy (ICDL) lecture and round-table series, and the BIGSAS Colloquium for doctoral research. Recurring activities include annual research and strategic-planning retreats, joint thematic workshops, and a biennial international conference with a dedicated Young Scholars Forum.

At the University of Bayreuth, the Research Centre for Africa (FZA) provides the physical home for Knowledge Lab activities. Its Open Creative Lab and digital and audio-visual infrastructure enable interdisciplinary workshops, exhibitions, screenings, performances, project incubation, and new forms of intellectual exchange.

Through these interconnected formats, the Knowledge Lab creates spaces for research, dialogue, collaboration, and experimentation, linking Cluster projects and locations while developing new theories, methods, and perspectives for African Studies.