Centre of African Studies University of London
Issue 7
2015 - 2016
Annual Review
Contents Welcome
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Current Projects & Research Schemes
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CAS Events 2014 - 2015
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Collaborations
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Membersâ Activities
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About the Centre of African Studies
Research Students
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Scholarships & Fellowships
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African Studies Resources
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The University of Londonâs Centre of African Studies is the largest centre of expertise on Africa outside Africa. Founded in 1965 at SOASUniversity where its administration is still based, the Centre has since 1991 assumed formal responsibility for co-ordinating, stimulating and promoting interdisciplinary study, research and discussion on Africa within the University; and promoting a wider awareness of African issues.
Welcome Welcome to the Centre of African Studies, University of Londonâs Annual Review for the academic year 2015-2016. In this issue you will find information and articles about our activities, events, collaborations, awards and the research of the Centre members who are drawn from across the University of London and beyond. You will also find information about some of our upcoming events for the academic year 2016-2017.
Editorial Team
Angelica Baschiera CAS Manager
Anna De Mutiis CAS Executive Officer
Ponsiano Bimeny CAS Office suport
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The Centreâs present membership comprises over 100 Members from the lecturing staff of the University of London, as well as Professorial Research Associates and Research Associates, drawn from academia, business, private and public sector.
Letter from the Chairman
Mashood Baderin CAS Chairman
This being my first letter as the current Chair of the University of Londonâs Centre of African Studies (CAS), I would like to welcome our readers and friends to this edition of our Centreâs Annual Review for the 2015-2016 academic year. CAS was 50 years old in 2015 and is stepping forward into its next half century at a period of very critical and interesting developments in African studies. In the past fifty years, CAS has built an acknowledged reputation as the largest centre of expertise on Africa outside Africa and has contributed in many ways to a better understanding of Africa outside Africa through
its different engagements, projects, programmes, collaborations and the research outputs of its members about the continent. In the coming years, the Centre will continue to enhance that reputation through a sustained engagement, stimulation and promotion of relevant interdisciplinary study and research on different aspects of African studies for our contemporary times.
Going forward, the Centre aims, in the coming years, at building further collaboration with African institutions and organisations to promote new research in different areas of African studies such as African languages, arts and cultures, governance and development, and gender and womenâs empowerment. The Centre also aims at providing more academic opportunities for African students, scholars and researchers through scholarships and fellowships at SOAS, University of London. We will therefore welcome funding and sponsorships from personalities and institutions interested in the work of the Centre and the development of African Studies in these opportuned times.
Welcome
Certainly, since the establishment of CAS in 1965, a lot has changed globally and in African countries and also about understanding Africa generally. With the new technological and communication revolution of our times, new trends are emerging in learning and researching about African languages, arts and culture as well as innovative and interesting perspectives about African social, political, economic and developmental issues generally. CAS consistently enjoys the reputation of being home to established experts who are very familiar with the contemporary changes and critical developments occurring in different parts of Africa through their regular in-country research visits, collaborations and engagements with counterparts in their different African countries of expertise. The Centre thus continues to make important contributions to new knowledge and understanding for addressing the different contemporary challenges facing African countries and for promoting the development and better understanding of the continent. As it is reflected in this edition of our Annual Review, last year the Centre sustained its engagement with the continent through different academic programmes and collaborative projects within and outside Africa. These included the continued highly successful Governance for Development in Africa initiative funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the Leventis Research Cooperation Programme for Nigerian scholars funded by the Leventis Foundation. We hosted the CAS Centenary lecture in Africa at the prestigious African Union in Addis Ababa in July 2017, whereby leading economist and head of UNECA, Dr Calos Lopes discussed the current economic outlook of the continent in conversation with our Professor Christopher Cramer. We also hosted a high level workshop on the engagement of China in Africa with leading expert Dr Deborah Brautigam and experts from Africa and China, at SOAS in November 2015. We are also pleased to report the launch of the Law and Development in Africa Network.
The Centreâs research engagement with Africa will continue robustly in the coming academic year. The Centre will continue to play an important role in the centenary events of SOAS from 2016 to 2017, taking the lead in showcasing the African expertise at SOAS in different areas of African studies. As part of the SOAS centenary events, The African Playwright Professor Wole Soyinka will be speaking at SOAS on 19 October 2016 in an event that doubles as a Centenary Lecture and the CAS Annual Lecture for 2016. This will be followed on 10 November 2016, with a lecture on âThe Place of Heritage Renewal in Forging Confident Futures: âGo back for that which you have forgottenââ by Dr Gus Casely-Hayford at the African Studies Institute, University of Ghana, Legon in Accra.
As I step in as the current Chair of the Centre at this critical time, I must acknowledge the commendable work of the previous Chairs and CAS staff team in bringing the Centre so far. Particularly the longstanding dedicated work of the CAS Manager, Angelica Baschiera, the Executive officer, Anna De Mutiis and the intern support, Ponsiano Bimeny. I am committed to build upon the strong foundations laid by my predecessors and to provide the necessary leadership that will enable the Centre to continue the great work it is doing and to take it to further heights in the coming years. Mashood Baderin
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Current Projects and Research Schemes Governance for Development in Africa Initiative The Centre of African Studies at SOAS, University of London, is continuing to work on the Governance for Development in Africa Initiative, funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The focus of the project remains the same in terms of creating a dedicated environment to support African citizens to study the socio-economic, political, and legal links between governance and development.
Current Projects & Research Schemes
The continuing support of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation aims to enable African citizens to improve the quality of governance in their countries by building their skills within an expert academic environment. The Mo Ibrahim Foundationâs ÂŁ1.5 million gift funds four dedicated programmes at SOAS that run on an annual basis: 3 MSc scholarships; 1 PhD scholarship; 1 Residential School in Africa; and the Governance Conversations media and dissemination programme. See further for deadlines to apply for each program.
My year at SOAS has been mainly about re-claiming the âAâ in SOAS, connecting with many passionate Africans and growing regional networks. As a Feminist-Ethiopian whose ambition has been to extend gender engagements beyond western literature and academic spaces, the LLM program in Law and Gender has opened up a platform for me to share the diverse experiences of the south. It has aroused my curiosity and has been a year of self-discovery in the gender discipline. SOAS has been that unique space of learning with a diverse set of people, cultures and skills. Hence, I have enormously benefited from interactions with colleagues in and outside lecture halls. In this journey, I am humbled and grateful for the support provided by Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The scholarship not only has a unique sense of Africanness that brings its beneficiaries together to talk about continental affairs and forms an intellectual sisterhood, but has also a global reach. I am inspired by the reach of an African philanthropy as proven by the work of foundation and hope to be a leader of the same kind that nurtures homegrown solutions one day. Hilina Berhanu Degefa LLM Master in Law and Gender
I am incredibly pleased for the space which has been given to me âto debate, to think and to learnâ throuhout my MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS. The programme design is dynamic and fosters a deep reflection on the cross-linking of political, economic and social aspects of conflict studies as well as understanding the theoretical and interdisciplinary approaches of violence and development. Besides the rigorous academic environment at SOAS, I am inspired by the on-going events at the campus and the vibrant activism all over the place. The wide range of books about Africa at SOAS Library was not only a great source of knowledge but also very helpful to deal with homesickness: I jumped for joy when I saw one of my favourite Malagasy books on SOAS library shelves! For my dissertation, I am humbled to add my own voice regarding my very own countryâs case study by exploring the nexus between political instability, social violence and insecurity in Madagascar. I am thankful for the trust the Centre of African Studies at SOAS has placed in me through the Mo Ibrahim Foundation - Governance for Development in Africa Initiative â MSc Scholarships. Being an individual passionate about education as key to development and interested in governance and human security, I am keen to follow my career journey in engaging with national, regional, and global agencies by applying my acquired experience, to advocate for peace building, policy development and knowledge production. Lalaina A. Randriarimanana, MSc Violence, Conflict and Development
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Rama Salla Dieng, Department of Development Studies
Our incoming Master scholars in 2016 are: ⢠Sandra Zerbo (Senegal) MSc Development Studies ⢠Jimmy Awany (Uganda/South Sudan) MSc Development Studies
Current Projects & Research Schemes
One year after completing a MSc in Research for International Development at SOAS, I was lucky enough to be awarded the 2015 Mo Ibrahim Foundation(MIF) PhD scholarship to pursue my doctoral studies at the same university. My successful upgrade from MPhil to PhD in June is a step ahead to furthering my doctoral research on the contemporary land rush in Senegal and its implications for agrarian change. This comforted my strong belief in Mo Ibrahimâs unique Governance and Development in Africa scholarship initiative to help African students by providing them the means to unleash their leadership potential through reaching higher Education in the UK. The reality of this first year into the doctorate at SOAS came not only with further personal development and empowerment by equipping me with the needed research skills under the supervision of a leading team of academics including a specialist of agrarian change and development in Africa, Dr. Carlos Oya who allowed me to grow and sharpen my critical thinking abilities. It also offered me exceptional networking opportunities with my being part of the team of the Africa Research Student Network (AfNET) gathering all research students on Africa across the University of London and organizing a conference on Redefining the past, Imagining the Future. I was also able to take part in this yearâs MIF residential school on Governance and Development in Morocco for which I remain thankful to the Center of African Studies. Last but not least, with the chance offered to me to deliver the Governance and Development module of the âUnderstanding Africa Summer Schoolâ this July, I will be able to give back what I learnt in Rabat, for which I am grateful. Above and beyond, being at SOAS constitutes a life-transforming experience into the reality of cosmopolitanism with doctoral comrades so open-minded that I was able to see in them a glimpse of what London represented for the rest of this country and for the rest of the world. My SOAS comrades comforted my beliefs that as humans, we are bridges rather than fences. And like sponges, we are all in this university and in this scholarship program to learn from one another: my fellows from Madagascar and Ethiopia inspired me with their activism back home in the civil society, my fellow from Tunisia enthused me about the important role of the youth in governance and leadership. By selecting four young African women this year, the Mo Ibrahim scholarship has contributed to the promotion of gender equality, and growth-sustaining governance by the powerful means of education to help us be empowered by equipping us to be part of the developmental efforts of our respective countries.
⢠Horace Nwabunwene (Nigeria) MSc GLobalisation adn Development And our PhD award has been awarded to: Fernandes Wanda (Angola) âCapitalist Transformation in Transition: Exploring Business Political Elite Linkage in Post war Angolaâ Supervisor: Carlos Oya, Development Studies Department For information about how to apply for the programmes contact: Angelica Baschiera, CAS Manager Email: ab17@soas.ac.uk or visit: www.soas.ac.uk/gdai Deadline for 2017 Residential School (South Africa) applications: 15th December 2016 Deadline for scholarship applications: 30th April 2017
www.soas.ac.uk/gdai
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GDAI 2016 Residential School in Rabat, Morocco Organised by the Centre of African Studies at SOAS, University of London, the 2016 Residential School was held in Rabat,in collaboration with the Ecole Sup and was supported by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Between the 20th and the 24th of March 2015 the participants and speakers met to discuss and debate the latest challenges regarding good governance in Africa. Now in its seventh year, the residential school initiative continues to explore issues of governance and development in Africa through an intensive programme of lectures, seminars and workshops. More than twenty participants from different African countries were in attendance â including policy makers, academics, government officials and civil society representatives. The programme was
âThe variety of presentations helped me broaden my understand of governance. I especially enjoyed the fact that it wasnât only about theories, and the fact that we had practitioners and practical research outputs was wonderfulâ. devised and delivered by the SOAS academic committee that oversees the programme, along with other invited speakers from Senegal, Morocco, Liberia and the UK. Adhering to the original aims of the initiative, the residential school programme continues to build skills, develop talent and enable citizens to improve the quality of governance in their countries. The selected participants benefitted from the knowledge and research presented by the speakers, and brought their own diverse experiences of development, civil service and academic study to contribute to the lively atmosphere of debate that characterised the five day event. For the full programme and powerpoint âIt has definitely increased my knowledge of these issues and has prepared me to face the governance challenges in my countryâ.
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presentations visit www.governanceinafrica.org
Speakers Najib Bounehai - Rabat School of Governance
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Mashood Baderin - CAS, SOAS
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Morten Jerven - Norwegian University of Life Sciences & Simon Fraser University
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Michael Jennings - Department of Development Studies, SOAS
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Mark McQuinn - Department of Development Studies, SOAS
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Nouria Brikci - Oxford Policy Management
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Carlos Chirinos - SOAS/NYU
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Khadija Elmadmad - CUDM
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Elizabeth McGrath, Mo Ibrahim foundation
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Olaniyan Kolawole, Amnesty International
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Paul Asquith - AFFORD, CAS
Current Projects & Research Schemes
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Participants and speakers of the Residential School
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Rabat Residential School 2016 - videos and resources available on www.governanceinafrica.org Corruption and Human Rights Law Olaniyan Kolawole 70 mins
Global Health Governance Michael Jennings 50 mins
Africa by Numbers: Knowledge & Governance Morten Jerven 43 mins
Towards Realising Human Rights and Good Governance in Africa Prof. Mashood Baderin 80 mins
Political Economy of Aid & Good Governance Mark McQuinn 55 mins
Looking Beyond the Migration Crisis Paul Asquith 61 mins
The Governance in Africa initiative aims to reach a wide range of people in Africa and Worldwide to raise awareness and debate on Governance issues, and therefore all our resources are free and accessible online from the dedicated website: www.governanceinafrica.org Please do visit the website to read articles, hear from the Experts and from the programme’s Alumni. You can download all the speakers’ Powerpoint Presentations here: http://www.governanceinafrica.org/residential-school-in-morocco-resources/
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The participants after receiving their attendance certificate
Residential School participant’s perspective on Governance in Africa This GDAI initiative aims to contribute to and stimulate debate on governance, development, and the relationship between them. About 20 participants from a range of African countries, and representative of the academic, civil society and government sectors, are selected each year to take part in the residential school. We have collected 12 video feedback from this year’s residential school: Victorina Ghislaine Nzino Munongo Ministry of Scientific Research, Cameroon
Nancy Chepkoech Muigei Human Rights and Foreign Policy worker Kenya
Hilda Liswani Fiducia Strategic Advisors Namibia
Rais Mehdi Mohammed PHD-student International Relations Morocco
Mounkaila Dia Compliance Officer and PHD Student at Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal
Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa Ali University Lecturer Sudan
Rama Salla Dieng PHD researcher, SOAS University of London UK
Ali Daniel Mususa Research and Advocacy Unit Zimbabwe
Alhaje Ali Garba Kounta Foreign Office Mali
Bernadette Muyomi County Government Busia Kenya
Abdul Kadi Jafaru Ministry of Local Government Ghana
Current Projects & Research Schemes
Benjamin Ekeyi Researcher and senior legislative aid Nigerian Parliament
Watch them here:
http://www.governanceinafrica.org/residential-school-in-morocco-participants-i/ http://www.governanceinafrica.org/residential-school-in-morocco-participants-ii/
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Leventis Fellowship
The Centre of African Studies of the University of London invites applications from Nigerian academics to take part in a scheme of collaborative research funded by the Leventis Foundation. The Leventis Research Co-operation Programme is devised to assist younger scholars develop their research interests in collaboration with their counterparts in London. Applicants are invited to apply to spend three months as visitors of the Centre of African Studies in order to pursue their research in libraries and archives and to participate in the intellectual life of the Centre. The scheme might be particularly appropriate for scholars working up a PhD thesis into publishable form. For information about how to apply for the Leventis Fellowship contact Angelica Baschiera ab17@ soas.ac.uk or visit www.soas.ac.uk/cas/sponsorship/leventis Deadline for applications: 31st March 2017
2015-2016 Fellows Dr Adebayo Mosobalaje Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Topic: The Erotic as Rhetoric of Subversion in the Song-Poetry of Iyaladuke Abolodefeeloju and Saint Janet My arrival in London in early October, 2015 was fascinating because of the potpourri of cultures
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boldly written all over SOAS. In no time, I fell in love with the entire school. During the first week of my arrival, the Administrative Team of CAS headed by the indefatigable Angelica Baschiera did a wonderful informative welcome for us fellows on our stay in London outlining work schedule, meetings with academic hosts, library routine and different manners of participation in the academic and cultural life of SOAS. The Administrative Team of CAS was adequate on all terms and a big force on our daily stay in London. One should acknowledge their sincere commitment to our success and the success of the collaboration between SOAS and the Leventis Foundation. My more interesting moments in London came when I started discussions with one of my academic hosts, Dr. Marloes Janson. Professor J.D.Y Peel was my second academic host but he was seriously ill around October. Dr. Janson did a good work guiding me on how to shape the research and the final result, a journal article. I enjoyed her rich discussions with me and the well-focused guidance, given her wealth of knowledge researching a number of aspects of religion in Nigeria. At the centre of the most rewarding moments in London was the SOAS Library. The library assisted my research abundantly. Specifically, I was exposed to numerous books and journals which eventually changed the direction of my research. Undoubtedly, my presentations in Birmingham - chaired by Professor Karin Barber - and SOAS were the highlights of my rewarding stay in the UK. Professor Karin Barber gave me numerous eye-opening insights which have transformed my research. Other scholars in attendance also offered me appropriate feedback that had been useful. In the same way, responses to my SOAS presentation were equally invaluable. As the chair of my SOAS presentation, Dr. Akin Oyetade suggested useful hints which had found their way into the final papers. My accommodation at Goodenough College was a home for rest and comfortable study. I would like thank the Leventis Foundation for this great opportunity of exposure to standard research practices and traditions as found in London and Birmingham. I will be glad if the Foundation continues this worthwhile intervention to bring up Nigerian universities to global standard.
