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Interdisciplinarity is a key goal for many research institutions, including universities; but how to achieve this goal remains an open question for discussion in academic fora. Interdisciplinarity constitutes both a challenge and an opportunity. While it is a natural way to do research in the natural sciences, it is not always so clear how this collaboration can occur in the arts and humanities. Poems and novels, for instance, as well as many works of art, historical and philosophical treatises, linguistic descriptions, and literary criticisms are usually written or produced by single authors. In this lecture, I argue that research in African languages and literatures lends itself naturally to an interdisciplinary approach despite the challenges that scholars in the arts and humanities disciplines may face.

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Inaugural lectures often comprise stimulating discussions by top-level academics; indeed, inaugural lectures are often given by the top 5% of scholars in the discipline concerned, yet there are hardly any series dedicated solely to these high quality lectures. We have set up the ILM to fill this vacuum.

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