Events
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Public Lecture: “Critique of Political Decolonization”; Speaker: Bernard Forjwuor
MIASA Seminar RoomThis lecture is open to the public. For online participation please use the following link: https://uni-freiburg.zoom-x.de/j/69315124020?pwd=IQcg6SlG6iLQnj2Wl6PJf8Bv5PatUQ.1 Meeting-ID: 693 1512 4020 Code: L4dvt0qVb
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Call for applications: MIASA workshop on female academic careers in Africa on 8 – 10 July 2026 (Application deadline: 19 April 2026)
The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) is inviting applications for its 9th workshop on female academic careers in Africa, which will take place from 8 to 10 July 2026 at the University of Ghana (UG), Legon, Accra. This workshop is organised in cooperation with the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP), the Centre ... Read more
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MIASA Writing Workshop 2026: Peace, Democracy and Green Energy
ISSER Seminar Room, University of Ghana, LegonThe Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) seeks to provide Africa-based early career researchers working on the themes of peace, democracy and green energy on the continent with the space and intellectual community to transform a draft paper into a publishable journal piece. The 5-day writing workshop is designed to provide early career ... Read more
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Policy Dialogue: The relationship between migration research and policy practice in Africa
Chair: Dr. Stefan Rother, Director (Germany) of MIASA Speakers: Prof. Leander Kandilige, Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana Abena Owusua Amponsah-Bio, Implementation Manager (DV)/ Programme Component Manager Programme Shaping Development-oriented Migration MEG, GIZ Office Accra Prof. Jesper Bjarnesen, Senior Researcher, Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden Kachi Madubuko IOM Senior Policy Officer, Trade and Mobility ... Read more
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“Salafi Revival, Contested Identities and Conflicts in Postcolonial Ghana (1950s – 2000s)”; Speaker: Professor Yunus Dumbe
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: This project which aims to produce a monograph analyses the dynamic growth of Salafism and its revival from the early postcolonial Ghana (1950s-2000). I seek among others to analyse the changing trajectories of Salafi revival from proselytization to intra-Salafi and Muslim conflicts and the implications of its transformation as a national movement in Ghana. ... Read more
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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