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/sponsorship/leventis/
Dr Iwebunor Okwechime Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Topic: International Dimensions of the Crises in the Niger Delta, 1956- 2006
2016 -2017 Fellows Dr Tunde Decker Osun State University, Osogbo
Topic: Integration, social mobilit and status Defining Poverty in Lagos: 1851 - 1960 Seminar: 31st October 2016, Room 4429
Current Projects & Research Schemes
My experience as a Post-doctoral Fellow at the SOAS was both stimulating and exciting. From the outset, the amiable and unassuming manager of Centre of African Studies, Angelica Baschiera, made me very welcome on my first contact with CAS and its staff. It was at the welcome lunch she organized for me and my colleague, that I first made the acquaintance of the eminent and venerable historian, Professor Murray Last. I also had the good fortune of meeting two engaging and inspiring Nigerian scholars, Professor Mashood Baderin of the Faculty of Law and Chairman of the Centre of African Studies, and Dr Akin Oyetade, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of African Languages and Culture. I went through the processes of formal registration at SOAS without difficulty on account of Angelicaâs patient guidance and assistance. Two distinguished Africanist scholars, Professor Richard Fardon and Dr. Charles Gore were assigned to me as my academic hosts throughout the duration of my fellowship at SOAS. My interactions with these avid, but unassuming, Africanist scholars were an edifying experience. The extensive discussions I had with them provided me with many useful insights into the concept of spirituality and resistance, with special reference to Nigeriaâs Delta region. I would like to thank Dr. Charles Gore who kindly chaired the seminar I gave on Monday 26th of October 2015. I would also like to thank Professor Karin Barber, Dr. Benedetta Rossi and Dr. David Kerr of the Centre for West African Studies, University of Birmingham, for their humane application of intellect and sense of humour. Their contribution, together with that of the distinguished audience, at my seminar which was held on 26 November, 2015, brought new perspectives to bear on my work. Mention must be made of the SOAS Library
and its uncompromisingly attentive staff, especially Dawn Wright who patiently gave my colleague and me the much-needed orientation on how to use the SOAS Library. Indeed the library lived up to its name as an unrivalled repository of books on Africa! The accommodation provided by the Leventis Foundation, the Goodenough College, was a first class accommodation whose ambience stimulated intellectual enterprise. I have benefited immensely from its international character by meeting people from different parts of the world, as well as from widely differing academic backgrounds. I am eternally grateful to the Leventis Foundation for this wonderful opportunity which has enabled me to gain more international exposure and experience. My final word of gratitude goes to the staff of CAS, namely Angelica Baschiera for her efficiency and organizational finesse; and Anna De Mutiis and Ponsiano Bimeny for their charm, good sense and attentiveness.
Dr Ibrahim Kankara Umaru Musa Yarâadua University, Katsina
Topic: Activities of youth group, the Kauraye, in post independent Katsina state Nigeria Seminar: 28th November 2016, Room 4429
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/sponsorship/leventis/
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Into our 2nd year... Understanding Africa: Past and Present SOAS Summer School 4 July - 22 July 2016 Words Dr Seraphin Kamdem, SOAS, University of London
Photos of the students and staff of the Understanding Africa 2016 SOAS summer course: (from left to right): Hannah from Canada, Carson from USA, Dr Kamdem from Cameroon and UK (Course Convenor), Makena from Kenya, Viviane from Taiwan, Catherine from France, Ben from Uganda, Sara from Italy, and Jenny from Hong-Kong
The second year of the Understanding Africa summer course was an astounding success again in 2016, thanks once more to the team efforts of Angelica Baschiera, the CAS Manager, and Dr Seraphin Kamdem, the course convenor. Made up of main lectures and tutorials, most of the teaching sessions were very interactive and student-centered. Some included video presentations and film screenings as part of the teaching exchange. In addition there were visits to the October Gallery and the British Museum, and to some SOAS Archives, and once again we ran an Africa music workshop and performance. Some social events were also organised by the course convening team as part of the experience of learning about the continent of Africa.
The tutorial sessions were very interactive and not exclusively based on the readings and the papers uploaded, but were mainly focused on discussing with students the taught materials from the lectures and other relevant topics from their readings About the teaching team on the Understanding Africa course, the convenor taught a number of sessions on this course, but there was a larger team of colleagues also teaching: the renowned cultural historian and documentary film maker Dr Gus Casely-Hayford taught the sessions on pre-colonial Africa and its Kingdoms; Dr Jรŕ¸rg Haustein, a SOAS senior lecturer and expert on religions in Africa, taught on the course this year; Rama Salla Dieng, a young researcher with expertise on governance and development in Africa, gave one of the lectures; Elsbeth Court, a specialist in
For more information about this course visit: http://www.soas.ac.uk/summerschool/subjects/ culture-society-and-history/understanding-africa-past-and-present/
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Some quotes from the course convenor: âHaving students coming from eight different countries, bringing their diverse cultural backgrounds and experiences in an interactive and productive course about Africa, is a very enriching experience. This course is a journey where a lot gets learnt and taught and shared. Again, the SOAS Summer school is a unique opportunity to show the specialised regional and in-depth thematic expertise that SOAS has, and this year our course had some brilliant international students who came with lots of experience and knowledge about Africa.â Dr Seraphin Kamdem, Convenor, Understanding Africa
African art and art education, contributed a lecture on Contemporary African Art; Michele Banal, a doctoral researcher with expertise on music in Africa; and Angelica Baschiera who has expertise on Swahili literature and manuscripts, were part of our teaching staff this year; and we also had Rob Hipster, a young West African music expert and player, teaching the practical and performing session on African music.
Some quotes from a student:
Current Projects & Research Schemes
Students at the Ghanaian drumming workshop led by Rob Shipster
About the overall quality of the Understanding Africa 2016 summer course, Carson, one of our students this year, has commented: â10/10, one of the best courses I have ever taken. It has completely opened my eyes to the cultural, political and social richness and diversity of the [African] continent. I thoroughly looked forward to class everyday.â
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Economic Growth, Rural Assets and Prosperity. Exploring a twenty year record from Tanzania
Synopsis of Documentary Film: In 1993 Nigeria elected M.K.O. Abiola as president in a historic democratic vote that promised to end years of military dictatorship. Shortly after the election, Abiolaâs victory was annulled. General Sani Abacha seized power in a military coup and arrested M.K.O Abiola. During her husbandâs incarceration, M.K.O Abiolaâs wife, Kudirat, took over the leadership of the pro-democracy movement, organizing strikes and marches and winning international attention for the Nigerian struggle. Because of this work, she too became a target and was assassinated. Director Joanna Lipper elegantly explores past and present as she tells this deeply moving and intriguing story through the eyes of M.K.O and Kudirat Abiolaâs eldest daughter, Hafsat Abiola, who was about to graduate from Harvard when her mother was murdered. Her father died in prison two years later under mysterious circumstances. Determined not to let her parentsâ democratic ideals die with them, Hafsat returns to Nigeria after years in exile and is at the forefront of a progressive movement to empower women and dismantle the patriarchal structure of Nigerian society.
âThe Supreme Priceâ is a Door to Africaâs Recent History.â The New York Times
âOne of ten films all human rights activists should see.â Huffington Post
Photo by Yoni Lerner
Monday 22nd February 2016 5.15pm - 7pm Room 4429 SOAS -University of London
About the Director/Producer: Joanna Lipper is an award-winning filmmaker, photographer and author. As a Lecturer at Harvard, she has been teaching Using Film For Social Change in the Department of African and African-American Studies (2010-2015). Lipper runs Vertumnus Productions, an international company dedicated to the development and production of narrative and documentary films centered on strong, complex women characters of depth and substance.
Many measures of poverty suggest that recent economic growth has benefitted a fortunate few, but not many of the worst off, particularly in rural areas. Professor Brockington will present a different picture. His work, based on revisiting households first visited in the early 1990s, suggests that many of the poorest households are now much better off than they were. If so this has important implications for agricultural and anti-poverty policies in rural areas.
Speaker: Dan Brockington (University of Sheffield) Chair: Andrew Coulson (Britain-Tanzania Society) For more information and to reserve your place please contact cas@soas.ac.uk or a.c.coulson@bham.ac.uk This seminar is organised in collaboration with The Britain-Tanzania Society.
Social Movements and State Fragility in Ethiopia:
Lessons from the Oromo Protests and Government Responses of 2015-16 Tuesday 21st June 2016 9am - 7pm | Khalili Lecture Theatre SOAS, University of London In late July of 2015, President Barack Obama praised Ethiopia as a âmodel of development,â an example of a young democracy and an effective ally of the West in the war against terror. Three months later, the country was rocked by massive protests in the Oromia region demanding an end to the one-party stranglehold on the political landscape, ethnic discrimination in allocating national resources, and the rule of violence in Ethiopia. In response, the state turned to coercion and violence to put down the uprising.
The dramatic turn of events has exposed a structural weakness in the Ethiopian state, one which John Markakis has called the failure of nation-building. After the #OromoProtests, the Ethiopian state is unlikely to continue business as usual. A one-day symposium at SOAS, University of London, will explore how apparently strong state institutions eventually produce weaknesses that in turn initiate tendencies towards coercion, illegitimacy and fragility. By addressing this phenomenon historically and ethnographically, the symposium intends to examine new frameworks for understanding the Ethiopian state and the changing contours of political legitimacy. Featured speakers: Ezekiel Gabissa and Tsedale Lemma For more information and to register visit: http://bit.ly/1Tu3reS Photo courtesy of Addis Standard
View the trailer at www.thesupremeprice.com
FREE SCREENING AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR/PRODUCER JOANNA LIPPER Tuesday 26th January 2016| 7-10 pm Khalili Lecture Theatre | SOAS, University of London
Will Africa Feed China? Rumors and Realities Friday 13th November, 6-7.30 pm Room G3, SOAS, University of London
âOusmane Sembene: Art and Social Visionâ Tuesday 31st May | 7pm- 9pm Room B102 | SOAS University As part of the Centre for Film Studies annual PhD symposium, Professor Samba Gadjigo will explore the three key themes of National Liberation, Socialism and Pan-Africanism, using Sembeneâs selected poems, novels , films, and essays. Samba Gadjigo is the director of the documentary Making of Moolaade, the worldâs foremost expert on the life and work of Ousmane SembĂŠne and author of SembĂŠneâs official biography. He was born and raised in Senegal and is professor of African Studies and French at Mt. Holyoke College. Speaker: Samba Gadjigo Chair: Lindiwe Dovey (SOAS) For more information and to RSVP please contact cas@soas.ac.uk Sponsored by The Leverhulme Trust
Monday 9th May 2016 | 5-7pm Room 116 | SOAS, University of Lon don
Followed by reception Is China building a new empire in rural Africa? Few development topics are as controversial and emotionally charged as the belief that the Chinese government is aggressively buying up huge tracts of prime African land to grow food to ship back to China. In Will Africa Feed China? Deborah Brautigam, one of the worldâs leading experts on China and Africa, probes the myths and realities behind the media headlines. Chinese farming investments are in fact surprisingly limited, and land acquisitions modest. Defying expectations, China actually exports more food to Africa than it imports. Why is the reality of Chinese investment so different from the headlines? Is this picture likely to change? What role will China play as rural Africa moves from subsistence to commercial agriculture, and China builds a portfolio of tools to allow its agribusiness firms to âgo globalâ? Will Africa Feed China? answers these questions as it sheds new light on Chinaâs evolving global quest for food security and Africaâs possibilities for structural transformation.
Speaker: Deborah Bräutigam (SAIS) Chair: Carlos Oya (SOAS) All welcome, please RSVP at cas@soas.ac.uk Dr. Deborah Bräutigam is the Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of Political Economy, Director of the International Development Program, and Director of the China Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins Universityâs School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Her most recent books include The Dragonâs Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa (OUP, 2010) and Will Africa Feed China? (OUP, 2015). Before joining SAIS in 2012, she taught at Columbia University and American University. Dr. Bräutigamâs teaching and research focus on international development strategies, governance, and foreign aid. Dr. Bräutigam has been a visiting scholar at the World Bank, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and advised more than a dozen governments on ChinaAfrica relations.
The Centre for Film Studies and the Centre of African Studies present:
The 2nd African Film Public Lecture
Primavera
Sokari Douglas Camp CBE in conversation with Gerard Houghton
Centre for Film Studies Screening of
âSembene!â Wednesday 1st June | 4pm-6.30pm Bertha Doc House | London WC1N 1AW
Primavera is the new exhibition by internationally renowned sculptor, Sokari Douglas Camp. It brings together major new sculptures which focus on the reinterpretation of familiar figures from the European classical tradition. The large work Europe supported by Africa and America, recreates and adapts an 18th century engraving by William Blake. Other works reconfigure detailed scenes adapted from well-known Botticelli paintings, in which the instantly recognisable figures metamorphose into more modern icons of contemporary culture and society. During this event, the artist will be in conversation with Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at the October Gallery, discussing her latest creations. For more information please contact cas@soas.ac.uk and to register visit: http://bit.ly/21GR057
Sokari Douglas Camp, Lovers Whispering, 2016. Steel, gold leaf and Perspex, 138 x 140 x 71 cm, photo Jonathan Greet. Image courtesy October Gallery.
The Centre of African Studies presents
Timbuktu
A talk by Alexandra Huddleston Thursday 15 October 1pm - 3pm Room 116 SOAS University of London
In 1952, Ousmane SembĂŠne, a dockworker and fifthgrade dropout from Senegal, began dreaming an impossible dream: to become the storyteller for a new Africa. SEMBENE!, a feature-length HD documentary, tells the unbelievable true story of the âfather of African cinema,â the self-taught novelist and filmmaker who fought, against enormous odds, a monumental, 50-yearlong battle to give African stories to Africans. SEMBENE! is told through the experiences of the man who knew him best, colleague and biographer Samba Gadjigo, using rare archival footage and more than 100 hours of exclusive materials. A true-life epic, SEMBENE! follows an ordinary man who transforms himself into a fearless spokesperson for the marginalized, becoming a hero to millions. After a startling fall from grace, can SembĂŠne reinvent himself once more? This screening is brought to you as part of the special SOAS centenary film partnership with Bertha DocHouse cinema. Book your tickets (ÂŁ5) here: http://www.dochouse.org/ cinema/screenings/sembene-dir-qa
Huddlestonâs project â333 Saints: A Life of Scholarship in Timbuktuâ captures a way of life and learning as it was shortly before the militants overran the city. Her photographs show a deeply rooted, ancient Islamic tradition of tolerance, erudition, and faithâand a city that has built its very identity around scholarship and a love of books and learning.
The event will be chaired by Professor Louis Brenner, SOAS All welcome. For more information and RSVP contact: cas@soas.ac.uk
SOAS -University of London - presents:
Book Launch and Discussion:
PICTUR ING OR AL T R AN SMI SSION IN CONT EMPOR ARY SENEG AL AND MALI: MUSIC , L ANGUAGE AND DIVER SI T Y IN FILM AWARD WINNING DOCUMENTARY SCREENINGS
8 MARCH 2016 - KHALILI LECTURE THEATRE - 7.15 - 9PM With David H. Shinn (Author & Former US Ambassador) and Mashood Baderin (SOAS)
THE VOICE OF TRADITION by Lucy Duran, SOAS, University of London
The voice of tradition is a documentary film examining how children acquire musical skills in one of Africaâs most celebrated oral traditions â that of Maliâs jeliw (Mande griots). It focuses on one of Maliâs most iconic singers, Bako Dagnon (1953 â 2015). In this film we hear Bakoâs insightful views on song and memory, and see rare footage of young musicians learning and performing songs in the remote countryside of her native village, Golobladji.
Wednesday 9th of March | 5pm-7pm Khalili Lecture Theatre | SOAS, University of London
The Confluence of Agnack by Anna Sowa, Chouette Films/SOAS, University of London
There is almost no research, let alone outreach or creative material, on rural African multilingualism. This film therefore represents a unique cultural and creative resource, conveying aspects of diversity and multilingualism in Africa. It paints a portrait of diversity and multilingualism as a daily, hourly linguistic practice, drawing the audience in by telling the story of the village of Agnack Grand preparing for an unforgettable event.
