Events
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Public Lecture: “Desert Scenes: Transformative Relationality in Genocidal Extractive Zones”; Speaker: Henriette Gunkel
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: During a site-specific workshop week in and around Lüderitz, Namibia in 2023, a group of artists, academics and activists from primarily Namibia and Germany followed the question of “How may something — in this case, the white settler colonial violence and the genocide, — be memorialized while its impact continues to unfold?”. Through collaborative, transdisciplinary practices, ... Read more
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Conference: Ageing in Africa: Narratives, Human Rights, and Care
Auditorium, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research, University of Ghana, LegonAfrica is undergoing major demographic change, in which the population share of its older population is expected to increase rapidly, at a much faster pace than in other world regions. This demographic shift poses challenges to families and households, institutions and practices of governance, and civil society organizations. In general, these dynamics are understudied, and the existing scholarship ... Read more
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Final Conference of the Main Phase: Transitions – Past, present and future of Sustainable Governance in Africa
ISSER Conference Hall, University of Ghana, LegonSince its inception in 2018, fellows and participants of various MIASA activities generated valuable insights into the interplay between sustainable governance and societies, cultures and politics in Africa and beyond. Scholars from various disciplines collaborated to address contemporary and historical issues, providing compelling analyses within the framework of MIASA’s 'Sustainable Governance' research programme. The conference, which marks the ... Read more
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Public Lecture: “Vanishing Donkeys, Growing Vulnerabilities: Livelihoods and Climate Resilience in Northern Ghana”; Speaker: Philip Aniah
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstracts: Climate change threatens rural sub-Saharan Africa, where donkeys aid adaptation but face decline from the global hide trade. Using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and a mixed-methods design, this study surveyed 302 households in Northern Ghana regarding declining donkey ownership. Donkeys provide vital transport, ploughing, and water-carrying services. However, 58% of households now own no donkeys; ... Read more
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Film: “Making Happiness: Older People Organize Themselves”
FeaturedMIASA Seminar Room"Making Happiness: Older People Organize Themselves" presents the activities of a fellowship group for older adults at Bethel Presbyterian Church in New Tafo, Ghana. In the film, members of the group reflect on the significance of such a group in their lives, in making them happy and relieving loneliness and worry, particularly among widows and ... Read more
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Dance Performance: Kor yε; Artist in Residence: Natasa Chanta-Martin
Department of Dance Studies, University of GhanaDescription: During her MIASA residency, Natasa explored what happens to Ghanaian dance and music cultures when the musical instruments are not there. How do moving bodies suffice as repositories of knowledge and of embodied music? Is our body enough for the sustainability of our intangible cultural heritage? The answer is explored through the medium of ... Read more
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Public Lecture: What does “sustainable governance” mean? Situating the debate in an “ecologies of knowledge” framework; Speaker: Susann Baller
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: The lecture reflects about MIASA’s main topic of “sustainable governance” by taking a non-normative approach, unwrapping the concept from different disciplinary perspectives. The lecture explores the semantic fields of “sustainable” and “governance” as well as the combination of both, and it asks how the use and non-use of “sustainable governance” as a concept is ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Hotspots in the Midst of Peace: Gangs, Violence, and the Everyday Production of Peace in Urban Ghana; Speaker: Joyce De-Graft-Acquah
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: How do marginalised urban African communities negotiate violence, belonging, and peace? The public lecture addresses this question through the case of Nima and Mamobi, two urban communities in Accra, Ghana, that have experienced episodes of gang violence, including the 2022 clashes involving the Bombom and Kumodzi gang groups. Drawing on qualitative interviews with gang ... Read more
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Female Academic Careers in Africa Workshop 2026
Yiri Lodge, University of GhanaMerian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) in cooperation with the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP), the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA), University of Ghana (UG), and the Centre marc Bloch Berlin (CMB). Sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research in Germany and with the support of the University of ... Read more
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Public Roundtable: Beyond Representation: Strengthening Women’s Leadership and Transforming Academic Cultures in African Higher Education
For online participation: https://maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/j/62475717218 Women are increasingly getting represented in African higher education, including in academic leadership positions. While this marks important progress, the numbers remain far from being equitable. More importantly, the representations do not automatically translate into impact or influence. The challenge is not only increasing the number of women in leadership, but also ... Read more
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Public Lecture: Rethinking Mining Governance from the Grassroots Up: Eastern Senegal Facing the Challenges of Extractivism and Security Threats; Speaker: M. Lamine Diallo
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: This paper offers a critical analysis of mining resource governance in eastern Senegal, viewed not solely through institutional frameworks but through the practices, forms of resistance, and local arrangements that shape daily life in mining regions—that is, a “bottom-up” approach to governance. This analysis takes place in a border region plagued by security threats ... Read more
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Post-IMRF 2026 National Stakeholder Forum
Human mobility continues to shape social, economic, political, and cultural realities across the globe. As migration increasingly intersects with issues of development, labour mobility, climate change, regional integration, human rights, and security, the need for collaborative and evidence-based migration governance has become more important than ever. The Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration ... Read more
