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Topic · Anthropology

African Studies and Geopolitics

African Studies and Geopolitics is a research topic within Anthropology. Science Explorer counts 8.4k research works in it since 1951. 11.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the complex dynamics of Saharan migrations, transnational connections, and cultural exchanges, encompassing topics such as Islamic influences, archaeological evidence, trade networks, refugee movements, and historical perspectives on slavery. It delves into the interplay of various factors shaping the Saharan region and its interactions with North Africa and beyond.

  • Sahara
  • Migrations
  • Islam
  • Trade
  • Archaeology
  • Refugees
  • Slavery
  • North Africa
  • Trans-Saharan
  • Cultural Exchange
Research works
8.4k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
925
per year above
Top-10% rate
11.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-1%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
France
45% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
African Studies and Geopolitics

Which countries lead African Studies and Geopolitics research?

By volume, France and the United States publish the most (600 and 193 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 France 600 works
  2. 2 United States 193 works
  3. 3 Morocco 105 works
  4. 4 Spain 90 works
  5. 5 Algeria 73 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 69 works
  7. 7 Germany 66 works
  8. 8 Canada 54 works
  9. 9 Italy 40 works
  10. 10 Cameroon 36 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

France: 45.2%United States: 14.6%Morocco: 7.9%Spain: 6.7%6 others listed: 25.6%45%largest
France600 · 45.2%United States193 · 14.6%Morocco105 · 7.9%Spain90 · 6.7%6 others listed339 · 25.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead African Studies and Geopolitics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most African Studies and Geopolitics research, followed by Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy and École des hautes études en sciences sociales.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 227 works
  2. 2 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 18 works
  3. 3 École des hautes études en sciences socialesFrance 18 works
  4. 4 Université de LyonFrance 17 works
  5. 5 Mohammed V UniversityMorocco 15 works
  6. 6 Cheikh Anta Diop UniversitySenegal 15 works
  7. 7 Institut d'Etudes Politiques de ParisFrance 15 works
  8. 8 University of Hassan II CasablancaMorocco 14 works
  9. 9 Aix-Marseille UniversitéFrance 13 works
  10. 10 Université Paris 1 Panthéon-SorbonneFrance 12 works

Who are the leading researchers in African Studies and Geopolitics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on African Studies and Geopolitics include Pierre Bourdıeu, Noam Chomsky and Bruno Latour.

  1. 1 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  2. 2 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations
  3. 3 Bruno Latour France 129k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in African Studies and Geopolitics?

The most cited paper in African Studies and Geopolitics is "Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution" (Rudolph Kuper, Stefan Kröpelin, 2006), with 920 citations. Next come "Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert" (533) and "The Impact of Rainfall on the First Out-Migration: A Multi-level Event-History Analysis in Burkina Faso" (430).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Climate-Controlled Holocene Occupation in the Sahara: Motor of Africa's Evolution Rudolph Kuper, Stefan Kröpelin · Science 21 Jul 2006 920
2 Ancient watercourses and biogeography of the Sahara explain the peopling of the desert Nick Drake, Roger M. Blench, Simon James Armitage et al. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Open access 27 Dec 2010 533
3 The Impact of Rainfall on the First Out-Migration: A Multi-level Event-History Analysis in Burkina Faso Sabine J. F. Henry, Bruno D. Schoumaker, Cris Beauchemin · Population and Environment Open access May 2004 430
4 The past of a future syntaxis across the Zagros Christopher J. Talbot, Mehdi Alavi · Geological Society London Special Publications 1996 398
5 In‐Between Places: Trans‐Saharan Transit Migrants in Morocco and the Fragmented Journey to Europe Michael Collyer · Antipode Open access Sep 2007 348
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is African Studies and Geopolitics research done?

The largest centres of African Studies and Geopolitics research in 2022-now are Paris (France), Lyon (France), Marseille (France) and Rabat (Morocco). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Nanterre.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 ParisFrance 247 works
  2. 2 LyonFrance 39 works
  3. 3 MarseilleFrance 27 works
  4. 4 RabatMorocco 25 works
  5. 5 MadridSpain 24 works
  6. 6 LondonUnited Kingdom 22 works
  7. 7 ToulouseFrance 21 works
  8. 8 NanterreFrance 21 works
  9. 9 HamburgGermany 21 works
  10. 10 DakarSenegal 18 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NanterreFR · 20.5 works40×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in African Studies and Geopolitics than the world average.

See African Studies and Geopolitics on the map

Where is the best place to study African Studies and Geopolitics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Hassan II Casablanca, Mohammed V University and Université Ibn Zohr score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%5%10%15%mean 7.96%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Hassan…Université Ibn ZohrMohammed V UniversityAix-Marseille Univer…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Hassan II CasablancaMorocco 74.412.9%32.7×14 +131.2%
2Mohammed V UniversityMorocco 68.27.8%24.4×15 +29.2%
3Université Ibn ZohrMorocco 68.011.1%50.9×12 +100.1%
4Aix-Marseille UniversitéFrance 64.24.2%24.5×13 +28.1%
5Cheikh Anta Diop UniversitySenegal 62.73.8%86.5×15 +82.2%
6Université de LyonFrance 59.15.0%16.9×18 -22.1%
7Universidad de GranadaSpain 58.610.5%9.8×9 +68.9%
8Université de Yaoundé ICameroon 55.36.3%37.6×9 +22.3%
9Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah UniversityMorocco 54.18.2%23.4×10 +13.1%
10Universidad Complutense de MadridSpain 52.89.8%5.9×8 +32.4%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in African Studies and Geopolitics, country by country

Is African Studies and Geopolitics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 1% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2021.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is African Studies and Geopolitics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0081% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%African Studies and Geopolitics0.0070% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of African Studies and Geopolitics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%African Studies and Geopolitics10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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