Celebrating African World Heritage Day 2026
Researching the Deep History and Archaeology of Africa at Cambridge
May 7th 2026 12.00 - 16.30, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, Seminar Room
The African Archaeology Group invites participants for a half-day meeting on 7 May to mark African World Heritage Day. The aim is to highlight connections and foster mutual collaborations around African scholarship at the University of Cambridge. We seek to showcase the diversity of research on the theme of ‘African heritage’, broadly defined, and share perspectives across disciplines, methods and approaches, with an eye for possible avenues for collaboration. It will be an opportunity to learn more about current research projects at the University of Cambridge and expand research networks across disciplines and departments interested in African heritage issues. We are inviting anyone interested to participate in a series of lightning talks. Participants will benefit from an activity of ‘academic musical chairs’ designed to inspire exchange and new connections around African heritage research across various departments. We encourage submissions from all who identify with the research theme of African heritage. We particularly encourage those in African Studies, History, Heritage, Archaeology, and Social Anthropology to apply.
We are seeking participants for a series of 5-minute lightning talks to present their research, followed by a Q&A session.
To apply please provide by Friday, 24 April 2026:
- A title
- A brief description of your research (no more than 50 words)
- Your institutional affiliation
- (Optional) Photograph of your research and yourself ‘in the field’, the African heritage you work with or another aspect of your research. These will be displayed in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research during the week to showcase African heritage research and possible points of connections more widely.
Speakers will be asked to provide one slide to accompany their talks.
Please submit your title, research description, and affiliation to: AfricanArchaeology.Cambridge@gmail.com. Please do not hesitate to direct any enquiries to the same address.
This event will be followed by a keynote from Dr Siyakha Mguni, Senior Lecturer at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town at 5 pm, entitled 'Unveiling the curtain with ukubuyisa or go lata: complicated roles of museums and nation states in the cultural repatriation discourse and practice in southern Africa'
