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7th European Conference on African Studies ECAS 29 June to 1 July 2017 — University of Basel, Switzerland Urban Africa – Urban Africans Picture: Sandra Staudacher New encounters of the urban and the rural www.ecas2017.ch Convening institutions Institutional partners Funding partners ECAS7 Index 3 Welcome 4 Word from the organisers 5 Organisers 6 A* Magazine 7 Programme overview 10 Keynote speakers 12 Hesseling Prize 14 Round Tables 15 Film Sessions 20 Meetings 24 Presentations and Receptions 25 Book launches 26 Panels details (by number) 28 Detailed programme (by date) 96 List of participants 115 Publisher exhibition 130 Practical information 142 Impressum Cover picture: Street scene in Mwanza, Tanzania Picture by Sandra Staudacher. Graphic design: Strichpunkt GmbH, www.strichpunkt.ch. ___ECAS7_CofrenceBook_.indb 3 12.06.17 17:22 4 Welcome ECAS7 ia, India, South Korea, Japan, and Brazil. Currently it has 29 members, 5 associate members and 4 af- filiate members worldwide. Besides the European Conference on African Studies, by far its major ac- tivity, AEGIS promotes various activities to sup- port African Studies, such as specific training events, summer schools, and thematic conferen- ces. Another initiative, the Collaborative Research Groups (CRGs) is creating links between scholars from AEGIS and non-AEGIS centres that engage in collaborative research in new fields. AEGIS also supports the European Librarians in African Stud- ies (ELIAS). A new initiative, relating scholars in Af- rican Studies with social and economic entrepre- neurship is expressed in initiatives such as Africa Works! (African Studies Centre, Leiden) or the I have the great pleasure of welcoming to the 7th Business and Development Forum held just be- European Conference on African Studies ECAS fore ECAS. Finally, let me highlight the specialised 2017 on behalf of the AEGIS Board. Under the publications promoted by AEGIS, the Africa Year- theme of Urban Africa - Urban Africans: New en- book and the AEGIS Series, both published by counters of the rural and the urban, this confer- Brill. Following a policy of open access that we en- ence assembles the main research that is currently thusiastically support, Brill is going to share the being produced worldwide. No other continent is books of this last series online (after a probationary growing as fast as Africa: in 2100, the continent is period), allowing a broader sharing of ongoing re- expected to have as many inhabitants as Asia, due search. to its high fertility rate and young population. To- day, 60 percent of the population of the African In a period of political uncertainty and social insta- continent is under 25 years old. Most of these bility, a strong commitment of institutions and re- young people are living in or moving to towns. In a search centres to the principles of academic free- generation’s time, we will witness the radical trans- dom and continuous support of a community of formation of a continent where the majority of the knowledge is needed more than ever. I am happy population used to reside in the countryside, to to thank my colleagues on the AEGIS and Adviso- one where cities are growing fast, transforming the ry Board for their efforts in defending and promot- way of life of billions of people. Cities are a major ing African Studies. I would like to commend the stage for new opportunities in education, employ- Centre for African Studies at the University of Ba- ment, entrepreneurship, and services. While cities sel and the Swiss Society for African Studies for concentrate poverty, they also represent the best their extraordinary organisation of this seventh way to escape it. Cities are in a better position to ECAS, and to thank in particular Till Förster, Elísio provide education and health care—as well as oth- Macamo and Veit Arlt for their enthusiasm and er services and amenities—simply because of their dedication. They have organised an exciting pro- advantage of scale and proximity. Cities are also gram that will allow us to share and enjoy the cur- the locus of creativity as exemplified by the vibrant rent debates on African Studies, and to participate art scene of South Africa. Cities are the stage for in a memorable conference. political demands and new battles, as indicated by the activist movements all over the continent. Clara Carvalho These changes need to be better known, meas- President of AEGIS ured, and exposed. They are being addressed by scholars in and out of African universities and research centres. Driven by the social sciences, African studies are able to address these many fields of research of a young and vibrant continent. AEGIS, the European African Studies network, is an expanding organisation that gathers scholars around the many issues related to Africa. As a group, it has been expanding its borders outside the limits indicated in its name (Europe and Africa) to include African Studies associations and cen- tres from other parts of the world, such as Austral- ___ECAS7_CofrenceBook_.indb 