MIASA ANNUAL REPORT 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 Imprint MIASA Annual Report 2021 Edited by the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) University of Ghana P.O. Box LG 1075 Legon, Accra Phone: +233 (0) 30-290-7319 Email: miasa@ug.edu.gh Office Address: 26 Legon Hill, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana Webpage: https://www.ug.edu.gh/mias-africa/ Twitter: @MIASA_UG Editor: Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA Director ‘Germany’) Coordination: Dr. Agnes Schneider-Musah (MIASA academic coordinator) Credits: all images © MIASA All MIASA fellowships, academic events and other activities mentioned in this report were sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany under the grant n° [01UK2024A-D], and co-funded by the University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Ghana. MIASA Annual Report 2021 MERIAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES IN AFRICA (MIASA) University of Ghana – University of Freiburg – Goethe University Frankfurt – German Institute for Global and Area Studies – German Historical Institute Paris ANNUAL REPORT 2021 1 JANUARY – 31 DECEMBER 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 Content Welcome note by the MIASA Directors ....................................................................................................................... 7 The Institute: governance and institutional development .................................................................................. 9 Academic events, networks and visibility ............................................................................................................... 11 Fellow selection and experiences .............................................................................................................................. 13 Thematic fields and research findings ...................................................................................................................... 17 African knowledge production .............................................................................................................................. 17 Restitution, colonial past and memory ............................................................................................................... 19 Migration ........................................................................................................................................................................ 22 Land governance ......................................................................................................................................................... 23 African cities .................................................................................................................................................................. 24 Conflict and peace ...................................................................................................................................................... 24 Governance and democracy ................................................................................................................................... 25 Sustainability transformation ................................................................................................................................. 27 Early career development ............................................................................................................................................. 27 Events: overview ............................................................................................................................................................... 30 Public lecture series .................................................................................................................................................... 35 Reading groups ............................................................................................................................................................ 37 Fellows and guests: overview ...................................................................................................................................... 37 Individual fellows ........................................................................................................................................................ 37 Tandem fellows ............................................................................................................................................................ 39 Interdisciplinary fellow group (IFG) ...................................................................................................................... 40 Fellow statistics ............................................................................................................................................................ 40 Visiting researchers ..................................................................................................................................................... 42 Mentor ............................................................................................................................................................................. 42 Team and governance bodies ..................................................................................................................................... 43 Academic Advisory Board (AAB) ............................................................................................................................ 43 Executive Council (EC) ............................................................................................................................................... 43 Directors ......................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Team ................................................................................................................................................................................ 44 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................................................... 45 MIASA Annual Report 2021 Figure 1: MIASA Directors Dr. Susann Baller, Prof. Charlotte Wrigley- Asante and Prof. Abena Oduro (from left to right) MIASA Annual Report 2021 7 Welcome note by the MIASA Directors We both became MIASA Directors in 2021 and were excited to join a dynamic Ghanaian- German team. MIASA is a thriving place of international and interdisciplinary encounter and academic exchange. In 2021, we welcomed twenty fellows from around twelve different disciplines and nine countries. While the first two years of MIASA fellowships (2019-2020) had been structured only around Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups (IFGs) which each ad- dressed one topic, MIASA started to also host individual and tandem fellows in 2021, which increased the diversity of topics addressed within each fellow cohort at the same time. The beginning of the year was still overshadowed by the covid-19 pandemic. The Ghanaian borders had been closed until October 2020, and the University of Ghana opened only gradually in 2021. While most fellows opted for an onsite fellowship in Accra, many of the MIASA events, especially during the first half of 2021, were held online. A few events had to be postponed. Nevertheless, we were able to continue our MIASA Public Lecture series as well as our internal research seminar. In addition, we organised our first Writing and Pub- lishing