The Anniversary Award: Best AHRC/AHRB funded film since 1998
Hizmet in Africa: The Activities and Significance of the GĂźlen Movement is the only book-length work that analyzes the multifaceted activities in Africa of the followers of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah GĂźlen, who has lived in exile in rural Pennsylvania since 1999. This Movement did not exist in Africa twenty years ago. Relatively few Africans and outsiders are aware of its activities in Africa. The book documents Hizmet activity based on visits in 2012 and 2013 to South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, and Turkey and meetings with a wide range of Hizmet representatives working in other countries in Africa. The book analyzes the significance of the Movement for both Turkey and Africa and explores the link between the Movement and Turkish business persons, who provide most of the funding. For more information and to RSVP please contact cas@soas.ac.uk After the discussion there will be the opportunity to buy the book at a reduced price
The Anniversary Award : Best film produced by a researcher/research team in the last year
The screening of extracts from the documentaries will be followed by a panel discussion on West African history and identity in music and multilingualism Chair: Louis Brenner (SOAS) Discussants: Lucy Duran (SOAS), Friederike LĂźpke (SOAS), Mandana Seyfeddinipur (SOAS/ELDP), Anna Sowa (Chouette Films)
Centre for Film Studies
To reserve free place book here: http://bit.ly/1VBVZN6 or email cas@soas.ac.uk
The Importance of Law as an Aid to Development in Africa Tuesday 1st March - 7-9 pm Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London Followed by reception
BOOK LAUNCH
Congoâs Environmental Paradox: Potential and Predation in a Land of Plenty Monday 9th May | 5.15-7 pm |Room 4429
Asixoxe â Letâs Talk!
SOAS and BIGSAS Conferences on African Philosophy 28th-29th April 2016, Khalili Lecture Theatre, SOAS, University of London 9th May 2016, Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth
SOAS, University of London| Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square | WC1H 0XG Congo has the natural resources the world needs. Its forests count in the fight against global climate change and its mining sector helps satisfy our addiction to the latest high tech gadgets. Congoâs farmers could feed all of Africaâs population of over a billion people. The Inga hydroelectric site has the potential to light up the entire continent. These realities are redefining the countryâs strategic place in a globalized world. Telling a different story about power and nature, Congoâs Environmental Paradox examines the dynamics of this huge countryâs forest, mining, land, water and oil sectors in an integrated way. It connects the dots by emphasizing resource diversity, interlinkages and the complex nature of these sectors. Congoâs incredible natural wealth has the potential to contribute to development in this troubled central African country â but structural problems, cultural factors, poor governance and predation remain serious challenges. Clearly written, full of environmental facts and analyses, this volume is a mustread for anyone interested in development and the political economy of natural resource management in Africa.
Speaker: Theodore Trefon (Author, Royal Museum for Central Africa) Chair: Rosaleen Duffy (SOAS) Can Law really play any significant role in Development generally and in Africa particularly? In this lecture Mashood Baderin and Andrew Thomas will be looking at both the optimist and skeptical views on the subject, bringing in case studies from different development projects undertaken in different parts of Africa.
âThe sea is not rubbish. We all have to fight to preserve it.â Photo ŠEstrella Sendra, Festival Xeex, Senegal
Convenors: Alena RettovĂĄ and Miriam Pahl (Department of the Languages and Cultures of Africa, SOAS, University of London), Benedetta Lanfranchi, Roberto Gaudioso and Abraham Brahima (BIGSAS, University of Bayreuth)
Speakers: Andrew Thomas (Hunton & Thomas LLP), Mashood Baderin(SOAS/CAS) Chair: Emilia Onyema (SOAS) Register your place at http://bit.ly/1SbkJOc
Speakers: Louis Brenner, Masimba Musodza (at SOAS, University of London) and Paulin Hountondji (in Iwalewahaus, University of Bayreuth)
For more information please contact cas@soas.ac.uk. This event is organised in collaboration with Hunton and Williams LLP.
Photo credit: Sven Torfinn/Panos
*Illustration by CAROLE HĂNAFF
The Centre of African Studies - African Seminar Series
Book Discussion with Philip J. Havik:
For more info and to RSVP please email ar42@soas.ac.uk
This book is published in the âAfrican Argumentsâ series
Owning the Angel: Property, Rights, and Law in African Music Tuesday 24th May| 5pm 7pm Room 116 | SOAS, University of London
âAdministration and Taxation in Former Portuguese Africa, 1900-1945â edited by P.J. Havik, A. Keese and M. Santos
Monday 9 November 2015 5.15-7pm - Room 4429 SOAS - University of London In recent years, the question of colonial taxation has become a topic in the debate on empire and colonialism, and has in recent years led to a comparative, long-term focus on the impact of fiscal policies in colonial and post-colonial economies and states in Africa. Introducing Portuguese colonies in Africa in the debate, this book offers new perspectives on fiscal administration in an era of empire building which had a decisive impact on the lives of African populations.
Chair: Professor William Clarence-Smith, SOAS Speakers: prof. Malyn Newitt (Kings College London), prof. Francisco Bethencourt (KCL) and prof. Philip J. Havik (IHMT/UNL Lisbon) For more information contact cas@soas.ac.uk All welcome
A majority of African countries updated their copyright laws beginning in the late 1990s to adhere to international trade agreements. These laws produced few instances of economic profit, but they more significantly shifted artists, producers, politicians, and others views of musical compositions. Songs could be guarded, protected, and owned by individuals rather than exist as something other than property, as they had historically in many parts of the continent. The popular song âMalaikaâ (Angel), for instance, underwent years of scrutiny among Tanzanian and Kenyan politicians who argued that credit for the song belonged to someone from their country. Individual traditional musicians claimed rights to music that once belonged to specific communities so that they could better protect the songs that they performed and recorded. This talk traces the politics of song ownership and the ways that copyright laws encouraged new relationships to music, sound, and intangible property. It documents the impact of international laws on notions of music and rights at a time when artists struggle to attain international recognition for their music and economic prosperity from their creative expressions. Speaker: Alex Perullo, Professor of Anthropology and Music, Bryant University and SOAS Discussant: Dr Makeen Makeen (SOAS) Chair: Angela Impey (SOAS) For more information and to RSVP please contact cas@soas.ac.uk
Events 2014 - 2015 15
CAS Events 2015-2016: Highlights
CAS Events
The Centreâs activities are diverse and many. The majority of its members are lecturers of the University of London, contributing to the teaching of undergraduate and Masters degrees and the supervision of Doctoral research within the humanities, social sciences and sciences. One of the most important functions of the Centre is to act as a forum for regional and interdisciplinary co-operation within the University of London, which is predominantly organised through membership of disciplinary departments.
The academic year 2015-2016 delivered a wide range of public lectures, seminars and exhibitions spanning disciplinary fields and geographical regions. Peak of the year was the âRiding the Dragon: Africa engages with Chinaâ workshop, hosted at SOAS on the 12th and 13th November 2015. This event presented a wide and diverse selection of high profilw speakers from China, Africa and the US and teh keynote lecture was delivered by leading expert professor Deborah Bräutigam. We also hosted the first conference on Swahili studies âBarazaâ, which took place on the 31st of October 2015. The second annual conference will take place on the 29th of October 2016. We continued the successful collaboration with the October Gallery, which brought back to SOAS campus leading British-Nigerian artist Sokari Douglas-Camp CBE on the 9th of May 2016
Audience at this yearâs Igbo Conference
The following pages contain articles about some of the event highlights, and further information about all our events can be found on our website.
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/events
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AfNet Research Africa Day 2016 âRedefining the Past, Imagining the Futureâ 25th May 2016
Words Rama Salla Dieng, SOAS
Glasses deisgned by Kenyan Artist Cyrus Kabiru Photo credit Amunga Eshuchi
The opening statement of the one-day conference was delivered by Valerie Amos, Director of SOAS and the keynote speech by Dr Helene Neveu-Kringelbach of UCL on âDoing fieldwork in Africa and beyond: Some personal reflectionsâ. Three other panels were held: the morning session saw rich conversations on decolonizing knowledge and was chaired by Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias Coleman (Black Studies Research Cluster, Birmingham City University). Two other panels were held in the afternoon, respectively on âPolitics and Developmentâ chaired by Dr. Awol Allo (LSE) with case studies from Ghana, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, and âArtsâ chaired by Dr Sara Marzagora (SOAS) with contributions focusing on Sierra Leone, Congo and the UK. Doctoral researchers working on Africa from all over the UK were able to analyse, reflect, critique and discuss the many ways in which Africaâs past needs to be redefined so as to imagine new futures and how these futures might be represented in their own research with a specific attention to their own positionality. Last but not least, a statement by Carol John, UCU Equalities Representative was read by an AfNET team member to support the national strike of that day.
CAS Events
The 2016 Africa Research Day, the annual flagship event of the Africa Research Student Network (AfNet) was held on the occasion of Africa Liberation Day (25 May). By titling this yearâs conference âRedefining the past, Imagining the futureâ, the 2016 AfNET coordinating team - Clare Coultas (LSE), Rama Salla Dieng (SOAS), Lioba Hirsch (UCL), and Sarah Howard (Goldsmiths) - aimed at reminding participants of the urgency to reflect on the two main paradigms shaping the main discourses on Africa today and contradicting one another. The first is molded by narratives of crises, lacks and ever-increasing needs whilst the second type of narratives, present a rosy future: âAfrica risingâ which does not address the ongoing reflections on Africa in Africa and in the former colonies including the UK symbolized by the Rhodes Must Fall movement. At such a critical juncture, AfNetâs call for critical reflections echoes SOASâs centenary celebrations theme: âRemembering the past, shaping the futureâ.
AfNet 2016 team (from left): Sarah Howard (Goldsmith), Clare Coultas (LSE), Lioba Hirsch (UCL), Rama Salla Dieng (SOAS)
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African Seminar Series
Book Talk: âThe Politics of African Industrial Policyâ 5th October 2015 Lindsay Whitfield (Roskilde University)
9th November 2015 Philip J. Havik (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)
Lindsay Whitfield discussed her new book published by Cambridge University Press. This book engages in the debate on growth versus economic transformation and the importance of industrial policy, presenting a comprehensive framework for explaining the politics of industrial policy.
Philip J.Havi presented is latest book, which addresses a notable gap in the knowledge of Portuguese colonial administration and the policies implemented in the main territories of its âthirdâ African empire: Angola, Mozambique and Guinea. (Photo above: extract from the bookâs cover)
The Political Economy of HIV: The Review of African Political Economy Special Issue Launch
The English-everywhere agenda in education in a highly multilingual Cameroon: Towards a recipe for disaster?
12th October 2015 Deborah Johnston (SOAS) Kevin Deane (University of Northampton) Justin Parkhurst (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) This special issues launch seeked to promote a strong critical social science response to the HIV epidemic, building on and advancing previous research that addresses the economic and social drivers of the epidemic.
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âAdministration and Taxation in Former Portuguese Africa, 1900-1945â
23rd November 2015 Dr Seraphin Kamdem (SOAS) This seminar explored the recent developments of the English-everywhere agenda in the school education system and critically present some of the pedagogic and operational challenges faced by this contentious agenda.
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/events/africanseminar
Visit our Media Gallery page to listen to or watch our previous talks and events: https://www.soas.ac.uk/cas/media-gallery/
Electrifying and Watering Northern Nigerian Cities in the Era of British Colonial Rule, 1923-1945 29 February 2016 Dr. Philip Akpen (University of Abuja)
Translanguaging as an alternative pedagogical strategy for implementing multilingual education in South African universities 26th November 2015 Mbulungeni Madiba (UCT)
Zimbabweâs Migrants and South Africaâs Border Farms. The Roots of Impermanence 18 April 2016 Dr Maxim Bolt (University of Birmingham) Maxim Bolt explores the lives of Zimbabwean migrant labourers, of settled black farm workers and their dependants, and of white farmers and managers, as they intersect on the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Erotic Music and Female âRenegadeâ Artistes: A Critical Study of Sexuality and Social Positioning
CAS Events
The Language Policy for Higher Education (LPHE) adopted by the South African government in 2002 requires universities to implement multilingualism in teaching and learning programmes to ensure equity of access and success for all students. Dr Madiba discussed this strategy and its implementation in South African universities, with special reference to the University of Cape Town.
In Nigeria, during the colonial period, administrative headquarters, commercial centreâs and railway terminus were all provided with either major electricity and water schemes or partial supplies. Dr Akpenâs study further revealed that electricity and water supply transformed the colonial urban space and created new social and economic order.
30th November 2015 Dr Adebayo Mosobolaje (Obafemi Awolowo University) The study examines the agency of the erotic music of two prominent women ârenegadeâ artistes Iyaladuke Abolodefeeloju and Saint Janet in the contemporary Yoruba society governed by foreign religious strictures with a view to establishing their music as performance of power.
Satanism and Family Murder in Late Apartheid South Africa: Imagining the End of Whiteness
Congoâs Environmental Paradox: Potential and Predation in a Land of Plenty
18 January 2016 Nicky Falkof (Wits Unversity)
9 May 2016 Theodore Trefon (Royal Museum for Central Africa)
The excessive reactions to the apparent threat posed by a cult of white Satanists, never proven to exist, and to a so-called epidemic of white family murder reveal important truths about fear, violence and resistance, as well as fragmentations within the poles of white South African identity.
Telling a different story about power and nature, Congoâs Environmental Paradox examines the dynamics of this huge countryâs forest, mining, land, water and oil sectors in an integrated way.
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/events/africanseminar
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Baraza: Swahili Conference at SOAS 31st October 2015, SOAS Organisers: Chege Githiora and Ida Hadjivayanis (SOAS)
This all day conference explored 4 panels on language, literature, translation, culture, philosophy or diaspora of the Swahili speaking peoples of the world. The aim of the annual meeting is to foster academic interaction and exchange about new or emerging research, developing ideas and interests for mutual benefit among Swahili scholars and students.
threatâa deeply rooted, ancient Islamic tradition of tolerance, erudition, and faithâand a city that has built its very identity around scholarship and a love of books and learning. The photographs tell a story of discovery: exploring a rich and beautiful African intellectual culture, that of the ancient manuscript libraries of Timbuktu and the culture of scholarship that created them.
The second annual âBarazaâ Conference 29 Oct 2016 | 9.30am - 5pm | Woburn Room
World Radio Day 2016 Radio & Peacebuilding 13th February 2015, SOAS
Organised by SOAS Radio in association with CAS and the Communication for Development Network
Timbuktu: An Illustrated Talk by Alexandra Huddleston 15th October 2015, SOAS Timbuktu, at the edge of the vast Sahara Desert, was little known in the Westâexcept as a byword for the remote and exoticâuntil militant Islamist groups destroyed many of its religious shrines and ancient manuscripts in 2012. The project 333 Saints: A Life of scholarship in Timbuktu / 333 Saints : lâesprit du savoir Ă Tombouctou captures a way of life and learning as it was shortly before the militants overran the city. The photographs depict a moment in time now almost gone, fading into history. They show a culture of moderate Islam that is under
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On 15th Feb 2016, SOAS Radio and the Centre of African Studies hosted the fifth annual World Radio Day at SOAS University of London. For this yearâs theme âRadio and Peacebuildingâ, 15 organisations working in radio and development exhibited their work at the trade fair, which was visited by over 200 students, radio and development professionals. The organisations included the Childrenâs Radio Foundation, Development Media International, SciDev and Radio Souriat, the Syrian Womenâs Radio for Peace. After the trade fair, a panel discussion addressing the topic took place that brought together the key industry figures Kerida MacDonald (UNICEF), Anne Bennett (Hirondelle Foundation) and Francis Rolt (Radio for Peacebuilding) and was moderated by Jackie Davies (Communication for Development Network).
This yearâs speakers were: Anne Bennett, Hirondelle Foundation Carlos Chirinos, Africa Stop Ebola Kerida McDonald, UNICEF Francis Rolt, Search for Common Ground This yearâs exhibitors were: Prison Radio Association Development Media International
Sourcefabric RadioActive SciDev.net London International Development Centre Radio Souriat (Syrian Womenâs Radio for Peace) InsightShare FEBA Radio Randall Concepts C4D Network
The Development Communication Trade Fair provided an opportunity for Communication, Media and Development organisations and Technology providers to showcase their work to students, academics and Communication for Development and ICT for Development professionals from around the World.
Film Screening: The Supreme Price 26 January 2016, SOAS Q&A with DIrector Joanna Lipper | Chair: Dele Meiji Fatunla
CAS Events
In 1993 Nigeria elected M.K.O. Abiola as president in a historic democratic vote that promised to end years of military dictatorship. Shortly after the election, Abiolaâs victory was annulled. General Sani Abacha seized power in a military coup and arrested M.K.O Abiola. During her husbandâs incarceration, M.K.O Abiolaâs wife, Kudirat, took over the leadership of the pro-democracy movement, organizing strikes and marches and winning international attention for the Nigerian struggle. Because of this work, she too became a target and was assassinated. Director Joanna Lipper elegantly explores past and present as she tells this deeply moving and intriguing story through the eyes of M.K.O and Kudirat Abiolaâs eldest daughter, Hafsat Abiola, who was about to graduate from Harvard when her mother was murdered. Her father died in prison two years later under mysterious circumstances. Determined not to let her parentsâ democratic ideals die with them, Hafsat returns to Nigeria after years in exile and is at the forefront of a progressive movement to empower women and dismantle the patriarchal structure of Nigerian society. Listen to the audio recording of the panel discussion on our media gallery page!
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China in Africa Keynote Lecture: Will Africa Feed China? Rumors and Realities 13th November 2015, SOAS Dr Deborah Brautigam
As part of the China in Africa workshop, this lecture was given by a leading expert on the topic, Dr Deborah Brautigam. Is China building a new empire in rural Africa? Few development topics are as controversial and emotionally charged as the belief that the Chinese government is aggressively buying up huge tracts of prime African land to grow food to ship back to China. In Will Africa Feed China? Deborah Bräutigam, one of the worldâs leading experts on China and Africa, probes the myths and realities behind the media headlines.
