Workshop: Restitution dynamics from Africa and the German debate
Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of FreiburgWithin the past years MIASA has contributed to ongoing research and discussions on sustainable restitution governance in West Africa by the work carried out by fellows in residence as well as during various workshops and conferences. Meanwhile, in Germany, it is still primarily the challenges faced by local museums, the prerequisites and results of provenance ... Read more
Public Lecture: Is South-South Cooperation an alternative development paradigm? The Case of India in Africa; Speaker: Meera Venkatachalam
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: A number of emerging powers, such as China, Turkey, Brazil and India have come to play a significant role in Africa’s development landscape, funding projects from infrastructure to capacity-building and agriculture. Many of these states claim their actions are informed by the notion of southern solidarity, and that their development compact with Africa is framed ... Read more
MIASA-MECAM Roundtable: Academic Freedom and Research Ethics: Exploring Dynamics in Ghana, Tunisia & Germany
Auditorium, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research, University of Ghana, LegonOn October 10, 2024, the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), in collaboration with the Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM), will host a joint roundtable discussion on “Academic Freedom and Research Ethics: Exploring Dynamics in Ghana, Tunisia & Germany.” This event is part of MIASA's Public Lecture Series and ... Read more
Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture 2024: Ancestral Knowledge for Contemporary Transformation; Invited Speaker: Toyin Falola (University of Texas at Austin)
Venue: Great Hall, University of Ghana This lecture focuses on the important role of ancestral knowledge in transformation in contemporary Africa. Drawing on traditional ecological knowledge, cultural knowledge, and community governance structures, the lecture discusses how traditional knowledge developed over the centuries could be useful in dealing with contemporary challenges such as environmental degradation, social ... Read more
Artist Exhibition: Weaving our Past, Present and Future; Artist in Residence: Katesi Jacqueline Kalange
MIASA Courtyard & Seminar RoomKatesi Jacqueline Kalange is an artist from Uganda. Her practice lies within a tapestry of sculpture, architecture, research, performance and installation art. It is inspired by the role African indigenous wisdom played and still plays in ensuring a harmonious co-existence between humans and other beings within shared eco systems. It goes ahead to challenge capitalist narratives that ... Read more
Guest Lecture: Family history and the politics of memory in Africa; Speaker: Prof. Carola Lentz (Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz)
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: What keeps a family together? Over the course of the past decades, lifestyles and ideas about family have become more and more different. In Africa, as elsewhere, urbanites and villagers, educated elites and modest folks, men and women, older and younger generations have developed diverging visions of a desirable future for themselves and their kin. ... Read more
Conference: Sustainability in West Africa’s Mining Sector(s) – Political Trends, Popular Struggles and Sustainable Futures (IFG 11 Final Conference)
Auditorium, Centre for Biodiversity Conservation Research, University of Ghana, LegonAim The workshop aims to unite different actors from academia, business, civil society and politics to discuss the various meanings and dimensions of sustainability in/of the global mineral production system with a focus on gold mining in West Africa. It also invites a broader public to participate in discussions on the sustainable governance of large- ... Read more
Public Lecture: The working of the concept of the “engaged writer” and the search for democracy and peace in Ayi Kwei Armah’s Fragments, and Nicolás Guillén’s collection of poetry, West Indies Ltd.; Speaker: Setor Novieto
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: In this presentation, we examine the concept of the "engaged writer" as articulated in the works of Ayi Kwei Armah and Nicolás Guillén, with a particular focus on their respective texts, Fragments and West Indies Ltd. This study examines how both authors navigate themes of democracy, peace, and socio-political transformation within their literary and cultural contexts. In ... Read more
Policy Conference 2024: Dealing with conflict, preparing for sustainable peace: Current research and its policy implications
ISSER Conference HallThis MIASA conference is jointly organised by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) and the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) at the University of Ghana. Program Committee: Dr Emma Birikorang, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre Dr Julia Grauvogel, German Institute ... Read more
Public Lecture: Camarade Papa & Co. Works That Relegate Colonization to the Museum; Speaker: Abdoulaye Imorou
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: The discourse surrounding Africa, and more broadly the 'Black world', often centers on the colonial yoke and the ways colonization and related systems – slavery, imperialism, segregation… – have shaped and continue to shape Black lives. This presentation highlights fictional works that relegate colonization to the museum, offering a shift in perspective. It draws ... Read more
Public Lecture: Social Resilience: Sustaining Fashion during and Post Covid in Ghana; Speaker: Adwoa Bobie
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: The world has gone through unprecedented health, social, and economic crises in the past three years due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. Though the pandemic’s death toll and health implications are alarming, the social and economic disruption during and after is not lost on us. The fashion industry has been particularly ... Read more
Public Lecture: Beyond categories: Self-categorization of people on the move in the Sudans; Speaker: Ulrike Schultz
MIASA Seminar RoomAbstract: In this talk, I scrutinize how people originating from the Southern part of Sudan are labeled and categorized in the processes following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) and the secession of South Sudan (2011). Besides being classified as “displaced” in Khartoum, a place many of them had been living all their lives ... Read more