ANU Africa Network

Expertise on Africa at the ANU and in the ACT

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  • ANU Africa Network

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    This website was established in 2013 by David Lucas, and renovated and relaunched in 2020 as part of a project to increase awareness of Africa and African studies in the ANU and the ACT, funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

    Another outcome of that project was a major research report, published in August 2021, African Studies at the Australian National University and in the Australian Capital Territory, analyzing the past, present and future of the study of Africa at the Australian National University and the wider Australian University sector.

    The major innovation on this updated website is the creation of the ACT Africa Expert Directory which lists experts on Africa from institutions around the ACT, primarily the ANU. We will continue to curate this list, offering a key resource for media, government and non-government organizations seeking expert facts and opinions on Africa. Individuals can request to be added to the list by contacting the website managers.

    Another notable addition is the expanded directory of PhD theses on Africa produced in the territory’s universities, a solid measure of the vitality of the study of Africa in the city of Canberra.

    Reviewing these directories, it is revealing to note that the vast majority of research on Africa is produced by disciplinary experts (environmental scientists, economists, demographers, etc.) rather than area studies experts. This means that the study of Africa is woven into the fabric of the research culture of the ANU and the ACT’s other universities in ways that are not necessarily apparent.

  • Report on Australia’s trade and investment relationships with the countries of Africa

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    David William Lucas

    Australia’s trade and investment relationships with the countries of Africa

    21 June 2018

    The report of the Senate Committee is available at

    https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/TradeinvestmentAfrica/Report

    The report can be viewed as a single PDF file or as the following separate downloadable parts:

    Committee Membership (PDF 25KB)
    Recommendations (PDF 37KB)
    Chapter 1 – Introduction (PDF 553KB)
    Chapter 2 – Australian mining in Africa (PDF 206KB)
    Chapter 3 – Barriers and impediments to trade and investment (PDF 105KB)
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    Chapter 4 – Opportunities to expand trade and investment (PDF 113KB)
    Chapter 5 – The role of government in increasing trade and investment with Africa (PDF 386KB)
    Chapter 6 – Aid and achieving the sustainable development goals (PDF 111KB)
    Chapter 7 – Conclusions and recommendations (PDF 64KB)
    Appendix 1 – Submissions (PDF 8KB)
    Appendix 2 – Tabled documents, Additional information and Answers to questions on notice (PDF 9KB)
    Appendix 3 (PDF 39KB

     

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  • COMMEMORATION OF THE LIFE OF SONWABO EDDIE FUNDE (1943-2018)

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    David William Lucas

    (From Professor Helen Ware, UNE)

    A celebration of the the life of Eddie Funde was held at Sydney Trades Hall on 19th June 2018. The venue was very appropriate because this was where Eddie established the African National Congress office after his arrival in 1983. After the breakdown of apartheid, Funde relocated to Johannesburg in 1992 and was appointed to a number of leading positions in the newly emerging democratic South Africa, initially as the chair of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.

    The Commemoration opened the with a stirring rendition of Nkosi Sikelel’ Africa by the Sydney Trade Union Choir.

    Daren McDonald, a close friend, was the MC and had attended the funeral in South Africa from which he had brought back striking excerpts expressing the whole Nation’s loss.

    Helen McCue, co-founder of Union Aid Abroad APHEDA, and Audrey McDonald, former National Secretary, Union of Australia Women, delivered a joint Eulogy with personal anecdotes.  The deeply felt response came from Her Excellency Beryl Sisulu, the South African High Commissioner. Messages of Support came from Adam McCarthy, the current  Australian High Commissioner in Pretoria,. Anthony Albanese MP, Tanya Plibersek MP, and Senator Jenny McAlister

    In this setting, it was striking to remember what a vital role Eddie played in bringing the evils of Apartheid to the forefront of the consciousness of  both Australian politicians and women and men in the street. Common themes raised by several speakers were that whilst Eddie was personally humble he was very proud on behalf of the people of South Africa; that there was a period when in Australia Funde was a better known name than Mandela and certainly much better known than the official Ambassador of Apartheid South Africa, who later paid him the tribute of acknowledging that Eddie had far outshone him in every area of access to the media.  All agreed Eddie had immense courage from the time when he first joined the ANC, to the very end despite the accident which rendered him a paraplegic.

    This was a rare occasion to celebrate the life of a major historical figure and for an older generation to relive past glories as trenchantly recalled by Kolin Thumbadoo, former President of the Australian Anti-Apartheid Movement. If only the Palestinians in Australia had an advocate with Eddie’s powers of persuasion.

    Eddie’s autobiography, which is soon to be published, including the story of how his political juggling act resulted in the granting of the Freedom the City of Sydney to a still-imprisoned Nelson Mandela.

    According to the Obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald of 31 May by McCue and McDonald:

    ‘Funde was instrumental in building an extraordinary array of support networks, among them the Luthuli group in Canberra which helped support a scholarship program with the ANU. The New Zealand ANC support committee was launched in 1988 as was the Australian Nelson Mandela Foundation with former prime ministers Bob Hawke and Malcolm Fraser as patrons.’

    https://www.smh.com.au/national/african-national-congress-diplomat-eddie-funde-made-a-powerful-contribution-20180531-p4zim3.html

    The Luthuli Group of Canberra was an anti-apartheid organization for the liberation of South Africa and Namibia with strong links to the ANU. See
    https://africanactivist.msu.edu/organization.php?name=Luthuli+Group+of+Canberra

  • Australian Awards for Africa

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    David William Lucas

    Please note that the closing dates for 2018-2019 have past. For information only . Keep in view for 2019-2020.

    Africa Australian Award Scholarships for Africa for 2018-2019: information from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

    For Africa the following countries are included

    https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/africa-information-for-intake-commencing-2018-19.pdf

    Participating countries for 2019 entrance

    Scholarships and Short Course Awards
     Botswana
     Ghana
     Kenya

     Madagascar
     Malawi
     Mauritius
     Mozambique
     Nigeria
     South Africa
     Tanzania
     Zambia

    Short Course Awards Only
     Cameroon
     Cote d’Ivoire
     Ethiopia
     Namibia
     Rwanda
     Senegal
     Seychelles
     Somalia
     South Sudan
     Uganda
     Zimba

ANU Africa Network

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