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: The Political Economy of Renewable Energy in Ghana: The Role of Donors and Domestic Priorities; Speaker: Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen
Virtual via Zoom Speaker: Dr. Rasmus Hundsbæk Pedersen, DIIS AbstractIn 2006, Ghana set a target of 10% new renewable energy in its energy mix by 2020, but it has achieved much less (0.8%). What can explain this difference between policy and implementation? This lecture focuses on some of the main elements in the political economy of ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Policy Analysis of Household Transitions to Clean Cooking Fuel Use in Ghana; Speaker: Dr. Aba Obrumah Crentsil
Virtual via Zoom, 26th November 2020 AbstractIn West Africa, household energy transition is synonymous with conversion from woodfuel to LPG. With an ever-increasing awareness for the use of clean fuels, the Government of Ghana initiated the Ghana LPG Promotion Programme in 1990 with the primary aim of eliminating the flaring of LPG at Tema Oil ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Wits Business School: Endogenous Innovation and Sustainable Energy Transitions in West Africa: A Conceptual Framework; Speaker: Diran Soumonni
Virtual via Zoom. 3rd December 2020 Bio: DR DIRAN SOUMONNI is a Senior Lecturer in Innovation Policy and Management, and Programme Director of the Master of Management in Innovation Studies at the Wits Business School. He obtained his PhD in Public Policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, where he focused ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Energy transition and challenges of bakeries’ cooking choices in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire; Speaker: Dr. Salimata Berté
Virtual via Zoom, 10th December 2020 AbstractThis study analyzes the challenges of cooking energies choices in bakeries in Abidjan. The bakery sector is presented as one of the main contributors to the erosion of the country's forest capital because of its propensity to use firewood in cooking. But so far, the social determinants of the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Beyond the Secular: Jacques Derrida and the Theologico-Political Complex; Speaker: Dr. Andrea Cassatella
Virtual via Zoom, 2nd March 2021 Abstract In this talk, Andrea Cassatella aims to give an overview of his recently completed book manuscript, Beyond the Secular: Jacques Derrida and the Theologico-Political Complex. The book examines the contemporary relationship between religion and politics through the work of Jacques Derrida in order to interrogate some insufficiently analysed ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Gender, Vulnerability and the Political Economy of Government Outsourcing in Africa; Speaker: Dr. S.N. Nyeck
Abstract: Over the past fifteen years, African states have revised and adopted new public procurement laws in response to internationaldemands for trade liberalization. The devolution of core public functions to private entities (profit and non-profit) is undoubtedly oneof the major policy changes in the twentieth century that reconfigures the mechanisms and modalities of governance, the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Land Conflicts in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire: the (In)convenient Gray Zone; Speaker: Aidas Sanogo
Virtual via Zoom, 16th March 2021 Abstract: This presentation examines a conflict that revolves around the use of a plot of land in the Air France 3 neighbourhood in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire. After a chronological description of the Air France 3 market conflict, I provide a mapping of the various social actors invovlved in the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Gender and Biopolitics in the Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho; Speaker: Emily McGiffin
Virtual via Zoom, 30th March 2021 Abstract Published almost exclusively in the multilingual Johannesburg newspaper Umteteli wa Bantu during the 1920s, Nontsizi Mgqwetho's poetry is enmeshed with the racial and industrial politics of her time and place. Despite its denunciations of the colonial state and vehement calls for black unity and activism, her work is ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Internal Migration in Ghana: Identifying the Migrant and an Examination of Prevalence and Patterns between 2013 and 2017; Speaker: Louis Boakye-Yiadom
Virtual via Zoom, 13th April 2021 Abstract For many years, migration has featured extensively in academic and public discussions, and its prominence shows no sign of abatement. While much of the focus of the migration discourse has been on international migration, available evidence suggests that internal migration also merits considerable attention. This lecture first highlights ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Rethinking Immigration Governance in the Contemporary Context of Collaboration and Integration in Africa; Speaker: Christal Spel
Virtual via Zoom, 18th April 2021 Abstract The presentation focuses on the mobility component of the AfCFTA and calls attention to the social and economic vulnerability of African migrants in Africa. First, I will discuss the vulnerability African migrants experience in Africa. Next, using theoretical analysis, I will link the implementation of the AfCFTA to ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Monumental Failure: Forgetting the Victims of the Life Esidimeni Tragedy; Speaker: Nontsasa Nako
Virtual via Zoom, 27th April 2021 Abstract 144 mental health patients died, and 44 went missing after the Gauteng department of health moved nearly 1500 mental health care users from the Life Esidimeni facilities into 27 private NGOs, which became known as the Life Esidimeni tragedy. The public outcry and the outrage that followed when ... Read more
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Public Lecture: New Urbanism, New “Middle Classes” – New Policies in Africa? Some Observations from Contemporary Kenya; Speaker: Florian Stoll
Virtual via Zoom, 25th May 2021 Abstract Most African countries have seen a significant growth of cities in the last decades. Political systems rely, however, frequently on the networks of societies with a rural majority. This project examines how urbanization influences existing political systems using Kenya as a case study. Kenya is particularly suitable because ... Read more
