The Andrew Mellon Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided ARUA’s first major research grant in December 2016, awarding US$844,700 to the University of the Witwatersrand over approximately five years for the project, Mobility and Sociality in Africa’s Emerging Urban.
An inception workshop hosted at Wits, provided an opportunity to refine the project’s shared intellectual agenda, with particular attention to subjectivity, citizenship and social engagement in diverse African urban settings. The initiative brought together researchers and emerging scholars from the University of Cape Town, University of Ghana, University of Nairobi, University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Zimbabwe to advance research and graduate development on mobility, cities and social change in Africa. The project prioritised doctoral and postdoctoral development, encouraged exchange among partner institutions, and aimed to strengthen an Africa-wide field of urban and migration studies grounded in critical, theoretically engaged scholarship.