4 12.06.17 17:22 ECAS7 Word from the organisers 5 Hosting Africa and ricans: New encounters of the rural and the urban speaks to these concerns. Urban Africa has been a ourselves in Basel key issue in the work of the Centre for African Studies in Basel and was the topic of an AEGIS thematic conference organized by the Centre in 2010. Our interest has been shaped by the fasci- The Centre for African Studies Basel and the Swiss nating manner in which research on the urban in Society for African Studies are proud to host the 7th Africa turns every researcher into an eyewitness to European Conference on African Studies ECAS the ability of human beings to go about their lives 2017 on behalf of the AEGIS Board. We thank the at the intersection of change and permanence latter for trusting us with the organisation of such while playing cat and mouse with theoretical an important and exciting event. We warmly wel- frameworks and conceptual categories. The urban come all participants to the tri-border region of Ba- reaffirms Africa as a vibrant continent persistently sel. The city and region are representative of Africa re-inventing itself against the background of fac- in Switzerland. Through links established by mis- tors which often lie beyond the control of its peo- sionary work, trade exchanges and political entan- ples, the taming of which yields scripts which Afri- glements of one sort or another, Basel has asserted cans deploy to make sense of their lives. itself as an important host to the African continent. The history linking Basel to Africa is a vibrant one, As scholars we share with Africa, as indeed with with both positive and negative elements. It is a his- any object of study, the paradoxical experience of tory built on a critical awareness of the limits of owing our identity to a conceptual apparatus that claims to universalism and the contribution which makes it possible for us to talk intelligibly about local experience can make towards a better under- who we are and what we do. We share with the standing of the human condition. continent the privilege of negotiating the terms of this intelligibility in constant, and often acrimoni- Institutions such as Mission 21, the Basler Afrika ous, conversation. Just like Africa, we scholars are Bibliographien and the Swiss Tropical and Public who we are because there is a language out there Health Institute have been instrumental in adding challenging us to engage critically with it and per- an academic and intellectual dimension to Basel’s haps even subvert the meanings carried by its vo- Africa connection. Over the past decade and a cabulary. We at the Centre for African Studies Ba- half, this dimension has found a home at the Cen- sel are delighted to host an important highlight of tre for African Studies Basel. Through its support this conversation in the ongoing interaction be- for the Centre for African Studies, the University of tween scholars and Africa. We are proud to do so Basel (Switzerland’s oldest university) shows not as part of a University, a city and a region, which are only its commitment to the continent, but also its aware of how much Africa has become part of their peoples. This support also documents just how identity and of the way they are perceived in the much importance the University of Basel attaches world. We are humbled by the realisation that to knowledge about and from Africa, especially to there is an Africa in every manifestation of the the extent that it contributes to the intellectual world because what Africa is, will be, or could have development of young people. As of recently, been is always an emphatic statement about the Africa has been part of a broader intellectual world we inhabit. In this sense, therefore, we are agenda of the University of Basel officially known not only hosting Africa in Basel. We are hosting as “European and Global Studies”. ourselves. The Centre for African Studies contributes to this We trust that this conference will meet all your ex- intellectual agenda in two ways. Firstly, it seeks to pectations. We thank all individuals and institu- promote an understanding of scholarship that ac- tions, especially the University of Basel, for the knowledges just how much “Europe” and the support given to us. We thank the members of the “Global” are historically contingent and, for this Scientific Committee and the Programme Com- reason, always imply other possible worlds. Sec- mittee, members of staff and all student assistants ondly, it tasks scholarship with the responsibility of for their invaluable contribution. On behalf of the charting new theoretical and conceptual territory whole ECAS 2017 team and the Swiss Society for in a reflexive enterprise that connects knowledge African Studies, we wish every participant produc- production with the improvement of our ways of tive encounters, fruitful exchanges and exciting seeing, describing and rendering intelligible the new insights into this most privileged of all win- world.

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