{"id":21,"date":"2022-09-20T09:12:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T00:12:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/?page_id=21"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T01:55:40","slug":"message-from-the-director","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/?page_id=21","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Director"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;4229&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\">July 2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>YOO, Sung-Sang<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong>Director of the Asia-Africa Center<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=&#8221;2\/3&#8243;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]As Africa assumes an increasingly important role in global political, economic, social, and cultural change, the need for sustained and interdisciplinary engagement with Africa continues to grow. Seoul National University is home to scholars, educators, students, and practitioners whose work relates to Africa across a wide range of disciplines. Yet much of this expertise, experience, and knowledge remains dispersed across different colleges, departments, and research institutes.<\/p>\n<p>The Asia-Africa Center seeks to bring these diverse resources together and build a university-wide network for African Studies at Seoul National University. The Center will serve as a platform connecting researchers and students across disciplines, facilitating the exchange of research findings and field experience, and creating opportunities for collaborative research, education, and public engagement. We will also support emerging scholars and students so that the next generation can develop sustained academic and professional engagement with Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Our network will extend beyond the University by strengthening partnerships with African universities, research institutes, scholars, and communities. Through reciprocal exchange and long-term collaboration, we aim to produce knowledge not only about Africa, but also with African partners. The Center will provide an open institutional gateway through which members of Seoul National University can engage with Africa and through which African partners can connect with the University.<\/p>\n<p>By bringing together previously dispersed expertise and fostering durable relationships, the Asia-Africa Center will contribute to establishing Seoul National University as a leading hub for African Studies in Korea. We invite scholars, students, practitioners, and institutions sharing this vision to join us in building an inclusive and sustainable network for research, education, and cooperation with Africa.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column width=&#8221;1\/3&#8243;][vc_single_image image=&#8221;4229&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221; css=&#8221;&#8221;][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;] July 2026 YOO, Sung-Sang  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-21","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4230,"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21\/revisions\/4230"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aafc.snuac.ac.kr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}