Chinese farming investments are in fact surprisingly limited, and land acquisitions modest. Defying expectations, China actually exports more food to Africa than it imports. Why is the reality of Chinese investment so different from the headlines? Is this picture likely to change? What role will China play as rural Africa moves from subsistence to commercial agriculture, and China builds a portfolio of tools to allow its agribusiness firms to âgo globalâ? Will Africa Feed China? answers these questions as it sheds new light on Chinaâs evolving global quest for food security and Africaâs possibilities for structural transformation.
Will Africa Feed China Video Recording The whole conference was video recorded and it is now available on our media gallery page: www.soas.ac.uk/cas/media-gallery/ or on the SOAS channel Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1z_ PGhPjwcoL9-3fIZ9LzF1rv2wT6Icn
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Riding the Dragon: Africa engages with China - Workshop 12th-13th November 2015, SOAS Carlos Oya, Julia Strauss, Dic Lo, Daouda Cisse, Giles Mohan, Tim Pringle, Tang Xiaoyang, Greg Dobler, Dan Large, Xiaoxue Weng, Stephen Chan, Zhang Chuanhong The Centre of African studies and the SOAS China Institute presented a high level workshop on the broad theme âChina in Africaâ. The two day workshop, by invitation only, brought together senior scholars from the UK, China, Africa and the US to discuss issues around investments and economic opportunity by Chinese companies in Africa.
CAS Events
Why so much interest in China-Africa Links? 23rd October 2015, SOAS Dr Carlos Oya The interest in Chinaâs engagement with Africa has grown fast in the past 10 years. This reflects both real trends in trade, investment and labour flows, but also a clash of perceptions about their potential impact on the development prospects of African economies and societies. This seminar will tackle the basis for these different views and how empirically-grounded work often challenges well-established perceptions about China-Africa relations.
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The 5th Annual Igbo Conference: Igbo Fusions: Past, Present and Futures 1-2 Apr 2016, SOAS Organised by The Igbo Conference Words Louisa Uchum Egbunike, SOAS With a thematic focus on Igbo Fusions: Past, Present and Futures, the 5th Annual International Igbo Conference took place on 1st and 2nd April 2016 in the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre. The conference sought to create a platform to explore how Igbo culture has been influenced by and influences other cultures. It sought to address the complexity of âwhat does it mean to be Igbo?â We screened Obi Okigboâs (Christopher Okigbo Foundation) video-recorded keynote address on âMBARI - the everlasting cycle of Birth Death and Regenerationâ on 1st April. On 2nd April, we were joined by Wangui wa Goro (Sidensi) who presented âTranslation as fusion in global Igbo/African pasts and futuresâ for our second keynote. For our featured speaker, renowned chef Nky Iweka (The executive Mama Put), tempted the audience with her talk on âFusion: Of Life, Food & Identityâ. At the conference we also launched the Yvonne C Mbanefoâs Amazon bestseller in the new dictionaries category, âáťkáťwaokwu Igbo ᝤm᝼aka: Igbo Dictionary for Childrenâ. 2016 marked the 50th anniversary of Flora Nwapaâs novel Efuru (1996) - the first novel by a black African woman writer to be published internationally. To honour the book and Nwapa a roundtable featuring Afrikult and Ainât I A Woman Collective reflected on the legacy of âEfuru at 50â. Sabine Jell-Bahlsen, featured talk âEfuru at 50; The Dialectics of Flora Nwapaâ
saluted and celebrated Flora Nwapa and her ground breaking achievements on behalf of women. The celebrations of Efuru at 50 were rounded off by a screening of the 1987 Norwegian documentary âForfatterinne i dag: Flora Nwapaâ, trans. âContemporary Women Authors: Flora Nwapaâ. The conference featured a screening of âFantastic Manâ - A Film About William Onyeabor, which was followed by a lively roundtable. The discussion, which featured a host of Nigerian music experts, was able to shed some light on the life and works of the elusive musician William Onyeabor. In our session Reflections on the Igbo Experience in Britain: A Discussion on Fostering, Ben (TY) Chijioke and Clive Obianyor, in conversation with Oladipo Agboluaje, discussed their experiences of living in a foster family and reflected on the impact this had on their identity in relation to their Igbo heritage. Conference papers explored topics including Igbo fusion in digital spaces, the politics of naming, the fusion between traditional Igbo beliefs and Christianity, attire, music and cultural expression, and these contributions were delivered by UK based and international panellists.
The 6th Annual International Igbo Conference The next Annual International Igbo Conferenceâs theme will focus on
âLegacies of Biafraâ Marking the 50th anniversary of the Nigeria-Biafra war. It will take place in the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre and Suite at SOAS on 21-22 April 2017. For more information on the Igbo Conference, please visit www.igboconference.com. To view selected talks from this yearâs conference, please visit www.youtube.com/Igboconference and www.facebookcom/igboconference. The Annual Igbo Conference is convened by Louisa Uchum Egbunike, Yvonne Chioma Mbanefo, Ndu Anike, Ekene Oboko and Nenna Chuku in association with the Centre of African Studies at SOAS, University of London.
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Asixoxe â Letâs Talk! SOAS and BIGSAS Conferences on African Philosophy 28th April 2016, SOAS Convenors: Alena RettovĂĄ and Miriam Pahl ( OAS), Benedetta Lanfranchi, Roberto Gaudioso and Abraham Brahima (BIGSAS, University of Bayreuth) The goal of this conference was to bring together all those who are passionate about philosophy and about Africa, to create a platform for their exchanges and to nurture the growth of the discipline of African Philosophy.
Dr RettovĂĄ said: âThe intellectual history of the African continent spans thousands of years. The scholarship of Africaâs antiquity predates by millenia the history of philosophy in Europe. The discursive traditions in SubSaharan Africa debate, with great originality
CAS Events
Photo by Estrella Sendra
Asixoxe is an expression in the southern African languages Ndebele and Zulu meaning âletâs talk!â and through the succession of two click sounds, it also iconically represents the way human speech adds a specific rhythm to time and to thought. The topics on discussion include: âSpoken realities and the living dead: a comparison of African Philosophy and post-structuralist ethicsâ, âImposition of Western episteme in/ through the Afrophone novelâ, âContemporary African social and political philosophy: trends and challengesâ and âIndependence, interdependence and liberty in the philosophical perspective of Severino Elias Ngoenha.â
and erudition, a vast range of key philosophical topics. Contemporary African philosophy creatively connects the study of Africaâs rich philosophical heritage with a pragmatic focus on the burning issues of the present day.â The conference is primarily a student conference, open to undergraduate, postgraduate and postgraduate research students. Several senior researchers in the domain of African Studies have also been invited to present papers on their research â a format that will be continued in the future in order to foster the synergy of ripe expertise and fresh scholarly minds.
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SOAS Centenary Events SOAS, University of London is celebrating its centenary in 2016/17 and at CAS we are organising 3 centenary lectures in Africa, as well 2 events on campus. See below summary of our centenary events that took place so far and more information will be available about the upcoming events on our website www.soas.ac.uk/cas
An evening in conversation with the 2016 Caine Prize shortlisted authors 28th June 2016, SOAS As part of SOAS University of Londonâs centenary event series in Africa, the Centre for African Studies hosted an evening in conversation with the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing shortlisted authors. The Caine Prize for African Writing is a literature prize awarded to an African writer of a short story published in English. The shortlisted authors include Abdul Adan, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Tope Folarin, Bongani Kona and Lidudumalingani. The Prize was launched in 2000 to encourage and highlight the richness and diversity of African writing by bringing it to a wider audience internationally. The focus on the short story reflects the contemporary development of the African story-telling tradition. The writers were in conversation with cultural historian and SOAS Research Associate Dr Gus CaselyHayford who also presented the BBCâs âLost Kingdoms of Africaâ series. Abdul Adan (Somalia/Kenya) âThe Lifebloom Giftâ from The Gonjon Pin and Other Stories Abdul Adanâs work has appeared in African magazines Kwani, Jungle Jim, Gambit, Okike, Storytime, SCARF and elsewhere. He was a participant in the 2014 Caine Prize workshop in Zimbabwe, and is a founding member of the Jalada collective.
Lesley Nneka Arimah
Lesley Nneka Arimah (Nigeria) âWhat it Means When a Man Falls From the Skyâ from Catapult Lesley Nneka Arimah is a Nigerian writer living in Minneapolis. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harperâs and other publications. When she isnât spreading peace and joy on Twitter, Arimah is at work on a collection of short stories (What it Means When a Man Falls From the Sky) forthcoming in 2017 from Riverhead Books. There are rumours about a novel. Tope Folarin (Nigeria) âGenesisâ from Callaloo Tope Folarin won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013, and in 2014 he was named in the Africa39 list of the most promising African writers under 39. In addition, his work has been published in various anthologies and journals. He lives in Washington DC. Bongani Kona (Zimbabwe) âAt your Requiemâ from Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You
Lidudumalingani
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Bongani Kona is a freelance writer and contributing editor of Chimurenga. His writing has appeared in Mail & Guardian, Rolling Stone (South Africa), Sunday Times and other publications and websites. He is also enrolled as a Masters student in the Creative Writing
department at the University of Cape Town. Lidudumalingani (South Africa) âMemories we Lostâ from Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You Lidudumalingani is a writer, filmmaker and photographer. He was born in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, in a village called Zikhovane. Lidudumalingani has published short stories, non-fiction and criticism in various publications. His films have been screened at various film festivals.
How big is Africa? 2nd July 2016 | Africa Union | Addis Ababa| Ethiopia Dr Carlos Lopes (Head of UNECA - UN Economic commission for Africa) Professor Christopher Cramer (SOAS, University of London)
From âtragedyâ to âAfrican Renaissanceâ to reality: what are the most important features of African economies and the continent as a whole? Dr Carlos Lopes discusses demography, land mass, the blue economy, migration, and more within Africa and globally, to give a better,clearer idea of Africaâs place in the world.
CAS Events
From left to right: Prof Deborah Johnston (SOAS), Prof Christopher Cramer (SOAS), Dr Carlos Lopes (ECA)
Watch the video recording here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=15DlPqdj_ao&feature=youtu.be
The Place of Heritage Renewal in Forging Confident Futures âGo back for that which you have forgottenâ Thursday, 10th November 2016 | 5pm - 6.30pm J.H.K. Nketia Conference Room | Institute of African Studies |University of Legon, Ghana The title of the talk is based on an old Akan proverb - Do not be afraid to go back for that which you have forgotten and it encapsulate the focus of the lecture on issues around heritage, history and identity. It will be delivered by our Honorary Research fellow Dr Gus Casely-Hayford.
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Developmental State and Protest in Ethiopia Conflicting state policies and national questions in Ethiopia: conceptualizing the on-going Oromo protests 4th April 2016, SOAS Etana Habte (PhD, SOAS), Ezekiel Gebissa (Kettering University), Henok G. Gabisa (Washington and Lee University) Despite the fact that the majority of its population lives below the poverty line, Ethiopia has recently been referred to as âAfricaâs fastest growing economyâ. Since mid-2015, Ethiopian issues have dominated the news because of two major developments: droughts have swept many parts of the countryâforcing the state to request international aid, and Oromo protests broke out across Oromia, the countryâs largest federal state and region. From that point, narratives about economic growth, political stability, industry and investment in Ethiopia have been vigorously contested. Largely peaceful protests have dragged Ethiopia into serious tension. Protests can bring into focus Ethiopiaâs conflicting state policies. Yet the concepts and contexts of an OromoProtests movement that is triggered by the stateâs âAddis Ababa Integrated Development Master Planâ are rooted in deeper issues than most sources suggest. The speakers analysed this issue from a historical, legal (constitutional) and international perpective.
Social Movements and State Fragility in Ethiopia: Lessons from the Oromo Protests and Government Responses of 2015-16 21st June 2016, SOAS Etana Habte (PhD, SOAS), Ezekiel Gebissa (Kettering University), Henok G. Gabisa (Washington and Lee University), Tsedale Lemma (Addis Standard), Samir Yusuf (University of Toronto), Teshale Abera(LSE), Sarah Vaughan (University of Edinburgh) In late July of 2015, President Barack Obama praised Ethiopia as a âmodel of developmentâ. Three months later, the country was rocked by massive protests in the Oromia region demanding an end to the oneparty stranglehold on the political landscape, ethnic discrimination in allocating national resources, and the rule of violence in Ethiopia. In response, the state turned to coercion and violence to put down the uprising. The dramatic turn of events has exposed a structural weakness in the Ethiopian state, one which John Markakis has called the failure of nation-building. After the #OromoProtests, the Ethiopian state is unlikely to continue business as usual. This one-day symposium at SOAS, University of London, explored how apparently strong state institutions eventually produce weaknesses that in turn initiate tendencies towards coercion, illegitimacy and fragility. By addressing this phenomenon historically and ethnographically, the symposium intended to examine new frameworks for understanding the Ethiopian state and the changing contours of political legitimacy.
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J.D.Y.Peel: A Celebration of life to the full 25th June 2016, SOAS An event celebrating the work and life of the late J.D.Y. Peel with contributions from his close colleagues and friends. The programme for the day included several contributions: Welcome by Richard Fardon, Anne Ogbigbo Peel âLetters from Liberiaâ, Robin Horton âJohnâs Ife yearsâ, Richard Rathbone âThe SOAS Deansâ, Sophie Baker âFood and cooking in Johnâs lifeâ
Finale for a Full Life Michael Omolewa âJDYP - Homage from Nigeriaâ Short Film The Robertsport Memorial Service for John, Karin Barber âOrĂkĂŹ for Johnâ, Paul Richards âJohnâs Anglicanism and Wesleyâs Anthemâ
Hizmet in Africa: The Activities and Significance of the Gulen Movementâ
CAS Events
John on Religion Niyi Ade-Ajayi âJDYP â an intellectual approach to religious toleranceâ, Ramon Sarro âJohn on iconoclasm done and comparedâ, Amanda Villepastour âJohn on Afro-Cuban religionâ, Marloes Janson âJohn on Christianity and Islam comparedâ
History, development, editing and writing David Pratten âJohnâs âThe past in the presentââ Gavin Williams âJohn on âOlaju: a Yoruba concept of developmentââ, Murray Last âJohnâs editorial styleâ, Trevor Marchand âJohn as correspondentâ
9th March 2016, SOAS David H. Shinn (Elliott School of International Affairs - George Washington University) David Shinn presented his book, which documents the Hizmet activity in Africa based on visits in 2012 and 2013 to South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, and Turkey and meetings with a wide range of Hizmet representatives working in other countries in Africa. This Movement did not exist in Africa twenty years ago. Relatively few Africans and outsiders are aware of its activities in Africa. There are more than 100 GĂźlen-inspired primary, middle and secondary schools in Africa. GĂźlen-inspired projects include a university in Nigeria, the largest mosque in the southern hemisphere in South Africa, a hospital in Somalia, and student dormitories in Morocco. The book analyses the significance of the Movement for both Turkey and Africa and explores the link between the Movement and Turkish business persons, who provide most of the funding.
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Primavera: Sokari Douglas Camp CBE in conversation with Gerard Houghton 9th May 2016, SOAS In Collaboration with The October Gallery Primavera is the new exhibition by internationally renowned sculptor, Sokari Douglas Camp. It brings together major new sculptures which focus on the reinterpretation of familiar figures from the European classical tradition. The large work Europe supported by Africa and America, recreates and adapts an 18th century engraving by William Blake. Other works reconfigure detailed scenes adapted from well-known Botticelli paintings, in which the instantly recognisable figures metamorphose into more modern icons of contemporary culture and society. During this event, the artist was in conversation with Gerard Houghton, Director of Special Projects at the October Gallery, discussing her latest creation.
Owning the Angel: Property, Rights, and Law in African Music 24th May 2016, SOAS Dr Alex Perullo (Alex Perullo, Professor of Anthropology and Music) Organised in collaboration with the Music department A majority of African countries updated their copyright laws beginning in the late 1990s to adhere to international trade agreements. These laws produced few instances of economic profit, but they more significantly shifted artists, producers, politicians, and others views of musical compositions. Songs could be guarded, protected, and owned by individuals rather than exist as something other than property, as they had historically in many parts of the continent. The popular song “Malaika� (Angel), for instance, underwent years of scrutiny among Tanzanian
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and Kenyan politicians who argued that credit for the song belonged to someone from their country. Individual traditional musicians claimed rights to music that once belonged to specific communities so that they could better protect the songs that they performed and recorded. This talk traces the politics of song ownership and the ways that copyright laws encouraged new relationships to music, sound, and intangible property. It documents the impact of international laws on notions of music and rights at a time when artists struggle to attain international recognition for their music and economic prosperity from their creative expressions.
Picturing Oral Transmission in Contemporary Senegal and Mali: Music, Language and Diversity in Film 8th March 2016, SOAS With Lucy Duran (SOAS), Friederike LĂźpke SOAS), Mandana Seyfeddinipur (SOAS/ELDP), Anna Sowa (Chouette Films) This was an interdisciplinary event featuring two award-winning documentaries directed or coproduced by SOAS scholars, aiming at exploring the unique reflections and practices that both music and multilingualism in Mali and Southern Senegal can offer.
