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: What Remains of German Colonialism in the Volta Region?; Speaker: Kokou Azamede
Virtual via Zoom, 2nd November 2021 Abstract:German colonialism in the Volta Region was carried out through trade, missionary activities and colonial administration. The socio-political situation in Ghana in recent years has brought back memories of this past through political demands. On the basis of field investigations, this paper aims to examine the tangible and intangible ... Read more
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Public lecture: A Social Anthropology of Urban Land Governance in Dakar, Bamako and Ouagadougou; Speaker: Lamine Doumbia
via Zoom Abstract: This paper examines, from a social anthropological perspective, how bureaucratization transforms urban social experience and gives rise to new dynamic registers to address urban land governance. It shows that associations of displaced or evicted people are “struggling” against socio-spatial exclusion processes as well as showcase the organizational aspects of such associations in ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Metabolic History: Food Economics, Dietary Advice and Epidemiological Change in Contemporary Ghana; Speaker: John Nott
via Zoom Abstract: 1983 was a difficult year for many Ghanaians. The political and economic instability which had defined much of the 1970s intensified into the 1980s and, by 1983, the country suffered through the most severe and widespread food shortage on record. Unlike earlier famines, which were largely limited to isolated parts of the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Dealing with Audiovisual Aphasia: Filming Restitution in the Making; Speaker: Martin Doll
Virtual via Zoom, 23rd November 2021 Abstract:In this lecture I will argue for an audiovisual historiography which includes exhibitions, web sites, and in particular films not only as historical sources, but also as media for the publication of scientific results. For this reason, I will do a close re-reading of the elaborations on “colonial aphasia” ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Governance and the Evolving Ghanaian Wallet: A Psychologists’ Perspective; Speaker: Vivian Dzokoto
Speaker: Vivian Dzokoto, PhD, Virginia Commonwealth University Abstract: This presentation will discuss selected governance and consumer dimensions of Ghana’s evolving payments landscape. Ghana experienced a currency redenomination in the last decade and a half. The country has since transitioned to an increasingly cash-lite economy as more and more consumers incorporate primarily mobile phone-based payment applications into ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Party Primaries in Ghana: A Conjoint Survey Experiment; Speakers: Anja Osei & Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari
Abstract: Especially, in competitive systems like Ghana, the electoral success of a party is at least in part a function of appropriate candidate selection. Both NPP and NDC hold party primaries in which grassroots delegates at the local level elect candidates for parliamentary elections. The literature on these important processes has however remained scarce. On ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Ablɔɖe! The Axis of Extremist Discontent of the Western Togoland Secessionist Movement in Ghana: The Old, the New and the Grey; Speaker: Nene-Lomotey Kuditchar
via Zoom Abstract: Ghana’s post Fourth Republican encounter with extremism anchored on the secession of Western Togoland raises a pertinent question: under what conditions does extremism fester in a context of democratic cultural autonomy? The Western Togoland Secessionist Movement, which has persisted under various guises since 1946, has its current phase overlapping with the establishment ... Read more
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Public Lecture: The Kingdom of Mealies – Agriculture, Rural Reform, and the «Race Question» in South Africa, c. 1900-1940s; Speaker: Julia Tischler
via Zoom Abstract: Simultaneous to the rise of industrial capitalism, agriculture underwent dramatic changes. Starting in the late nineteenth century, many settler economies were transformed by the rise of a large-scale, commercial agricultural sector, while scores of struggling rural producers were squeezed off the land. The same period saw the rise of a global “color ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Negotiating Mine Closure in West Africa; Speakers: Tongnoma Zongo & Diana Ayeh
via Zoom Abstract: For several decades the mineral wealth of West Africa’s subsoil has increasingly attracted large- and small-scale investors and miners. This has not only led to a mushrooming of new mining projects (e.g. for gold or bauxite), it also involves (future) abandoned mine sites. These are (temporarily) left to themselves when resources are ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Power Expressions in the Computer-Mediated Political Discourses of Select Ghanaian and Nigerian Female Politicians; Speaker: Oluwayemisi Olusola Adebomi
via Zoom Abstract: Lately, politicians from the Ghanaian and Nigerian political spaces have resorted to new media platforms for the propagation of their political messages. This is due to the ability of these channels to spread (political) messages to a wider audience within the shortest possible period, and engender wider political engagement. In spite of ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Narrative, Identity, and Ethics: Theoretical Considerations Informed by Decolonial Feminisms; Speaker: Eleanor Tiplady Higgs
via Zoom Abstract: In this lecture I will outline the theoretical background of my MIASA project about ‘Christianity’, ‘feminism’, and associated terms, in the English-speaking YWCA movement on the continent. I aim to outline the epistemological basis for taking a narrative approach to researching ethics and identity in African contexts referring to African/a, Black, and ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Processus Marchands au Grand Marché de Bamako: Essai Empirique – Market Processes at the Grand Marché de Bamako: An Empirical Approach; Speaker: Mahamadou Bassirou Tangara
via Zoom Abstract: Le marché, l’un des concepts majeurs en économie, demeure la source originelle de discorde en sciences sociales (Zélizer, 1992 ; Bertrand et Catto, 2020). Le débat autour de ce concept est controversant et se situe à plusieurs niveaux comme le statut, le rôle de mécanisme d’allocation des ressources et le caractère autonome et ... Read more
