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.
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Public Lecture: “Our Mothers are Not Free” – The Ndi’ishi Tradition and Social Control among the Nsukka Igbo, Southeastern Nigeria; Speaker: Ngozika Obi-Ani
Abstract: African writers normally romanticize the past ontologies of African women contending that they held considerable social power. This overarching narrative obscures the gender imbalances in precolonial and post-contact Africa. The nd’ishi tradition of northernmost Igbo communities–generally called Nsukka–is a paradox that all pre-contact Africa had a fair deal for women.Among them, married women that engage ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Women and Survivability: Ecofeminist Representation of Oil Pollution and Environmental Degradation in Niger Delta Poetry; Speaker: Chinasa Abonyi
Abstract: Environmental Degradation is a global phenomenon that affects all life forms including plants, animals, humans and especially women and children. One major cause of environmental pollution and degradation is oil exploration and this has been a major problem in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. In contemporary Nigerian literature, ecological writings are dominated by ... Read more
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Public Lecture: The Politics of the Punchline: Elections, Ebola and the Power of Laughter in Goma, DR Congo; Speaker: Silke Oldenburg
Abstract In Goma, a provincial capital in Eastern DR Congo, the urban and the catastrophic have long been intertwined purveying analytical power to punchlines as indicative of everyday absurdity. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and social media analysis, this lecture reveals the 'Power of Laughter' by illustrating how Goma’s comedians turn the incongruity of expectation and ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Akonedi, An African Deity and Her Shrines in Larteh: A Field Report; Speaker: Dr. Benedikt Pontzen
Abstract This presentation is a field report on my ongoing research about the deity Akonedi and her shrines in the Akuapem town Larteh. Doing ethnographic fieldwork at her shrines, I trace the multiple ways in which Akonedi is present in people’s lives in Ghana. Based on my findings, I tell a history of thisdeity. I ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Changing Mortuary and Funeral Economy and the Politics of Prestige in Northwest Ghana; Speaker: Prof. Isidore Lobnibe
Abstract n Africa more generally, funerals have been shown to bring together members of the extended family to renew and reaffirm their individual membership within the larger family and to also compete for social prestige. In Northern Ghana, the past few decades have witnessed dramatic changes in funerary and mortuary institutions because of changing political ... Read more
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Public Lecture: From the African University we no longer want, to the one we will unavoidably build; Speaker: Abdourahmane Seck
Abstract:From China to Africa, passing through Europe... are we not all wise? do we not all dance and sing? do we, indisputably, take care of ourselves, then? Taking up this simple common sense, I draw the two objectives that I intend to achieve in this presentation. Firstly, to draw a critical and epistemological reflection on the possible meaning, possibilities and virtues of the academy's knowledge in the context of African realities. Secondly, and consequently, to ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Petroleum Driven Land Grab; Threat to Peasant Livelihood?; Speaker: Jones Ebenezer Osei
Abstract: This study conducted in the Western region of Ghana, specifically Ellembelle District which is a hub of Ghana’s oil and gas activities and industries, critically looked at the gaps and overlaps in the land transfer deal from the communities to the oil companies in terms of the level of participatory land administration used for ... Read more
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Public Lecture: African cities and the Sustainable Development Goals: Political Settlement Analysis of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ghana; Speaker: Emmanuel Yeboah-Assiamah
MIASA Conference Room, 7th November 2023 Abstract: The role of politics in the enforcement of SDG 11 cannot be overemphasized. This goal is focused on cities, with targets to enhance access to basic services and safe, affordable housing, improve slums, increase public transportation, encourage inclusive and sustainable urbanization, safeguard cultural and natural heritage, lower the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Elections in the Context of Digitalization in Benin: Issues and Challenges for People in Illiteracy; Speaker: Issifou Abou Moumouni
Abstract: At the end of the 2010s, Benin embarked on digitalizing the public services, which began with the instalment of the permanent computerized electoral register. This initiative has gained momentum in recent years, with the creation, from 2020 onwards, of numerous platforms to offer almost all public services. Since then, digitalization seems to be affecting ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Negotiating LPG in Urban Transportation: Taxi Drivers Stepping on the Gas in Accra and Bobo-Dioulasso; Speakers: Hold Kanazoé & Édith Nabos
Abstract: The use of LPG by collective transport actors is becoming increasingly widespread in many African cities. Moving beyond strict geographical and economic approaches to transport and mobility, our talk, based on ethnographic research in Accra and Bobo-Dioulasso, explores the way in which taxi drivers navigate their paths by transforming their cars, which goes well ... Read more
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Artist Exhibition: DEMO-CRAZY: Art Installation, Talk and Poetography; Artist in Residence: Stone Karim Mohamad
Information Stone Karim Mohamad is a poet, photographer, and also a well-known spoken-word artist in Cameroon and Germany. He splits his time between Yaoundé, Buea and Stuttgart. He is currently Artist in residence at MIASA, University of Ghana.
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Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture 2023: Building African Ecologies of Knowledge; Invited Speaker: Professor Felwine Sarr (Duke University Durham)
The Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture is organized annually by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) 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. ... Read more