Kanraxel - The Confluence of Agnack by Anna Sowa, Chouette Films/SOAS creative material, on rural African multilingualism. This film therefore represents a unique cultural and creative resource, conveying aspects of diversity and multilingualism in Africa. It paints a portrait of diversity and multilingualism as a daily, hourly linguistic practice, drawing the audience in by telling the story of the village of Agnack Grand preparing for an unforgettable event.
CAS Events
There is almost no research, let alone outreach or
The Anniversary Award: Best film produced by a researcher/research team in the last year The Voice of Tradition by Lucy Duran, SOAS, University of London. The voice of tradition is a documentary film
examining how children acquire musical skills in one of Africaâs most celebrated oral traditions â that of Maliâs jeliw (Mande griots). It focuses on one of Maliâs most iconic singers, Bako Dagnon (1953 â 2015).
The Anniversary Award: Best AHRC/AHRB - funded film since 1998 The screening was followed by a panel discussion
on West African history and identities in music and multilingualism.
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Collaborations
Society for the Study of the Sudans UK SSSUK promotes learning and provides resources
Collaborations
for anyone with an interest in South Sudan and/or Sudan. Last academic year CAS and SSSUK have joint forces to organise the Sudan-South Sudan Series. The series brought together academics and practitioners on contemporary Sudan and South Sudan to deliver an interdisciplinary series of seminars. Ranging through legal, economic, political and cultural issues the seminars will challenge current views to provide insights on the future of the Sudans.
Arms & the Men: Who sells weapons, who uses them, who is killed by them 16th November 2015, SOAS Words Gill Lusk (SSSUK) Armed with a vivid array of photographs and maps, Mike Lewis (lead investigator for the nongovernmental organisation Conflict Armament Research) talked about the place of Sudan and South Sudan in the flow of arms and ordinance in Africa and particularly Eastern Africa, offering a long-term view of their changing roles. It was beginning to appear that Sudan had become the most significant force behind arms flows in African and perhaps Middle Eastern conflicts, he
suggested, although the region was not necessarily the largest source of armaments. Many arms there had commercial origins, he pointed out, and not all arms originating in Sudan and which were in the hands of non-state groups in the region, were distributed with the complicity of the government. He discussed evidence for the widely-held belief that proxy forces in South Sudanâs recent conflict (2013-15) were supported and armed by the Sudan government: while this is fairly clear, deliveries of Sudanese weapons to the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Organisation-in Opposition have not been on the same scale and sophistication as previous South Sudanese proxies. Mike gave us a fascinating insight into his work by using photos of guns and munitions found at conflict sites to demonstrate how physically examining them could be used as a diagnostic tool not only to give political scientists insights into the âwhat and whereâ of weapons supplies but could also be used as a form of complicated political signalling to tell us about Sudanese and South Sudanese links in the region. [...] Mike argued that the small amount of arms supplied from Sudan, was a âpolitical signalâ that indicated the Sudan governmentâs ambivalence about arming rebel forces in South Sudan enough to tip the military balance in the conflict. He suggested that generally speaking, the presence of lots of new Sudanese manufactured arms in, for example, the Central African Republic or Darfur, indicated the likelihood of direct supply and government complicity â evidence backed by combatantsâ testimonies and evidence of arms flights â but that where arms found were older, e.g. in the Democratic Republic of Congo, they were more likely to have multiple origins. The speaker provided an historical analysis of arms flows in the region, arguing that the importance of the Sudanese region as a hub for arms flows and supply predates 1989, stretching back to fighting in the Congo in the 1960âs. The contemporary situation, in which large supplies of arms are manufactured in Sudan, relied on two factors. The first was the development of the Sudanâs government aircraft fleet in the 1990âs which facilitated the supply of weapons to Sudan government forces in Southern Sudan and later Darfur. This led to the development of integrated logistics, facilitating âjust-in-timeâ arms supplies across the region by both commercial and political actors.
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The other major change was of course the development of a large weapons manufacturing industry in Sudan, drawing on expertise from Iran and China. More recently, Sudanâs weapons industry has drawn on technology and components originating in a larger range of countries including South Korea, Russia and Oman, suggesting the importance of more conventional commercial links in Sudanâs weapons industry.
Agricultural potential in the Sudans: Past experience and future outlook 7th December 2015, SOAS Words Ponsiano Bimeny
- The lack of information/data on Agriculture including the land ownership especially in the Nuba Mountain region. This problem is manifested in the political violence/civil conflict in the region. - The lack of reinvestment: The government of Sudan was expected to reinvest the oil moneys into the Agricultural sector but that has not happened. As a result of the lack of investment, the Gezira Irrigation scheme collapsed. - Water shortage/the politics of the Nile waters - Land ownership - Government interference in crop production Market. The speaker argued that the share of the Nile waters and the politics of the Nile water mean that Sudan cannot afford the water it needs to run the irrigated agriculture. In addition to the problem of the
Collaborations
Unlike the previous session, the second session attracted more attendance from the Sudanese and the South Sudanese citizens in the UK. The prospects for Sudan and South Sudan to become major agricultural producers in the continent have been deliberated for over a century. Modern schemes began in the AngloEgyptian period. Most have failed or have had limited success. In regards to discussing the failures and successes of these agricultural projects and evaluate the pros and cons of the continued pursuit of modern intensive crop production., the speaker noted that Sudansâ backbone is not oil as is commonly mistaken today but Agriculture. His presentation was organised around the fundamental question of âWhat happened to the Agricultural Sector and its projects? And where do the Sudan go from now?â Taking on Irrigation and Rain fed Agriculture, the speaker embarked on a futuristic look at the Agricultural sector of the Sudan. He noted that Sudan and South Sudan shares a lot of characteristics and challenges in their agricultural sector presenting some of the fundamental and historical challenges to the Agricultural sector of Sudan/South Sudan. He highlighted that the lack of objectivity and direction for development within the Sudans government greatly impacted on the Gezira Irrigation scheme. Gezira, until 1998, used to be the backbone of Sudansâ economy and the biggest agricultural project in the continent. However, politicisation of staff recruitment, the absence of clear policies, land ownership and
the decentralisation of management of Gezira to the state and privatisation and most importantly civil conflict are some of the factors highlighted as negatively impacted on the project. Further to these challenges, the agricultural sector of Sudan faced other challenges such as:
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politics surrounding the Nile waters, evaporation rate of the Nile water presents another challenge, estimated at 2 billion cubic metres a year. Although the 1956 Nile Water Agreement is pointed as one point of contestation especially the share of the water which gives Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres and 18.5 billion cubic meters, he argues that this has no potential of retarding agricultural development in the Sudan. The speaker asserts that, to overcome these challenges there is need for Sudan to embark on planning and a shift of its policy focus to alternative agricultural practices that can take advantage of the new regional realities. That is, the good market opportunities for alternatives to high water consuming crops such as Cattle/Diary farming. However, to be able to take advantage of these regional and domestic realities, the Sudan/South Sudan has: - To first take care of political stability which has great impact on capital and market development - Investment in Infrastructure especially Roads, Airports, Communication and rails. - Move away from the production of cotton in Sudan as it is no longer viable. - Policy makers need to accept/come in terms with reality of the shortage of water. - Sensitization of the population on the realities of water shortage and why the new policy. - Production of wheat policy currently pushed by the government of Sudan is not feasible and more expensive compared to buying it from the international market. As one participant put it, the presentation provided a healthy criticism to the current government approach to Agricultural sector as it provide alternative policy shift. However, one question that stood out was in regards to the absence of the underground water from the presentation as an alternative to the highly contested Nile waters. As an alternative to Nile waters/rain fed agriculture, the underground water provide a rechargeable and a wealthy alternative for desert agriculture which as been very successful in the Saudi Arabia. Finally, the speaker concluded that, the sector policy shift towards alternative agricultural practices requires good relationships at both regional and international level and a political will to do so. Failure of Sudanese government to do so risks failing to feed its population.
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Telling the story their way: the arts & social action in the Sudans 11th January 2016, SOAS Words Ponsiano Bimeny (SOAS)
There is a tendency in to relegate art, music and theatre to the scholarly margins in high conflict countries such as the Sudans. Yet in practice, these expressive forms play a significant role in promoting communication and in shaping social and political life for ordinary citizens. The Chair introduced the two speakers for the evening: Mr. Ali Mahdi Nour, acclaimed Sudanese stage and film actor and theatre director from Khartoum, who has a long history of humanitarian work in Sudan, and John Martin, Director of Pan Intercultural Arts in London, who has introduced forum theatre in schools in South Sudan in order to tackle current social problems. Ali Mahdi’s presentation began with a brief photographic history of his work with theatre for development in Sudan from the 1980s to the early 2000s. He then described his subsequent establishment of Theatre in Conflict Zones, which uses highly dynamic, participatory methodologies to promote peace building and social reintegration in conflict and post-conflict regions of Darfur. John Martin discussed Pan Intercultural Arts’ approach to the use of theatre, music, art and creative writing in promoting agency amongst marginalised communities both in the UK and in countries such as South Sudan. He was quick to point out that working with vulnerable groups in London, such as with gangs involved in knife crime, produces similar challenges to those faced by child soldiers. He contested the popular notion that art and music become peripheral in times of conflict. On the contrary, it is often artists who contribute with a reflective or critical voice, and who offer a glimmer of hope to traumatized nations. He concluded his presentation with a discussion about work in South Sudan, which involves the establishment of theatre groups in 24 secondary
www.sssuk.org
schools across the country, and their use forum theatre to promote open dialogue and to reflect on local needs, interests and experiences.
The use of law as an instrument of power in Sudan and South Sudan 15th February 2016, SOAS Words Ponsiano Bimeny (SOAS)
www.soas.ac.uk/cas/events/sudan-south-sudan/
Collaborations
Multiple regimes have used law as an instrument of power in Sudan. The present regime in Sudan has from the very outset used decrees and legislation to entrench and broaden its power. It has also employed the law as a means to pursue its project of building an Islamic State by adopting Sharia law. This fourth and last seminar examined the resistance to the use of law as an instrument of power in Sudan and South Sudan, and the challenges faced by those advocating legal reforms and greater rights protection. It also reflected on the nature, underlying rationale and impact of the use of law in the greater Sudan since 1989, including the roles of Judiciary and other actors. It considers emerging parallels in South Sudan, such as the broad National Security Services Law adopted in 2015. The Seminar also reflected on resistance to the use of law as an instrument of power in the Sudans, and the challenges faced by those advocating legal reforms and greater rights protection. The Chair Dr Lutz Oette pointed out that, when you hear about development in Sudan and South Sudan especially from the media, most they talk about is the lawlessness in these countries. However, this is exceptionally misguiding because if you look at Sudan’s history going back to colonial times as noted by Professor Mashood Baderin in his book, law has always played a very important
role, different regimes have used law to gain or even maintain their legitimacy. The seminar focused on how the current regime has used law as an enabling device to facilitate its powers but also as a disabling device in the sense of fending off accountability. In addition, the discussion also looked at the development in South Sudan. The chair then introduced the main speaker Ali Agab, a Sudanese Human Rights lawyer and discussant, Professor Mashood Baderin (SOAS/CAS Chair). In his presentation, Ali Agab took the audience through a brief historical development of law in Sudan i.e. the common law, Sharia, customary and the civil law ingredients which continue to influence the current law in the Sudans. His presentation however concentrated on examining how law has been used by different interest rulers in Sudan. For example, Mohamad Ali Bashir through Egypt, the interest was to get slaves from Sudan to use in Egypt’s military to fight its warfare. The interest was therefore not to enact law but rather to ensure control over the country. The British and Egyptian (condominium rule) on the other hand were interested in the wealth of Sudan in regards to Agriculture and Land. Since there was no central government, the British were force to start the enactment of the law from the scratch, building capacity of Sudanese by training Sudanese lawyers on the British common laws who later replaced the British in implementing the common laws in Sudan. Although the Sudan Islamist (Hassan ‘Abd Allah alTurabi) introduced the Sharia laws, the ingredients of the British common law are still strongly visible in the Islamic laws. If we are to look at how the law has been used as a tool for power and the national government use of power is the legitimate use of law itself. However the experience of Sudanese with regards to law as a tool of power is different. That is, from the independence, the leaders have
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used democracy which uses constitution and the military rulersâ use of Presidential decree by President Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (1969 - 1985) and the current President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir which abolishes the national constitution and the parliament which Prepared by Ponsiano Bimeny (CAS, SOAS-University of London) upholds the rule of law and used the Presidential decree to rule the country. This was to allow them rule the country without adhering to the principles enshrined in the rule of law. Even later when the constitutional court was established as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, the most powerful constitution Sudan has ever had, its formation was a bargain between the SPLA and the Government of Sudan (NCP). The implication is that Judges who sit at the constitutional court are there to not necessarily protect and defend the national constitution but rather the partiesâ interest. Ali Agab then concluded with the use of the famous Pubic order law used by the current regime to control the population but most importantly women and girls by giving the police the power to decides and punish girls and women who are not morally dressed. This demonstrates a clear evidence of Sudanâs use of law as a tool of power. Speaking as an independent expert in Sudan, Professor Mashood presented that Sudanâs legal system is a complex pluralist one and that sometimes rather than complying with the principles of rule of law, governments can rule by law using the law to promote their interest. However, as most lawyers or academics of law, we always forget the fact that law itself is very authoritarian. Law must promote good and it does not do this automatically. Law must therefore not be looked at only from the formal perspective with the presumption that when we talk about rule of law we mean rule of good law which in practical terms is not always the case. He sighted the notoriously controversial National Security Act of 2010 as an example of the law that has been challenged locally, regional and internationally. However, the law was arguably passed through National parliament and when the rule of law is looked at from the natural perspective, it is a valid law. He therefore calls for a counter legal engagement to challenge the normative validity of such laws in regards to the national constitution. And provision of technical assistance to the institutions in Sudan to improve the administration of the rule of law.
Business Council for Africa
The Business Council for Africa West & Southern, established in 1956, is a group of over 400 companies and entrepreneurs having interests in West and/or Southern Africa. It is closely linked with the Eastern Africa Association and also with the EU through its membership of the Business Council for Africa UK (BCA UK) which is part of the European Business Council for Africa and the Mediterranean (EBCAM) CAS worked with BCA on the event:
Renewable Energy for a Sustainable Africa 21st October 2016 Africa is consistently confronted with power shortages; more than 620 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live without electricity and it is estimated that nearly three-quarters of the electricity demand in sub-Saharan Africa will come from industrial and commercial users by 2040. Consequently, investors are examining renewable energy projects to provide a solution to the energy crisis. Africaâs largest privately owned solar power plant is launching this year in Uganda, part of a plan to develop mostly renewable energy electrical power projects in 17 African countries, Reuters reports. The renewable energy sector is fast growing and has the potential to positively impact infrastructure development for the future. The event focused on different aspects of the renewable sector including financing, legal, and infrastructure development. Speakers with extensive experience outlined some of the operational, risk, and financial issues that an organisation would need to be aware of when working in Africa.
http://www.bcafrica.co.uk/
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Royal African Society CAS continues its longstanding partnership with the Royal African Society (RAS), collaborating on events and festivals throughout the year. This page gives an overview of the two biggest annual events organised by RAS and supported by CAS â Film Africa and Africa Writes.
Africa Writes
Collaborations
Africa Writes is the Royal African Societyâs annual literature and book festival. Celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2016, it has become the UKâs leading platform celebrating the best contemporary African writing. The festival showcases established & emerging literary talent from across the continent & its diaspora, connecting UK audiences to leading authors, poets, publishers and experts. Held 1-3 July at the British Library, the festival welcomed over 60 participants to deliver a diverse programme, including book launches, panel discussions, performances, workshops, & a book fair. The programme included some of the most popular sessions from previous festivals â such as the Caine Prize shortlisted writersâ conversation, âAfrican Books to Inspireâ and âMeet the Publishersâ â as well as new ones. This year we shone a light on âdisruptive storiesâ, including narratives of displacement and migration, womenâs and LGBT stories. âSex, Love & Poetryâ, was a memorable evening of explicit readings and uncensored conversation hosted by world-renowned Nigerian LGBT rights activist Bisi Alimi. We welcomed the internationally renowned Egyptian feminist writer Nawal El Saadawi to headline the festival. And to close the festival, Joy Gharoro-Akjopotor brough a staged reading of her play âThe Immigrantâ, to the British Library - a piece set in the year 2116 about a desperate British migrant claiming asylum in the African Union. www.africawrites.org
Film Africa Film Africa is the Royal African Societyâs annual festival celebrating the best African cinema from across the continent and its diaspora. Launched in 2011, Film Africa is now one of the UKâs largest festival of African film and culture. Every year, Film Africa brings London audiences a core programme of fiction and documentary films alongside a vibrant series of accompanying events, including director Q&As, panel discussions, industry events, workshops, master classes, family activities and Film Africa LIVE! music nights. The 2016 festival will take place in venues across London from 28 October to 6 November. The full festival programme is now out and available on www.filmafrica.org.uk.
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The Centre for Film Studies The SOAS Centre for Film Studies (formerly the Centre for Film and Screen Studies) was launched in September 2012 to promote the disciplines of Film Studies in relation to Africa, Asia and the Near and Middle East. CAS has worked jointly with the Centre to organise two public lectures, as well as supporting the annual Cambridge African Film Festival.
