British Academy Honour for SOAS Professor
Professor Graham Furniss (Pro-Director, Research and Enterprise).
23 July 2009
SOAS Pro-Director (Research and Enterprise), Professor Graham Furniss, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
As Professor of African Language Literature, Professor Furniss has become a leading expert in oral and popular cultures of Africa. He was the founding President of the International Society of Oral Literature in Africa (ISOLA) and founding editor of the Journal of African Cultural Studies.
He said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been elected a Fellow of the British Academy. The Academy has a strong record of representing the interests of humanities and social science research in this country above and beyond the competitive perspectives of individual universities and groups of universities, and has promoted scholarly activity in Asian and African Studies over many decades. I look forward to further strengthening the existing links between SOAS and the Academy.”
Each year, the British Academy elects to its Fellowship up to 38 outstanding UK-based scholars who have achieved distinction in any branch of the humanities and social sciences.
The Academy, which has more than 900 Fellows, encompasses psychologists, economists, historians, lawyers, theologians and many others. Their expertise sheds light on major topical issues, ranging from climate change to radical extremism.
The British Academy is the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence and high achievement in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.
For more about Professor Furniss visit soas.ac.uk/staff/staff30968.php
