Former editions
The itinerary began on 27 to 20 November 1991 in Madrid, with the first edition of the Congreso de Estudios Africanos en el Mundo Ibérico (CEAMI, Congress of African Studies in the Iberian World), focusing on broad themes (religion and culture, economy and society, state and international relations, language and literature or African Studies in Portugal and Spain), as described in the third issue 3 Studia Africana. A second edition of this Congress took place in Madrid, September 15 to 17 of 1999, already pointed to the turn of the century and, hence, the motto that represented it: África en el siglo XXI, published by SIAL Edicions, under the supervision of Juan Ramón Trujillo (2001). This particular edition of CEAMI represented a first contact point to connect networks and trajectories for research group AFRICAInEs, all of which has translated into fruitful collaborations at different levels from there on.
Since then different and successful editions have taken place. However, we would like to emphasize that the Third Congress of African Studies in the Iberian World (CEAMI III), with theme "New relations with Africa: what perspectives?" (“Nuevas relaciones con África: ¿qué perspectivas?”), was celebrated in Portugal, specifically in Lisbon (11-13 December 2001). Thereafter the Congress biannual alternates meetings between countries, Spain and Portugal. This way of organizing no doubt characterizes this International Congress.
Each new edition has incorporated novelties and contributed with renewed networks and projects. At the turn of this century the idea has been to widen the number of Portuguese and Spanish cities in both countries. Thus CEAMI-IV, “África Camina”, took place in Barcelona (12-16 January of 2004) and CEAMI-V, "África: Compreender trajectos, olhar o futuro" (“Understanding journeys, looks at the future”) was held in Covilhã, Portugal (4-6 May of 2006);. A sixth edition of CEAMI sent us to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (May 7-9, 2008), both physically and thematically, for its approach to "Africa, bridges, connections and exchanges" (“África, puentes, conexiones e intercambios”) with the added value that Casa África happens also to be located there.
Since 2010, this meeting changes its name to become, thereafter, Congreso Ibérico de Estudios Africanos (CIEA, Iberian Congress of African Studies). CIEA-7 is worth mentioning as anniversary of African independences: “50 años de las independencias africanas: Desafíos para la modernidad” (Lisbon, 9-11 September 2010). It followed CIEA-8, of course, locating us “Bajo el árbol de la palabra: resistencias y transformaciones entre lo local y lo global” (“Under the Word Tree: Resistances and Transformations between the Local and the Global”), organized by Grupo de Estudios Africanos (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid). A review of such edition can be found at Pueblos, Revista de Información y Debate (2012).
Last but not least, in 2014 the latest edition of the Congress (CIEA-9), took place in Coimbra from 11 to 13 September, with theme "Africa Today - times and spaces for transformation" (““África Hoy – tiempos y espacios de transformación”), under the supervision of Centro de Estudos Sociais de la Universidad de Coimbra and organized by Center for Social Studies (Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal). Team AFRICAInEs, investigación y estudios aplicados al Desarrollo (AFRICAInEs-research and studies applied to Development, SEJ-491, Universidad de Granada) accepted to organize this current edition of CIEA-10 in Granada while in Coimbre (September of 2014).
For a good review of research groups and networks workings, we strongly recommend the following text: “Los estudios africanos en España. Balance y Perspectivas” (Jordi Tomàs and Albert Farré, Documentos CIDOB, número 4, 2009).