The Centre for Film Studiesâ First African Film Lecture: The Cinema and its Publics in Africa 19th October 2015 Litheko Modisane is a Senior Lecturer (Television Studies) in the Centre for Film and Media Studies, University of Cape Town. Modisaneâs scope of interests includes repertoires of symbolic representations in the contemporary political public sphere in South Africa. Modisane reflected on the public lives of iconic black-centred films in South Africa, from the colonial to the post-apartheid eras. Such films, Modisaneâs work demonstrates, are catalysts for public reflections on social and political issues germane to anti-apartheid politics and fledgling democracies. This event was sponsored by The Levehulme Trust.
The 2nd African Film Public Lecture : Ousmane Sembene: Art and Social Vision 31st May 2016
As part of the Centre for Film Studies annual PhD symposium, Samba Gadjigo discussed his documentary âSembĂŠne!â, which tells the story of the âfather of African cinema,â the self-taught novelist and filmmaker Ousmane SembĂŠne. Samba Gadjigo is the director of the documentary âMaking of Moolaadeâ, is the worldâs foremost expert on the life and work of Ousmane SembĂŠne and author of SembĂŠneâs official biography. This event was sponsored by The Levehulme Trust.
Cambridge African Film Festival - 14th Edition 16-24th October 2015 Launched in 2002, the Cambridge African Film Festival (CAFF) is the UKâs longest running annual African film festival, with the aim of screening the best contemporary African films, increasing knowledge and awareness of African and black culture in the UK, providing a UK audience for African filmmakers, and offering an important counterbalance to the Western mediaâs stereotyping of Africa. The 2015 Cambridge African Film Festival (CAFF) was directed for the second consecutive year by Estrella Sendra, a SOAS PhD candidate. The festival focused on the intertwining themes of love, music and resistance. The programme showcased nine fiction films, two short films and two documentary films coming from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa and Sudan. It also featured Q&As with experts, workshops, live music, and a tribute to Senegalese filmmaker Ousmane Sembène. CAFF 2015 was also part of a film series called âFrom Africa, With Loveâ, in collaboration with the four other African film festivals in the UK: Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival in Scotland, Film Africa in London, Afrika Eye in Bristol, and WatchAfrica in Wales, in association with the BFI UK Audience Networkâs LOVE Blockbuster Season. Read CAFF 2015 Report for much more information! Watch some videos of CAFF 2015 in the Vimeo Channel. See all photos on Flickr.
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AFRIKULT. Afrikult. is an online forum for people to connect, explore and expand knowledge on African literature and culture combined. Afrikult. aims to make African literature less exotic, less highbrow and more accessible. You can follow Afrikult. on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@afrikult) or check them out on www.afrikult.com.
Afrikult. Words that travel 23 January 2016 | 4th June 2016
In January 2016, Afrikult. partnered with the Centre of African Studies (CAS) at SOAS, University of London to launch their three-part event series titled Words that Travel.
Collaborations
Words that Travel promotes the knowledge of African literature and culture combined. Each event focuses on a particular medium of African literature; Poetry, Storytelling and Music. As indicated in the event title, Words that Travel celebrates communal participation in literary production within African traditions. It illustrates and shares with the public ongoing developments within African literature through time and space (from Africa to Diasporas). Creating an inclusive, entertaining and educational environment where people from different backgrounds can experience the vibrancy of African culture by featuring an African Food Court, Publishers’ Market, Open Lit Space, Performances from writers, poets, and contemporary African cinema and theatre. The first two events held at SOAS attracted over 500 attendees receiving overall feedback as Excellent at 64% and Very Good at 36%. CAS’s in-kind support with logistics, venue hiring, marketing and promotions have contributed tremendously to the event series success.
www.afrikult.com
Hunton & Williams LLP The Importance of Law as an Aid to Development in Africa 1st March 2016, SOAS Can Law really play any significant role in Development generally and in Africa particularly? In this lecture Mashood Baderin and Andrew Thomas looked at both the optimist and skeptical views on the subject, bringing in case studies from different development projects undertaken in different parts of Africa. This is the first event of a series of collaborations with City Law firm Hunton and Williams LLP.
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AfroShoot
AfroShoot is an innovation platform with the mission to celebrate the work of photographers from Africa and African descent through synergy in order to push forward an Afrikan vision of the world through the lens to the mainstream.
Collaborations
Much of the photography of Africa, that is highlighted or given a platform is the work of Western photographers. The platform aims to move away from a Western lens and a Eurocentric focus to highlight photography from within Africa and the African diaspora. This will allow a different perspective, vision and narrative of Africa to be represented through photography by Africans and the African diaspora. Funded by SOAS Student Enterprise & O2 Think Big Supported by The Centre for African Studies & Le Noir Foundation. AfroShoot was launched on the 10th of June 2016. AfroShoot is managed by Lisa Aissaoui and Tiffany Kamagate.
Partnerships Institutions that CAS collaborates with: ⢠Aegis (Africa-Europe Group of Interdisciplinary Studies) ⢠African Foundation for Development (AFFORD) ⢠Anglo-Ethiopian Society ⢠Britain-Tanzania Society ⢠Business Council for Africa ⢠Igbo Conference
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International African Institute Leventis Foundation Mo Ibrahim Foundation October Gallery Royal African Society Society for the Study of the Sudans UK Afrikult. Afroshoot
The Centre welcomes proposals for collaboration as well as donations from people and organisations wishing to support its activities. If you are interested, you may wish to consider funding MA or PhD studentships, or events hosted by the Centre such as workshops, lectures or conferences. Please contact the Centre manager to discuss any possibilities further. For more information on CASâ partnerships, please visit www.soas.ac.uk/cas/partnership/
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Membersâ Activities Highlights Professor Gilbert Achcar, SOAS Publications - âMorbid Symptoms: Relapse in the Arab Uprisingâ. Stanford; Stanford Univeristy Press: London; Saqi. 2016 Dr Paul Basu Publications - Basu, Paul and De Jong, Ferdinand, eds. (2016) Utopian Archives, Decolonial Affordances, special issue of Social Anthropology 24(1). Wiley.
- Basu, Paul and Modest, Wayne, eds. (2015) Museums, Heritage, and International Development. New York and London: Routledge. (Routledge Studies in Culture and Development) - Basu, Paul (2015) âšReanimating Cultural Heritage: Digital Curatorship, Knowledge Networks and Social Transformation in Sierra Leone.âş In: Coombes, Annie and Phillips, Ruth, (eds.), International Handbooks of Museum Studies, Volume IV: Museum Transformations. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 337-364. - Basu, Paul and Damodaran, Vinita (2015) âšColonial Histories of Heritage: Legislative Migrations and the Politics of Preservation.âş Past and Present, 223 (Sup. 10). pp. 239-270.
Articles & chapters - âSephardic Jews from Morocco in the Lusophone world, 1774-1975,â in Susanna Serpa Silva, Maria Margarida Vaz do Rego Machado, and Manuel SĂlvio Conde, eds. Estudos in memoriam de FĂĄtima Sequeira Dias, Ponta Delgada: Universidade dos Açores, 2016. - âChocolate consumption from the sixteenth century to the great chocolate boom,â in Mara P. Squicciarini and Johan Swinnen, eds., The economics of chocolate, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 43-70. (reprint, with minor corrections, of chapter in 2000 book) - âThe economics of the Indian Ocean and Red Sea slave trades in the 19th century: an overview,â in William G. Clarence-Smith, ed., The economics of the Indian Ocean slave trade in the nineteenth century, London: Routledge, 2015, pp. 1-20 (paperback reprint of 1989 edition). - âMiddle Eastern diasporas in Portugal and the Portuguese empire, c. 1750-1975â, in Jean Batou, FrĂŠdĂŠrique Beauvois, Thomas David, Mathieu Humbert, and Claude Lutzelschwab, eds., Deux mondes, une planète/ Two worlds, one planet: mĂŠlanges offerts Ă Bouda Etemad/ essays in honor of Bouda Etemad, Lausanne: Ăditions dâen Bas, 2015, pp. 199-209.
Professor William G. Clarence-Smith, SOAS
- âAfricaâs âbattle for rubberâ in the Second World War,â in Judith A. Byfield, Carolyn A. Brown, Timothy Parsons, and Ahmad A. Sikainga, eds., Africa and World War II, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp. 166-82.
Publications
Research coordination
Edited collections
- In September 2015, I became part of the threeperson directorate of the âCommodities of Empireâ research project, funded by the British Academy, and centred in the School of Advanced Study, University of London.
- The economics of the Indian Ocean slave trade in the nineteenth century, London: Routledge, 2015, 222 pp. (paperback reprint of 1989 edition)
Membersâ Activities
- Basu, Paul (2016) âšN. W. Thomas and Colonial Anthropology in British West Africa: Reappraising a Cautionary Tale.âş Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 22 (1). pp. 84107.
wa al-Nashr, 2015, 415 pp. (Arabic translation of Hadhrami traders, scholars and statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s to 1960s; with Ulrike Freitag)
- al-Shatât al HadramĂŽ: tujjâr, âulamââ, wa rijâl dawlah Hadârim fi al-MuhĂŽt al-HindĂŽ, 17501960m, Tarim (Hadhramaut): TarĂŽm lil-Dirâsât
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Dr Lindiwe Dovey, SOAS Publications - âCurating Africa in the Age of Film Festivalsâ. New York; London: Palgrave Macmillan. (Framing Film Festivals) - âšOn the Matter of Fiction: An Approach to the Marginalization of African Film Studies in the Global Academy.âş Black Camera, 7 (2). pp. 159173 - 2016
- âšReview of: âšRethinking the South African crisis: nationalism, populism, hegemonyâş by Gillian Hart.âş Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute . 2016 Professor Lutz Marten, SOAS Publications
Membersâ Activities
- âšâşBergman in Ugandaâş: Ugandan Veejays, Swedish Pirates, and the Political Value of Live Adaptation.âş In: The Politics of Adaptation: Media Convergence and Ideology. New York; Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 99-113 - 2015
- Gibson, Hannah and Marten, Lutz (2016) âšVariation and grammaticalisation in Bantu complex verbal constructions: The dynamics of information growth in Swahili, Rangi and siSwati.âş In: Nash, LeĚa and Samvelian, Pollet, (eds.), Approaches to Complex Predicates. Leiden: Brill, pp. 70-109. (Syntax and Semantics)
Professor Ben Fine, SOAS
Projects
Publications
- The Leverhulme-funded research project âMorphosyntactic variation in Bantu: Typology, contact and changeâ is housed in the Linguistics Department at SOAS under the direction of Professor Lutz Marten as Principal Investigator
- âThe Systemic Failings in Framing Neo-Liberal Social Policyâ, in T. Subaset (ed), The Great Financial Meltdown: Systemic, Conjunctural or Policy Created?, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2016, pp. 159-77. - ÂŤNudging or Fudging: The World Development Report 2015Âť, with D. Johnson, A. Santos and E. Van Waeyenberge, Development and Change, 2016, DOI: 10.1111/dech.12240 Dr Chege Githiora, SOAS Publications
Dr Meera Sabaratnam, SOAS Publications âTeaching Africa and international studies: Forum introductionâ, Politics 0263395716628886, first published on May 23, 2016 - doi:10.1177/0263395716628886 â Coeditors: Julia Gallagher, Carl Death and Karen Smith
- âSheng: the expanding domains of an urban youth vernacularâ, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 2016, DOI: 10.1080/13696815.2015.1117962
Dr Tom Young, SOAS
Dr Elizabeth Hull, SOAS
- Readings in the International Relations of Africa, Indiana University Press, 2016
Publications - âšSupermarket Expansion, Informal Retail and Food Acquisition Strategies: An Example from Rural South Africa.âş In: Klein, Jakob and Watson, James L, (eds.), The Handbook of Food and Anthropology. London: Bloomsbury. 2016 (Forthcoming) - Pritchard, Bill and Dixon, Jane and Hull, Elizabeth and Choithani, Chetan (2016) âšâStepping back and moving inâ: The Role of the State in the
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Contemporary Food Regime.âş Journal of Peasant Studies, 43 (3). pp. 693-710.
Publications
Research Associates Research Associates of CAS are longterm collaborators in the Centre activities, pursuing common programmes of research or other activities with Centre Members. They are granted certain staff privileges at SOAS which are recognised at other London universities. Research associateship is granted for two years in the first instance. Dr Michael Amoah
Paul Asquith Paul is Engagement & Policy Manager at the African Foundation for Development (AFFORD), a leading diaspora development organisation, where he leads on diaspora policy and engagement in the EU and Africa, and advises policy-makers on migration and development issues. His background is in research and international development in North Africa and Ethiopia, as well as managing public health services in the UK for vulnerable groups such as street sex-workers and drug addicts. His research interests include diasporas, migration, and development; Islamic models of development; Islamic education and development in North Africa and the Horn; and culture and health. paul@afford-uk.org Dr Augustus Casely-Hayford Gus Casely-Hayford is a curator and art historian. He is the former Executive Director of Arts Strategy for Arts Council England. He was previously director of INIVA (Institute of International Visual Art), a Londonbased arts organization with a particular emphasis on international practice, which collaborates with partner venues throughout the UK and worldwide. Prior to this he was
Elsbeth Joyce Court, Subject Lecturer, SOAS IFCELS Elsbeth Court is a specialist in African art and art education, whose research focuses on eastern Africa, particularly Kenya, and more widely on the growth of modern and contemporary practices of art. Her ongoing projects involve the Akamba carving movement and editing (and up-dating) the volume âArtists and Art Education in Africaâ in which African artists address the conditions and complexities of becoming an artist in and out of Africa; her most recent publications are catalogue essays for Peterson Kamwathi (2011, Ed Cross Fine Art) and Edward Njenga (2013, Nairobi National Museum). She drafted and maintains ââArt and Art Education in East Africa_ A Working Bibliographyâ (available from the CAS website) ec6@soas.ac.uk Professor Murray Last, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, UCL Professor Murray Last (Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, UCL). Professor Lastâs current research programme largely centres around publishing the various materials he and his various Nigerian colleagues have collected on health and social issues in contemporary Kano over the last decade. But the major task is to write up the ethnographic data he has collected over the last thirty years on one large compound of Maguzawa (non-Muslim Hausa) (they have subsequently converted to Islam) in southern Katsina. Meanwhile there is also a work of filial piety to do - putting M G Smithâs 1000-page typescripts of Sokoto history onto disk and then into print (funding has been promised). But there are several other projects in mind, such as publishing obscure, short but key documents written in arabic in the 19th century jihadi history and contemporary northern Nigerian society. Professor Last expects to continue visiting northern Nigeria at least once a year. m.last@ucl.ac.uk
Membersâ Activities
Dr Michael Amoah specialises in the International Politics of Africa, and has expertise in Foreign Policy Analysis, International Political Economy, African Politics, and Ghana. His publications include âNationalism, Globalization, and Africaâ and âReconstructing the Nation in Africaâ. He is also a political analyst on current and international affairs with mainstream international television. ma124@soas.ac.uk
director of Africa 05, the largest African arts season ever hosted in Britain. He has worked for television and radio and was the presenter of the BBC âLost Kingdoms of Africaâ series. gus.casely-hayford@soas.ac.uk
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Dr Roy Love Dr Love is currently an independent researcher and consultant with long-term interest in Ethiopia and Eritrea. He previously lectured in economics at universities of Botswana, Lesotho and Addis Ababa. He is conducting a research on the âEconomic roots of conflict in the Horn of Africaâ, for a book which will bring together the interconnectedness of the economic roots of conflict across the Horn, examining how the nature of conflict in the region in the 21st century has been shaped by overlapping domestic and international economic drivers at certain key periods between the late
Journals/serial products Africa Bibliography 2013 Published annually print and online (November 2013), c.440pp; africabibliography.cambridge.org/ Africa Journal of the International African Institute Published quarterly print and online: February, May, August, November, c.720pp per annum; journals.cambridge.org/action/ displayJournal?jid=AFR
Dr Arkebe Oqubay Metiku Minister and Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia conducting research projects on industrialisation, political economy of infrastructure and development of technological capabilities and economic leadership. Publication: âMade in Africa. Industrial Policy in Ethiopia.â 2015, Oxford University Press
âZimbabweans are foolishly litigiousâ: exploring the logic of appeals to a politicized legal system Susanne Verheul Behind closed gates: everyday policing in Durban, South Africa Sarah Jane Cooper-Knock Labour A âdespicable shamblesâ: labour, property and status in Faya-Largeau, Northern Chad Julien Brachet and Judith Scheele
Articles
Labour politics and Africanisation at a Tanzanian scientific research institute, 1949-66 Branwyn Poleykett and Peter Mangesho
AFRICA 86(1), February 2016
Review Article
Local Intellectuals Kenya: Twendapi? â Re-reading Abdilatif Abdallaâs pamphlet fifty years after Independence Kai Kresse Law and Social Order in Africa Introduction Sarah Jane Cooper-Knock and George Karekwaivanane Government properties: the Nigeria police force as total institution? Olly Owen âThrough the narrow doorâ: narratives of the first generation of African lawyers in Zimbabwe George Karekwaivanane
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19th century and the present, with continuing implications for the resolution of contemporary conflict and its amelioration and prevention. rl18@soas.ac.uk
Ethnographies of marginality J. Joost Beuving AFRICA 86(2), May 2016 Congoâs Militant Prophets âMboka Mundeleâ: Africanity, religious pluralism and the militarisation of the prophets in Brazzaville and Kinshasa Sarah Demart and Joseph Tonda Youth, Love, and Popular Music âReal loveâ vs. âreal lifeâ: youth, music and utopia in Freetown, Sierra Leone Michael Stasik Locating hip hop origins: popular music and tradition in Senegal Catherine Appert
Ethiopian Landscapes of Power Decentralization and the local developmental state: peasant mobilization in Oromiya, Ethiopia Rony Emmenegger The Ontogeny of hyena representations among the Harari people of Ethiopia Marcus Baynes-Rock West African Crime Stories Jan Beek: Cybercrime, police work and storytelling in West Africa Debate: Knowledge Production in Africa African scholars, African studies and knowledge production on Africa Jeremiah O. Arowosegbe
Arabic sources and the search for a new historiography in Ibadan in the 1960s Ousmane Kane African studies: the ambiguity of ownership and originality Henning Melber Rethinking knowledge production in Africa Wale Adebanwi AFRICA 86(3), August 2016 Slavery today Post-slavery refractions: homecoming, eldership and awareness in a Gambian slave descendantâs life story Paolo Gaibazzi âWhoever leaves his culture is a slaveâ: contemporary notions of servitude in an east African town Sarah Hillewaert Writing and forgetting history Writing history, living realities: cosmopolitanism and nationalism among Muslims in CĂ´te dâIvoire Marie Miran-Guyon
Contesting space and selfhood Borders are galaxies: interpreting contestations over local administrative boundaries in South Sudan Zoe Cormack Healing with uncertainty: women healers, child medicine and social change in northern Mozambique Daria Trentini The pygmy mimic Stan Frankland Review article Dependence, unfreedom, and slavery in Africa: towards an integrated analysis Benedetta Rossi AFRICA 86(4), published Oct/November 2016 Studying Islam and Christianity in Africa: Moving Beyond a Bifurcated Field Introduction: Towards a framework for the study of Christian-Muslim encounters in Africa Marloes Janson and Birgit Meyer
Membersâ Activities
Nigerian academia and the politics of secrecy Olukoya Ogen and Insa Nolte
Forgetting apartheid: history, culture and the body of a nun Leslie J. Bank and Benedict Carton
Similarity and difference, context and tradition, in contemporary religious movements in West Africa J.D.Y. Peel Towards a joint framework for the study of Christians and Muslims in Africa: response to J.D.Y. Peel Birgit Meyer Entangled religions: response to J.D.Y. Peel Brian Larkin Response to âSimilarity and difference, context and tradition in contemporary religious movements in West Africaâ by J.D.Y. Peel Ebenezer Obadare Unity through diversity: a case study of Chrislam in Lagos Marloes Janson
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Rethinking Muslim-Christian encounters in Africa Benjamin Soares Kwoyeloâs trial and the LRA
The trial of Thomas Kwoyelo: opportunity or spectre? Reflections from the ground on the first LRA prosecution Anna Macdonald and Holly Porter
International African Institute publications Books
International African Library Series (IAI/Cambridge University Press)
After Rape: Violence, Justice and Social Harmony in Uganda⨠Holly Porter
Salafism in Nigeria: Islam, Preaching and Politics Alexander Thurston
Pioneers of the Field: South Africaâs Women Anthropologists⨠Andrew Bank
Published for the IAI by Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9781107180048
Published for the IAI by Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781107157439
Published for the IAI by C ambridge University Press ISBN 9781107150492
November 2016
September 2016
July 2016
African Arguments series publications
Congoâs Environmental Paradox: potential and predation in a land of plenty Theodore Trefon
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Published for the IAI by Zed Books. ISBN: 9781783602438 May 2016
Ebola: how a peopleâs science State of Rebellion: violence helped end an African epidemic⨠and intervention in the Central Paul Richards African Republic⨠Louisa Lombard Published for the IAI by Zed Books. ISBN: 9781783602438
Published for the IAI by Zed Books ISBN: 9781783608843
May 2016
November 2016
Readings in the International Relations of Africa⨠Edited by Tom Young
Practical Phonetics for Students of African Languages ⨠D. Westermann and Ida Ward
Published for the IAI by Indiana University Press ISBN: 9780253018946 January 2016
www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138926042/
The Tswana ⨠Isaac Schapera and John Comaroff
Studies in Hausa ⨠Graham Furniss and P. Jaggar eds.
