Abstract: This lecture explores the relationship between arts, culture and creativity and urban policy and governance. Focusing on African contexts, it discusses processes of the cultural polis (Mbaye & Dinardi, 2019) with an attention to alternative institution-building (Kouoh, 2012) and people as infrastructure (Simone, 2004) situated at the intersection of creative ecosystems and production, citizens’ ... Read more

Abstract The urgency, the ethical  necessity and the political procedures of restitution are now widely known and recognised. In many African countries, initial experiences have already been made and some more far-reaching aspects are currently being intensively discussed. As we will show in this lecture, it is crucial not to limit the perspective on restitution ... Read more

Abstract The public transport sector in Nigeria has often been stereotyped as a male-dominated industry. Over the years, the upsurge in unemployment rate and the necessity of economic empowerment have pushed women to adopt commercial tricycle riding as a means of livelihood. In this public lecture, I interrogate the perception of women as tricycle riders ... Read more

MIASA Conference Room, 18th April 2023 Abstract: Different people, groups, social worlds, and experiences, even when opposed, may be connectedin cultural centres, art schools , on musical platforms or at dance gatherings. They are places ofsociability where people meet, share and discover, but are also places where certain social imagery, habits, andworld views, impose themselves ... Read more

Abstract: National parks and other nature reserves are not remnants of »untouched wilderness« somewhere outside civilisation. In general, they have been transformed into ostensibly authentic natural spaces by persons and institutions who considered nature as to be protected. Media play an important role in such transformations. Using the case of Rubondo, the oldest and largest ... Read more

Organizers: Interdisciplinary Fellow Group on "Increasing Women's Political Presence in West Africa" (IFG 8) Keynote address by Ayisha Osori (Open Society Foundation) on Women’s Political Power in West Africa and the Global Context of Democracy and its Discontents: The Nigeria Case Programm Abstract: In Africa, significant regional disparities in women’s presence in political office exist, with West Africa ... Read more

Abstract: This paper questions the “calls” and “counter-calls” for Paul Biya’s candidature as a means to participate in political life. The calls for the candidature of the incumbent President show the construction of political allegiances that underlie various clientelist negotiations initiated by political leaders to maintain their hegemonic positions. However, the counter-calls highlight how, through ... Read more

Abstract: The lecture traces how the large Education for All campaigns transformed parental responsibilities, not only in terms ofthe costs of enrolment and the maintenance of schools, but also in terms of other changes in children’s life courses, whichare related to their schooling trajectories under difficult conditions. Alongside parental responsibilities for schooling, responsibilities for marriage, ... Read more