Lectures
The MIASA Public Lecture Series features MIASA fellows in residence. It is primarily directed to researchers and students but is also open to the wider public.
The Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture is organized annually by MIASA at the University of Ghana in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies and the Department of Philosophy and Classics at the University of Ghana. It is named after the 18th century philosopher from present-day Ghana who taught at the universities of Halle and Jena. The lecture series promotes MIASA’s overarching commitment of making African thinking increasingly relevant in global academia, and it addresses questions of how the humanities and social sciences can contribute to the decolonisation of knowledge production and epistemic justice.
Events
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Public Lecture: On the Motivation and Motives of People of African Descent to Follow the Return Campaign of the Ghanaian Government; Speaker: Isabelle Ihring
MIASA Conference Room, 9th April, 2024 Abstract: In 2019, the Ghanaian government proclaimed the Year of Return, targeting people of African descent in the diaspora. According to the homepage “2019 was declared “the year of return” and the start of a campaign to encourage descendants of enslaved Africans to re-connect with the land of their ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Harmony in Urban Chaos: Balancing Development and Conservation in Kano’s Evolving Landscape, 1964-2023; Speaker: Nadir A. Nasidi
This lecture is open to the public. For virtual participation via Zoom, please use the following link: https://uni-freiburg.zoom-x.de/j/64175028842?pwd=aFppTTZkYjNQSjcvaXkrUzVGTGNyUT09 Meeting-ID: 641 7502 8842Code: k3dWVZr5Z Abstract This paper explores the interplay between urbanisation, cultural preservation, and sustainable development in the Nigerian city of Kano. As the city is one of the fast-growing urban centres in Africa with ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Shea and Other Parklands–Approaching the Historical Ecology of West African Domesticated Landscapes; Speaker: Alexa Höhn
Abstract: In discussions about reforestation, biodiversity and climate change mitigation, the landscapes of the West African Sudanian Savanna Biome are sometimes not seen for what they are: Domesticated Landscapes, where humans have been transforming the environment into a productive landscape for more than a millennium. In particular, the management of useful non-domesticated trees in farms characterizes traditional ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Plant Health as a Colonial Conquest from the 1880s to the 1930s: a Global History of Knowledge; Speaker: Alina Marktanner
Venue: MIASA Seminar Room Abstract: Around 1900, plant protection was a problem for science, business and administration. Biologically oriented subjects such as botany, zoology, entomology and mycology made plant health and its preservation as well as plant diseases and their prevention and cure the subject of investigation and fought trench warfare over disciplinary responsibilities. Lines ... Read more
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Public Roundtable: Re-thinking the academic environment for increasing gender-balance and inclusion
Venue: Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana The roundtable is open to the public. For onsite participation at the Nketia Conference Hall at IAS, no registration is required. The roundtable is in English. Online participation offers to choose between English and French. For virtual participation via Zoom, please follow this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84792421486 This roundtable ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Is South-South Cooperation an alternative development paradigm? The Case of India in Africa; Speaker: Meera Venkatachalam
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: A number of emerging powers, such as China, Turkey, Brazil and India have come to play a significant role in Africa’s development landscape, funding projects from infrastructure to capacity-building and agriculture. Many of these states claim their actions are informed by the notion of southern solidarity, and that their development compact with Africa is framed ... Read more
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MIASA-MECAM Roundtable: Academic Freedom and Research Ethics: Exploring Dynamics in Ghana, Tunisia & Germany
Auditorium, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research, University of Ghana, LegonOn October 10, 2024, the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), in collaboration with the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM), will host a joint roundtable discussion on “Academic Freedom and Research Ethics: Exploring Dynamics in Ghana, Tunisia & Germany.” This event is part of MIASA's Public Lecture Series and ... Read more
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Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture 2024: Ancestral Knowledge for Contemporary Transformation; Invited Speaker: Toyin Falola (University of Texas at Austin)
Venue: Great Hall, University of Ghana This lecture focuses on the important role of ancestral knowledge in transformation in contemporary Africa. Drawing on traditional ecological knowledge, cultural knowledge, and community governance structures, the lecture discusses how traditional knowledge developed over the centuries could be useful in dealing with contemporary challenges such as environmental degradation, social ... Read more
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Artist Exhibition: Weaving our Past, Present and Future; Artist in Residence: Katesi Jacqueline Kalange
MIASA Courtyard & Seminar RoomKatesi Jacqueline Kalange is an artist from Uganda. Her practice lies within a tapestry of sculpture, architecture, research, performance and installation art. It is inspired by the role African indigenous wisdom played and still plays in ensuring a harmonious co-existence between humans and other beings within shared eco systems. It goes ahead to challenge capitalist narratives that ... Read more
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Guest Lecture: Family History and the Politics of Memory in Africa; Speaker: Prof. Carola Lentz
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: What keeps a family together? Over the course of the past decades, lifestyles and ideas about family have become more and more different. In Africa, as elsewhere, urbanites and villagers, educated elites and modest folks, men and women, older and younger generations have developed diverging visions of a desirable future for themselves and their kin. ... Read more
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Public Lecture: The working of the concept of the “engaged writer” and the search for democracy and peace in Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments, and Nicolás Guillén’s collection of poetry, West Indies Ltd.; Speaker: Setor Novieto
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: In this presentation, we examine the concept of the "engaged writer" as articulated in the works of Ayi Kwei Armah and Nicolás Guillén, with a particular focus on their respective texts, Fragments and West Indies Ltd. This study examines how both authors navigate themes of democracy, peace, and socio-political transformation within their literary and cultural contexts. In ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Camarade Papa & Co. Works That Relegate Colonization to the Museum; Speaker: Abdoulaye Imorou
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: The discourse surrounding Africa, and more broadly the 'Black world', often centers on the colonial yoke and the ways colonization and related systems – slavery, imperialism, segregation… – have shaped and continue to shape Black lives. This presentation highlights fictional works that relegate colonization to the museum, offering a shift in perspective. It draws ... Read more