www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138926059/
www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138924901/
www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138926097/
The Languages of Ghana ⨠Mary Kropp Dakubu⨠www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138926202/
Membersâ Activities
African Political Systems⨠Meyer Fortes and E.E. EvansPritchard eds.
African Systems of Kinship and Marriage ⨠A.R. Radcliffe-Brown and Daryl Forde eds. www.routledge.com/books/ details/9781138926158/
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Research Students Samer Abdelnour, LSE Postwar peace-building, development, and humanitarian interventions through the lenses of institutional theory and social enterprise Supervisors: Harry Barkema (LSE) and Jannis Kallinikos (LSE) Caroline Ackley, UCL Intimate Relationships and Telephone âGamesâ in Somaliland Supervisor: Prof. Sara Randall (UCL) Ayanleh Aden, KCL The making of a hazard: a social-environmental explanation of vulnerability to drought in Djibouti Supervisor: Dr Deborah Potts (KCL)
Research Students
Michelle Afrifah, KCL Diaspora tourism and homeland development: exploring the impacts of African American tourists on the livelihoods of local traders in southern Ghana Supervisor: Dr Deborah Potts (KCL) Karin Ahlberg, SOAS Mediating the nation, making markets: productions and circulations of Egypt in international networks Supervisor: Prof. Trevor Marchand Jamal Abiola Akinade, DPU, UCL An âIslamic developmental stateâ in Northern Nigeria as a vehicle for governance of development? Supervisor: Dr Michael Walls (UCL) Alicia Altorfer-Ong, LSE Independence, Dependence and Third World Solidarity: Sino-Tanzanian Relations from 19641975 Supervisor: Joanna Lewis (LSE), Antony Best (LSE) Clementina Amankwaah, UCL Continuity and Change in the making of Elites: University Students in Post War Sierra Leone Supervisor: Barrie Sharpe (UCL) Alexandra Antohin, UCL An Ethnography of Orthodox Christianity and Religious Pluralism in Wollo, Ethiopia Supervisor: Charles Stewart (UCL)
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Maryam Awal, DPU, UCL The Impact of Mobile Money for the Unbanked on Rural Livelihoods- A Case of Northern Nigeria Supervisor: Dr Michael Walls (UCL) Aden Ayanleh, KCL The making of a hazard: a social-environmental explanation of vulnerability to drought in Djibouti Supervisor: Dr Deborah Potts (KCL) Goetz Bechtolsheimer, LSE The United Statesâ Intervention in the Congo and the Rise of Mobutu from 1964 to 1967 Supervisor: Odd Arne Westad (LSE) Claire Bedelian, UCL Community conservation in the Maasai Mara in Kenya Supervisor: Katherine Homewood (UCL) Ezi Beedie, Birkbeck Women and Pension Systems Benefit Income Adequacy in Nigeria: the case of civil servants (working title) Supervisors: Dr Penny Vera âSanso (Birkbeck) and Dr Jasmine Gideon (Birkbeck) Goetz Bechtolsheimer, LSE The United Statesâ Intervention in the Congo and the Rise of Mobutu from 1964 to 1967 Supervisor: Odd Arne Westad (LSE) Stephen Bekoe, Royal Holloway Community Information Centres as vehicles to enhance livelihood and rural development in selected regions of Ghana. Supervisor: Prof David Simon (Royal Holloway) Nicholas Benequista, LSE A Poverty of Imagination: Development Journalism and Donor Accountability Supervisors: Prof. Robin Mansell (LSE) and Dr Wendy Willems (LSE) Stefano Biagetti, UCL Ethnoarchaeology of Pastoralism in the Acacus Mts (south-western Fezzan, Libya): A Case Study of Kel Tadrart Lineage Supervisor: Kevin MacDonald (UCL) Gary Blank, LSE British Foreign Policy and the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970) Supervisor: Joanna Lewis (LSE)
Mike Brass, UCL The archaeology of social organisation at Jebel Moya: 5th to 1st millennium BC Supervisor: Kevin MacDonald (UCL) Peter Brett, SOAS The Judicialisation of Politics: some African examples Supervisor: Tom Young (SOAS) Brandon Broll, Birkbeck College History of the Civil Rights League in South Africa (1948-1994) Supervisor: Hilary Sapire (Birkbeck College) Andrew Brooks, Royal Holloway Riches from Rags or Persistent Poverty? The Transnational Used Clothing Trade in Mozambique Supervisor: David Simon (Royal Holloway)
Fabien Cante, LSE Place-Making Radio? Mediating Urban Proximities in Abidjan Supervisors: Prof. Nick Couldry (LSE) and Dr Wendy Willems (LSE) Christine Carter, UCL Conservation and development; the search for synergies around an MPA on the coast of Kenya Supervisor: Katherine Homewood (UCL) Mhishi Lennon Chido, SOAS Songs of Migration: Experiences of Music, Place Making and Identity Negotiation amongst Zimbabwean Migrants in London Supervisor: Parvathi Raman (SOAS) Niamh Clifford-Collard, SOAS Agotime Weavers in Ghana Supervisor: Prof. Trevor Marchand Malcolm Corrigall, SOAS Histories of Landscape Representation in South African Photography Supervisor: Dr Charles Gore Julie Crooks, SOAS Lisk-Carew and photography in Sierra Leone: Black Modernities Supervisor: Dr Charles Gore (SOAS)
Sarah Duff, Birkbeck College Ways in which ideas about childhood changed as a result of the Dutch Reformed Churchâs evangelical movement in the Cape Colony between 1860 and 1902 Supervisor: Hilary Sapire (Birkbeck College) Dariusz Dziewanski, SOAS Institutionalized violence? Examining the role of informal institutions in armed violence in South Africa Supervisors: Dr Zoe Marriage (SOAS), Prof. Christopher Cramer (SOAS), Prof. Jonathan Goodhand (SOAS) Mostafa Elbeshbeshy, Royal Holloway The transformation of divided Cairo into an integrated city. Supervisor: Prof David Simon (Royal Holloway) Carole Enahoro, UCL Land access, satire and cultural resistance in Nigeria. Supervisor: Prof Jennifer Robinson Edith Eyo, SOAS Contemporary Nigerian artists in London Supervisor: Charles Gore, SOAS
Research Students
Paula Callus, SOAS Sub-Saharan African animation Supervisor: Dr Charles Gore (SOAS)
Margarita Dimova, SOAS Dealing with the State: The Heroin Trade in Kenya Supervisors: Phil Clark (SOAS), Laleh Khalili (SOAS)
Alice Evans, LSE Exploring the factors that incentivise poor men and women in Zambia to challenge - or comply with - gender hierarchies Supervisor: Diane Perrons (LSE) Giulia Ferrari, LSE Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS and gender into microfinance-based poverty alleviation programmes - an economic evaluation Erin Freas-Smith, SOAS Domestic Work in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, A Focus on Durban and Ixopo From 1920-1960 Supervisor: Professor Shula Marks (SOAS), Dr Wayne Dooling (SOAS) Alex Free, LSE ICTs, the internet and Africa: Meeting social, political or economic needs? Supervisor: Robin Mansell (LSE)
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Emily Freeman, LSE Older Adultsâ Experiences of Ageing and HIV Infection in Rural Malawi Supervisor: Ernestina Coast (LSE), Rebecca Sear (LSE), Tiziana Leone (LSE) Nikolas Gestrich, UCL Tongo Maare Diabal: A Social Archaeology of Settlement in the Gourma Region of Mali, c.AD 800 â 1200 Supervisor: Kevin MacDonald (UCL) Jonas Gjersø, LSE Benevolent Imperialism? Abolition and Legitimate Trade as Principal Elements of British Policy in East Africa 1856-1902 Supervisor: Joanna Lewis (LSE) Agnes Hann, LSE An Ethnographic Study of Kinship, Livelihoods and Womenâs Everyday Lives in Dakar, Senegal Supervisors: Matthew Engelke (LSE) and Rita Astuti (LSE) Luke Harman, SOAS Voucher subsidy programmes in low-income settings: learning lessons from agriculture and health in Malawi and Tanzania Supervisor: Andrew Dorward Charlotte Heales, KCL Microfinance and governmentality in Malawi Supervisors: Dr Deborah Potts (KCL) and Dr Kate Maclean (Birkbeck)
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Supervisor: Professor David Simon (Royal Holloway) Richard Itaman, SOAS Interrogating the Finance and Development Nexus in Africa Supervisor: Ben Fine (SOAS) Edwin Johnson, SOAS Contemporary Art and Patronage in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church Supervisor: Tania Tribe (SOAS) Laila Kassam, SOAS Assessing the contribution of aquaculture to poverty reduction in Ghana. Supervisor: Andrew Dorward (SOAS) Jessica Kendall, SOAS âAfrican Feverâ; the politics of race in the international circus arena (working title) Supervisor: Dr Lola Martinez (SOAS) Vincent Kienzler, LSE Performance Measurement and Social Accountability in Uganda : Lessons from the âCommunity-Based Monitoring and Evaluation Systemâ Initiative Supervisors: Nilima Gulrajani (LSE) and David Lewis (LSE) Gabriel Klaeger, SOAS Speed Matters: An Ethnography of a Ghanaian Highway, its Perils and Potentialities Supervisor: Richard Fardon (SOAS)
Gwendolyn Heaner, SOAS Destroying the Destroyer of Your Destiny: Pentecostalism and Charismatic Christianity in Post-Conflict Liberia Supervisor: Paul Gifford (SOAS)
Christian Laheij, LSE âCulture of Peaceâ Revisited. Islam in Mozambique Supervisor: Prof. Deborah James (LSE)
Luke Houston, SOAS Liberated Zones - Spaces of Art and Desire in New York City 1975-1995 Supervisor: Dr Charles Gore
Megan Laws, LSE Sharing potency: contemporary Khosian, Christian churches and patronage in the Ghanzi district, Botswana Supervisor: Prof. Deborah James (LSE)
Catherine Huser, SOAS The politics of protection at the micro level of armed conflict (working title). Supervisors: Dr. Stephan Hopgood & Dr. Laura Hammond
Jonah Lipton, LSE Navigating Youth: an ethnographic study of taxi drivers in Freetown, Sierra Leone Supervisor: Prof. Deborah James (LSE)
Vicki Igglesden, Royal Holloway The Response to Francophone African Immigration in Post-Apartheid South Africa
Nomalanga Leander Masina, SOAS Minimizing Friction: The role Private Media in the mediation of Zimbabweâs election politics in 2013.
