Guided City Tour
Since 2008 the Centre for African Studies has been offering guided city tours introducing the public to themes of African Studies. We developed the tour with our students in the framework of a course. Our guided walk for groups of 6 to 20 participants ususally starts on Klosterberg and ends near our premises on Rheinsprung. In 2020 we stopped the regular public tours and now offer the tour on demand.
In the course of our 90 minutes' tour we shed some light on the long-standing relationship of Basel with the African continent. We learn how local entrepreneurs marketed the exotic, trace racial stereotypes in children’s books, explore the relationship between Switzerland and South Africa during apartheid, learn about tribal displays at the Basel Zoo and meet with a young woman from West Africa in 19th century Basel. Finally, we will discuss Basel as a hinterland of the slave trade, opening our view on the economic history of the town and region.
Brochure: Africa in Basel - an Urban Safari
Complementing our guided tour, we developed and published in 2008 a brochure, which introduced further topics or presented additional aspects of those covered in the tour. The publication can be purchased from the Executive Office at a cost of CHF 5.-. Alternatively it is available for download here (PDF, 66MB).