Supervisors: Dr Lindiwe Dovey, Dr Dina Matar & Prof Annabelle Sreberny (SOAS) Hayley Leck, Royal Holloway Urban global environmental change â Durban, South Africaâ (Submission due Oct/Nov 2011) Supervisor: David Simon (Royal Holloway) Vincent Leger, UCL Wellbeing amongst the elderly of Ouagadougou Supervisor: Prof. Sara Randall (UCL) Jonah Lipton LSE Navigating Youth: an ethnographic study of taxi drivers in Freetown, Sierra Leone Supervisor: Prof. Deborah James (LSE) Sarah Longair, Birkbeck College The development of historical and cultural representation in museums in Zanzibar from the colonial to the contemporary. Supervisor: Hilary Sapire (Birkbeck College)
Charles Majinge, LSE The United Nations, the African Union and the Rule of Law in Southern Sudan Supervisor: Chaloka Beyani (LSE), Christine Chinkin (LSE) Bakia Mbianyor, Royal Holloway Geopolitics of Mining and Mineral Extraction and its implications for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in Cameroon Supervisors: David Simon (Royal Holloway), Klaus Dodds Joshua McNamara Small scale audiovisual production and its relationship with the development and aid sector in Nairobi: an approach toward Kenyaâs media environment, from the perspective of practice-based research. Supervisor: Dr Lindiwe Dovey Nandera Mhando, Goldsmith College Meaning, Gender and Kinship Making Aming the Kuria of Tanzania: Male and Female Agency
Langton Miriyoga, Royal Holloway Citizenship beyond borders: illuminating the opportunities and challenges for participation of Zimbabwean diaspora in post-authoritarian state-building processes in their home country. Supervisors: Prof David Simon, Dr. J. Gallagher and Dr L. Nettelfield (Royal Holloway) LucĂa Natalia Morera, SOAS New to the Market: An ethnographical approach to the implantation of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Lagos. Supervisor: Professor Paul Gifford (SOAS) Mohammed Mossalem, SOAS Odious Obligations? Debt and Bilateral Trade Agreements for countries in transition Supervisor: Jane Harrigan (SOAS) Zaahida Nabagereka, SOAS Resistance to âlinguistic conquestâ in Uganda: A study of African language literature production Supervisor: Prof. Lutz Marten Darryl Nel, SOAS The âTokolosheâ and cultural identity in South Africa Supervisors: Akin Oyetade (SOAS), Graham Furniss (SOAS), Jeff Opland (SOAS)
Research Students
Diana Magelhaes, KCL Gender and Development Politics in Mozambique: The Dynamics of the Ministry of Women and Social Action in the Context of Maputo Supervisors: Dr Deborah Potts (KCL) and Dr Kate Maclean (Birkbeck)
Janna Miletzki (LSE) Burundian Refugees in Tanzania in a state of uncertainty: exploring citizenship and belonging. Supervisor: Dr. Claire Mercer, LSE
Zahrah Nesbitt-Ahmed âI no go greeâ: The Everyday Struggles of Paid Domestic Workers in Lagos, Nigeria Supervisor: Sylvia Chant (LSE) Peter Nichols, SOAS A Morpho-semantic Analysis of the Persistive, Alterative and Inceptive Aspects in siSwati Supervisor: Lutz Marten (SOAS) Prince Ndudi Councillor Olokotor, SOAS Recognition and Enforcement of Transnational Commercial Arbitral Award: A Comparative Study of the Legal Milieus of England and Wales and Nigeria. Supervisor: Emilia Onyema (SOAS) Sarah OâNeill, Goldsmiths College Defying the law,negotiating change. The
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Futankeâs opposition to the national ban on FGM in Senegal Supervisors: Nici Nelson (Goldsmith College) and Sophie Day (Goldsmith College) Miriam Pahl, SOAS Precarious Lives in the Postcolony Contemporary African Literature and the Political Condition of Human Life Supervisor: Alena Rettova (SOAS)
Madeleine Rutherford Wright, LSE Evidence-based development policy movement and the utilisation of research to inform reproductive health policy in Ghana Supervisors: Ernestina Coast (LSE), Tiziana Leone (LSE)
Ruth Payne, Royal Holloway Child-Headed Housheolds in Zambia: Construction, Survival and Change Supervisors: Professor David Simon and Dr Katie Willis (RHUL)
Nicole Salisbury, UCL International Public Policy - âStructural Interventions and HIV Prevention Networks in South Africa Supervisors: David Hudson (UCL) and Graham Hart (UCL)
EugĂŠnia Pires, SOAS Political Economy of Migrantsâ Remittances: Evidence from the Angolan Diaspora in Portugal (Working Title) Supervisor: Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS)
Rama Salla Dieng, SOAS âLandgrabbingâ or Agricultural Investment? Questioning the processes, outcomes and impacts of Land deals in the post 2006 Senegal Supervisor: Carlos Oya (SOAS)
Gabriel Pollen, SOAS Zambia: From Total Factor Productivity to Structural Change? Supervisor: Ben Fine (SOAS)
Anselmo Ricardo Augusto Samussone, SOAS Corporate Governance and the Legal Protection of Employee-Shareholders in Mozambique Supervisor: Peter Muchlinski (SOAS)
David Poole, SOAS Rwandan Entrepreneurship and SME Sector Development: A Search for the âMissing Middleâ Supervisor: Prof. Christopher Cramer (SOAS)
AĂŻsha Schmitt, SOAS Beyond Praising the Prophet: Making New Meanings in Zanzibari Qasida Supervisor: Prof Graham Furniss (SOAS)
Anna Rader, SOAS Civic Practice, Public Identity and Political Community in Somaliland Supervisor: Prof Stephen Chan (SOAS)
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contemporary African urban histories Supervisor: Annie E. Coombes (Birkbeck)
Lameen Souag, SOAS Grammatical Contact in the Sahara: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa Supervisor: Philip Jaggar (SOAS)
Anne Reremoi, LSHTM Neonatal mortality in The Gambia Supervisors: Prof. Ian TimĂŚus and Dr. Georges Reniers, LSHTM
Robin Steedman, SOAS Title: Gendering Production/Producing Gender: An Analysis of Contemporary Kenyan Female Filmmakers Supervisor: Lindiwe Dovey (SOAS)
Rashi Rohatgi, SOAS Abhimanyu Unnuthâs Hindi Poetry in Literary Mauritius and in the World Supervisor: Kai Easton, SOAS
John Paahoni Steven, SOAS A survey of language diversity, use and attitude in Southern Sierra Leone Supervisor: Peter Austin (SOAS)
Cleo Rose-Innes, SOAS Transport Infrastructure and Regional Integration in Southern Africa Supervisor: Machiko Nissanke (SOAS)
Cristiana Strava, SOAS At Home with Modernity: exploring placemaking on the margins of Casablanca Supervisor: Prof. Trevor Marchand
Naomi Roux, Birkbeck College Memory in the City: Museums, heritage, and
Hagar Taha, SOAS The Local Element of Peace: Role of Indigenous
Civil Societies in Intervention and Conflict Resolution - Cases of Darfur (Sudan) and Somaliland Supervisor: Prof Stephen Chan (SOAS) Lotta Takala-Greenish, SOAS The role of industrial policy in the decline of the South African textiles and clothing sector Supervisor: Ben Fine (SOAS) Stella Wambugu, SOAS Agriculture and health in low income countries - investigating farm household and wider interactions in Malawi Supervisor: Andrew Dorward (SOAS) Eliud Wekesa, LSE A new lease of life: sexual and reproductive behaviour among PLWHA in the ART era in Nairobi informal settlements Supervisor: Ernestina Coast (LSE)
Ursel Widemann, SOAS Clothing and the Construction of Identity among the Tuareg Supervisor: Tania Tribe (SOAS)
Research Students
Laryssa Whittaker, Royal Holloway Challenging Structural Violence Through Music: Theorising the Sustainability of Cultural Initiatives for Positive Social Change in South Africa Supervisor: Tina Ramnarine (Royal Holloway)
Michaela Unterbarnscheidt, SOAS A comparative study of transition and social change in early Thai and Amharic novels Supervisor: Martin Orwin (SOAS) Nimrod Zalk, SOAS Linkages and rents along the South African steel production chain â implications for postapartheid efforts to industrialise Supervisor: Mushtaq Khan (SOAS) Johanna Zetterstrom-Sharp, UCL Encounters of Culture, Heritage and Development in Sierra Leone Supervisor: Paul Basu (UCL)
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Scholarships & Fellowships For more information on all the following scholarships, bursaries and awards, visit www.soas.ac.uk/registry/scholarships
Governance for Development in Africa Initiative (GDAI) at SOAS ⢠PhD Scholarships ⢠MSc Scholarships ⢠Residential School in Africa (next school Morocco, March 2016) Applications now open for academic year 2015/2016 Further details on pages 3-8.
Leventis Nigerian Post-Doctoral Fellowship at SOAS
Scholarships & Fellowships
The Centre of African Studies of the University of London invites applications from Nigerian academics to take part in a scheme of collaborative research funded by the Leventis Foundation. Applications now open for academic year 2015/2016. Further details on pages 9-10. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Studentships for MRes Politics with Language, MSc Research for International Development, MA Anthropological Research Methods, MA Anthropological Research Methods and Nepali
The Canon Collins Scholarships at SOAS â open to Masters students from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe Commonwealth Shared Scholarship for students from African Commonwealth countries applying for: MSc Development Studies, LLM in Law, Development and Governance, MSc Development Economics, MA Social Anthropology of Development, MA Music and Development
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The Culture of Resistance Scholarships for Masters students in the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, from the following African countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote dâIvoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, GuineaBissau, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Ferguson Scholarships for African taught Masters students in African Studies, International Studies and Diplomacy & Social Anthropology of Development Santander Taught Masterâs Scholarships for African students from Ghana SOAS Masterâs Scholarships - Faculty of Arts & Humanities - (for any full-time taught masters programme in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities) SOAS Masterâs Scholarships - Faculty of Language & Cultures (for the full-time MA Postcolonial Studies, MA Cultural Studies, MA Comparative Literature, MA Linguistics, MA Applied Linguistics & Language Pedagogy, MA Language, Documentation and Description, MA Translation Theory and Practice (Asian and African Languages) SOAS Masterâs Scholarships - Faculty of Law and Social Sciences (for any full-time masterâs programmes in the Department of Development Studies, Economics, Law, Politics, International Studies and Financial & Management Studies, in the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy and in the the Centre for Gender Studies) William Ross Murray Scholarship for an LLM student from a developing country
External scholarships
Other Universities
British Institute in Eastern Africa Graduate Attachment Scheme for recent graduates with an interest in further studies in Africa www.biea.ac.uk/study-with-us/graduateattachment-scheme
University of Sheffield West African Merit Scholarships for students from Benin, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea or Guinea Bissau www.sheffield.ac.uk/international/countries/ africa/west-africa/ghana/scholarships
British Council The Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan (CSFP) is an international programme under which member governments offer scholarships and fellowships to citizens of other Commonwealth countries. The CSFP was established at the first Commonwealth education conference in 1959, and over 26,000 individuals have benefited. CSC offers Masters and PhD scholarships as well as Fellowships and distance learning scholarships. www.britishcouncil.org/africa-commonwealthscholarships.htm Mansion House Scholarships for training and work experience in the United Kingdomâs financial services industry, open to postgraduate Nigerian students. http://www.britishcouncil.org/africa-mansionhouse-scholarship.htm Tullow Group scholarship scheme for postgraduates from Ghana, Uganda and Kenya in subjects related to the oil and gas industries. tullowgroupscholarshipscheme.org
University of Bath Steve Huckvale Scholarships for students in Africa â taught masters students from Africa who are intending to study Engineering or Management Bournemouth University UKEAS Nigeria Scholarship for Nigerian nationals on full-time postgraduate courses www.bath.ac.uk/study/pg/funding/taught/ scholarships Colin Murray Award for Postdoctoral Research in Southern Africa An award of up to ÂŁ2,500 to support original âengaged field researchâ on a topic relevant to the diverse interests and work of the late Colin Murray (longstanding Editorial Board member and former editor and chair of the Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS)) Deadline: 30th September 2014. For more information contact Dr Colin Stoneman jsas@stoneman.karoo.co.uk
Scholarships & Fellowships
Chevening Scholarships are the UK governmentâs global scholarship programme, funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and partner organisations. The programme makes awards to outstanding scholars with leadership potential from around the world to study postgraduate courses at universities in the UK. The Scholarships are an important element in Britainâs public diplomacy effort and bring young professionals, who have already displayed outstanding leadership talents, to study in the UK. The objective of the Chevening programme is to support foreign policy priorities and achieve FCO objectives by creating lasting positive relationships with future leaders, influencers and decision-makers. www.chevening.org
For more information about SOASâ scholarships please visit www.soas.ac.uk/registry/scholarships
or contact scholarships@soas.ac.uk
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African Studies Resources at SOAS
African Studies Resources
SOAS Library is one of the worldâs most important academic libraries for the study of Africa. Material on and from Africa has been collected since the foundation of the School (as the School of Oriental Studies) in 1916, although Africa was not included in the name until much later and there was no separate Africa Section in Library until the 1960s. The Africa collection includes publications on and from the whole continent of Africa, except for Egypt which is covered by the Middle East & Central Asia Section. The collection covers the fields of languages and cultures, arts and humanities, and law and social sciences. The Library holds an extensive African language collection covering hundreds of languages from the whole continent. It also has an extensive collection of journals for African research, both in print and electronic format. The Library catalogue is available online at: lib.soas.ac.uk
Special Collections Library & Archives
in
SOAS
Hardyman Madagascar Collection A unique collection on Madagascar, donated in 1991 by Mr and Mrs J.T. Hardyman. While
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reflecting Mr Hardymanâs life and work as a missionary in Madagascar it covers a range of subjects and includes a large number of works in the Malagasy language. Society for Libyan Studies Collection The Library of this archaeological society is held on permanent loan on Level F (mobile stack area). It covers mainly history and archaeology chiefly in Libya and North Africa and includes books, journals and pamphlets. African Languages Collection SOAS Library is unique and unparalleled in that all African languages are collected. The range extends from linguistic studies through creative literature to works of scholarship in African vernacular languages. Onitsha Market Literature Collection Collection of Nigerian popular pamphlets from the 1960s. Hausa Popular Fiction: Furniss Collection Collection of popular Hausa language fiction donated by Prof. Graham Furniss. Gifford African Christianity Collection Chiefly English-language local publications on African (especially West African) Christian sects donated by Prof. Paul Gifford. Swahili Manuscript Database The largest public collection of Swahili manuscripts in Britain
The Special Collections Reading Room located on Level F holds important collections of archives, manuscripts and other primary source materials relating to Africa. Details can be found in the online catalogue: Archives and Special Collections: Africa
Other libraries & archives in London useful for African Studies British Library The UKâs national library with excellent holdings of material on and from Africa. It has a significant African language collection catalogue.bl.uk They also have an extensive collection of African newspapers www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelpregion/africa/africa/ acnewspapers/index.html
Institute for Advanced Legal Studies Library University of London Research institute of the University of London with strong holdings in African law, especially for the Anglophone countries and the southern African countries using Roman-Dutch law. ials.sas.ac.uk Institute of Commonwealth Studies University of London Research institute of the University of London with strong holdings in political ephemera, such as election material. Covers all Commonwealth countries but with particularly strong holdings for South and southern Africa. commonwealth.sas.ac.uk/library Institute of Education University of London Extensive collection of educational material at primary and secondary level relating to Africa, especially for the Anglophone countries. www.ioe.ac.uk/services/4389.html
University College London Library, University of London Excellent research library covering all fields. Particularly good for African studies in anthropology, sociology, development, agriculture. www.ucl.ac.uk/Library More information on specialist Africanist libraries within the UK and Europe together with information on African studies centres in the UK and directories of African and UK scholars can be found in the Africa Desk www.africadesk.ac.uk/pages/home Bibliographies & Indexes for African Studies On the Library website you can find a list of Bibliographies & Indexes for African Studies - these are compilations of the literature on a certain topic and so are useful starting points. SOAS Library holds a number of these in online or printed formats.
Online resources: Africa Bibliography Africa Bibliography is an authoritative guide to works in African studies published under the auspices of the International African Institute annually since 1984. africabibliography.cambridge.org
African Studies Resources
British Library of Political and Economic Science (BLPES) at the London School of Economics Specialises in the social sciences, especially politics and economics, finance and business. Very good on African government publications, and particularly strong on South African politics and economics www.lse.ac.uk/library
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, University of London Extensive collection in the field of international public health and tropical medicine, including Africa. www.lshtm.ac.uk/library
Africabib.org AfricaBib consists of six bibliographic databases: Africana Periodical literature, African Women, Women Travelers, Explorers and Missionaries to Africa, Islam in Africa, Kenya Coast and Water and Africa. www.africabib.org Africa-Wide Information Contains details about books and articles relating to Africa, especially South Africa, as well as some full text articles. Records have been taken from various institutionsâş catalogues including SOAS.
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African Studies Centre (ASC) Web dossiers These useful dossiers are compiled by the African Studies Centre Library in Leiden, Netherlands and list print, electronic resources and web-based information on topical issues in African Studies. www.ascleiden.nl/content/webdossiers-year ASA Online provides a quarterly overview of journal articles and edited works on Africa in the field of the social sciences and the humanities available in the ASC library. www.ascleiden.nl/content/asa-online CAMP
African Studies Resources 58
The Cooperative Africana Materials Project (CAMP), is a joint effort by research libraries throughout the world and the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) to promote the preservation of publications and archives concerning SubSaharan Africa. CAMP also aims to make these materials in microform available to researchers. SOAS Library subscribes to this project. SOAS staff and students are able to request material from CAMP. Requests should be submitted to SOAS Libraryâs Interlibrary Loans Section. www.crl.edu/area-studies/camp ilissAfrica The internet library sub-Saharan Africa (ilissAfrica) offers integrated access to information resources on sub-Saharan Africa. It brings together information that
is found on websites, databases or library catalogues in order to facilitate research. www.ilissafrica.de/en Nordic Africa Institute library. Web dossiers Web dossiers on African topical issues compiled by Nordic Africa Institute library staff. www.nai.uu.se/library/resources/dossiers African studies journals This an alphabetical list of e-journals on African studies compiled by several European libraries with links to the journals. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_studies_journals Print resources: The African section also holds a range of printed regional and subject bibliographies and indexes on Africa. These can be found amongst the African Reference Collection on Level D, stacks 188-193. This collection includes print copies of the International African bibliography and the Africa bibliography. For more information about the Africa Collection including further resources please see the Africa Subject guide: www.soas.ac.uk/library/subjects/ africa For more information about SOAS Library please visit the website: www.soas.ac.uk/library
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Africa News During term time, the Centre of African Studies sends out a fortnightly newsletter containing listings of Africarelated lectures and seminars held at SOAS and other colleges of the University of London. It also contains news and information on events around the world related to Africa, calls for papers, funding and job opportunities. To sign up, please email am131@soas.ac.uk
Centre of African Studies, University of London SOAS Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square London WC1H 0XG Tel: (+44) (0)20 7898 4370 Fax: (+44) (0)20 7898 4369
email: cas@soas.ac.uk web: www.soas.ac.uk/cas facebook.com/ CentreofAfricanStudiesSOAS twitter.com/CAS_SOAS Design: Anna De Mutiis, CAS Cover image: ‘Sokari Douglas Camp, Lovers Whispering, 2016. Steel, gold leaf and Perspex, 138 x 140 x 71 cm , photo Jonathan Greet. Image courtesy October Gallery.