workshops online as well as our fourth Female Academic Careers in Africa workshop in a hybrid format. During the second half of 2021, we held most of our events, including some of our major thematic conferences, onsite, but provided online access for all of them. Our offices at the MIASA bungalow on Legon campus were fully occupied. Moreover, we increased the visibili- ty and further developed the networks of MIASA on campus and beyond. We not only esta- blished contacts with new partners at the University of Ghana, such as the Department of Philosophy and Classics, but were also able to strengthen MIASA’s links with other Institutes of Advanced Studies in the world, such as the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) and other Merian centres, as well as with German organisations based in Accra. As MIASA Directors, we would like to thank the University of Ghana as well as the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for their support and sponsorship. Moreover, we appreciate the intellectually productive exchange with our partners on Legon campus and in Germany, in particular, the members of our Executive Council delegated by the University of Ghana, the University of Freiburg, the Goethe University Frankfurt, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies and the German Historical Institute Paris. We are very thankful for the very efficient support of our coordination and administrative team. And we wish to express our gratitude to both previous MIASA Directors, Prof. Abena Oduro and Prof. Gordon Crawford, who had built up MIASA from its implementation in 2018. Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante, MIASA Director ‘Ghana’ Dr. Susann Baller, MIASA Director ‘Germany’ MIASA Annual Report 2021 8 Figure 2: MIASA bungalow on Legon campus, University of Ghana MIASA Annual Report 2021 9 The Institute: governance and institutional development The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) was created in 2018 under the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana (UG). The institute is based on a collabo- ration of UG with a consortium of four German partners, the University of Freiburg (leading partner), Goethe University Frankfurt, the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP). MIASA is sponsored as part of the Maria Sibylla Merian programme by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), which promotes long-term cooperation in the humanities and social sciences with the respective partner regions in the Global South. After a positive international evaluation in December 2019, the six-year main phase of the BMBF-funding started in September 2020 and will last until August 2026. MIASA is co-funded by the University of Ghana. The University of Ghana and its German partners are represented in MIASA’s Executive Council (EC), which has seven members (two from each UG and the University of Freiburg and one from each of the other German partners). The EC held its annual meeting (online) in December 2021, but its members met regularly once a month at a “jour fixe” together with MIASA’s directors and the coordination team via zoom. The EC is led by two chairs, alternating annually as spokespersons: one from the University of Freiburg (Prof. Andreas Mehler, also speaker for the German consortium) and one from the University of Ghana. In January 2021, Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata (UG) became the EC’s spokesperson. In September 2021, Prof. Abena Oduro, former MIASA Director ‘Ghana’, replaced Prof. Francis Doodoo as the second UG representative at the EC. The EC and the entire MIASA team are grateful to Prof. Francis Doodoo’s important contribution to the successful implementation of MIASA at the University of Ghana and his key role in MIASA’s initial application for the BMBF-funding. In 2021, MIASA also welcomed two new directors. The historian Dr. Susann Baller, who is affiliated with the GHIP and specia- lised in West African history, started her three-year term in January as MIASA direc- tor ‘Germany’. Being permanently based in Accra throughout her three-year term, she brought in her experience as the former di- rector of the GHIP’s Transnational research group in Dakar. In September 2021, the University of Ghana appointed Prof. Char- lotte Wrigley-Asante as the new director ‘Ghana’. She is associate professor at the Department of Geography and Resource Development. MIASA benefits from her networks and skills, including her expe- Figure 3: Farewell ceremony for MIASA director 'Ghana', Prof. Abena Oduro MIASA Annual Report 2021 10 rience as the former director of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA). MIASA is grateful to both former MIASA directors, Prof. Abena Oduro and Prof. Gordon Crawford, who played a critical role in building up and shaping MIASA’s preliminary as well as the beginning of its main phase. MIASA has an administrative team at the University of Ghana and an academic coordinator, Dr. Agnes Schneider-Musah, who is affiliated with the University of Freiburg, but has been on post in Accra since January 2019. In Germany, MIASA is supported by a small administra- tive team at the University of Freiburg, which was led by Lisa Herbst until February 2021 and then substituted by Johanna Bichlmaier, and Dr. Marko Scholze, who is based at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Figure 4: MIASA team at the MIASA bungalow with the Provost of the College of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori At the University of Ghana, several changes within senior management occurred during the second half of 2021, including the appointment of Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo, the appointment of the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Gordon Akanzuwine Awandare, and the appointment of the Provost of the College of Humanities, Prof. Daniel Frimpong Ofori. They all expressed their interest in MIASA and assured their continuous support. The UG authorities underlined the role of MIASA in further internationalising the University of Ghana, its relevance in facilitating academic networks and MIASA’s interest for early career scholars. Moreover, they stressed the importance of creating opportunities for UG faculty to enhance collaborative research, academic dialogue and partnership – three goals that are also formulated in the Merian programme by the German funders. MIASA Annual Report 2021 11 MIASA and its German partners reciprocally benefitted from their cooperation and institu- tional networks. Already in 2020, the Goethe University Frankfurt founded the Pilot African Postgraduate Academy (PAPA) jointly with Point Sud. Funded by the Gerda Henkel founda- tion, it also collaborates with MIASA. In June 2021, the Goethe University Frankfurt organised the German African Studies (VAD) conference in a virtual format with an important presence of MIASA fellows and principal investigators. The GHIP successfully conducted the final year of its Transnational Research Group in Dakar. In October 2021, the GHIP created a new post- doctoral position in African history based in Paris for which Dr. Robert Heinze was appointed. The Arnold Bergstraesser Institute (ABI) Freiburg became part of the BMBF-funded research network “Postcolonial Hierarchies in Peace and Conflict”, with a project start in April 2022. The Africa Centre for Transregional Research (ACT) at the University of Freiburg was awarded membership of the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS), the main trans- European coordinating body for African Studies research. Academic events, networks and visibility In 2021, the MIASA team aimed at increasing the visibility of the insti- tute both on and off-campus as well as online, including through its twitter account @MIASA_UG. Within a year, the number of MIASA’s fol- lowers on twitter jumped from 125 to 500. MIASA’s academic event programme contributed largely in making the institute better known in Germany, Ghana and beyond, and in particular, across the African conti- nent. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, all events during the first five months in 2021 were organised virtually. During the second half of the year – except for two strictly virtual events – all events were conducted in a hybrid format. MIASA’s events aim at: (i) Promoting the research of MIASA’s fellows and creating a platform for discussion between them and broader academic audiences; (ii) Exploring MIASA’s main thematic corridors and intersectional topics; (iii) Supporting early career development of Africa-based scholars in the social sciences and humanities. They are conceptualized and organized in line with the institute’s overarching objectives, which include the reduction of asymmetries in global knowledge production, the strengthening of female scholarship and the bridging of cultural academic divides between disciplines and linguistic backgrounds. Figure 5: MIASA Twitter account frontpage, Dec. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 12 In 2021 MIASA organised nine major events: three thematic conferences; one IFG conference and one IFG follow-up event; three early career workshops as well as its first annual Anton Wilhelm Amo lecture. The institute also organised a programme of 17 public lectures in a hybrid format at which MIASA fellows presented their research and which each drew an audience of between 20 and 50 participants. In addition, MIASA fellows discussed their re- search at 25 internal seminar sessions. For most major events the organising team was comprised of one or more UG scholars and a German counterpart, with the support of the local coordination and administrative team. This also increased collaboration between the German partners and researchers, departments, centres and institutes at UG. Beyond its existing collaboration with scholars from different departments, centres and institutes at UG, MIASA also highlighted its existing fruitful cooperation with the Institute of African Studies (IAS) and the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) (IFG follow-up event) as well as with new partners, in particular, the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies and the Department of Philosophy. Moreover, MIASA offered an info-session on its fellowship calls in October 2021, and presented its ongoing research at the 7th Social Sciences Confe- rence of the College of Humanities in early November, which is organized annually at the University of Ghana and draws a huge number of researchers in the social sciences from mainly anglophone West African countries. MIASA likewise reinforced its contacts with German institutions in Accra. As part of the “German Week”, which was launched by the German Embassy in October 2021, MIASA orga- nized a round table on opportunities for postdoctoral research funding in collaboration with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Humboldt Foundation. The same month, the German Embassy invited MIASA fellows, alumni and principal investigators to a reception. MIASA’s first Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture in December 2021 was followed by gave rise to a cooperation with the Goethe Institute Ghana, which sponsored a German- Ghanaian produced theatre performance on Amo at the UG Department of Performing Studies, which was sponsored by the Goethe Institute. MIASA participated in the unveiling of a memorial plaque for Anton Wilhelm Amo at the Department of Philosophy and Classics at UG, which had been originally donated by the University of Halle in the 1970s and which was refurbished in 2021 with the sponsorship of the German Embassy. Furthermore, MIASA was keen to create connections with other Institutes of Advanced Studies and Merian centres. One of MIASA’s major thematic conferences was organised at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) in South Africa. As a member of the UBIAS network (University-based Institutes for Advanced Studies), MIASA was selected into its steering committee in May 2021. MIASA contributed to a virtual round table organised at the Science Festival Globe 21 in July 2021 in Leipzig on the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on research and research collaboration in the partner regions of the Merian centres. The MIASA directors also participated at the BMBF sponsored virtual network meeting organized by the Centre for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) on “At the Cutting Edges of Knowledge Production: Borders and Black Holes in Academic Dialogue” in October 2021. MIASA Annual Report 2021 13 Fellow selection and experiences MIASA fellows are selected by MIASA’s distinguished Academic Advisory Board (AAB), which has twelve members, all renowned scholars from different countries and disciplines in the social sciences and humanities. The AAB is chaired by Prof. Andreas Eckert (Humboldt- University Berlin) and Prof. Zenebework Tadesse (first executive director of the Association of African Women for Research and Development) as deputy lead. For the fellow selection the AAB considers the excellency of each application and the thematic connection to MIASA’s research fields, at the same time they ensure the creation of a balanced mix of senior/ early career and male/ female scholars, who come from different disciplines and who are affiliated at universities and research institutions in different places in the world (Africa- based, including Ghana, Germany-based, and other countries/continents). For the selection of IFGs, the MIASA team introduced a two-phase procedure with a first round as a “compete- tion of ideas”, followed by a full application which indicates all group members (MIASA offers guidelines and recommendations on the group composition). When the AAB virtually met in June 2021, it selected fellows for the first half of 2022 and IFG pre-proposals. Figure 6: Five individual fellows and MIASA Directors during a city-tour, March 2021 Researchers who took up their fellowships in 2021 had applied to the calls in September 2019 and February 2020 and had been selected in January 2020 and May 2020. MIASA hosted a total of twenty fellows in 2021. The total amount of 84,5 fellow months, which was lower than previously anticipated, was due to the uncertainties created by the covid-19 pandemic as well as to the fact that MIASA did not host any Interdisciplinary Fellow Group (IFG) in the first half of 2021. From September to December 2021 MIASA’s fifth IFG, which was comprised of five fellows, conducted collaborative research on the institute’s inter- sectionnal topic of restitution. For the first time, MIASA welcomed individual fellows (a total MIASA Annual Report 2021 14 of thirteen) as well as a tandem team (two researchers working together on one theme). Even though the pandemic was still very present and hit Ghana in three waves in 2021, the vast majority of 2021 fellows accepted an onsite-fellowship, whereas only one fellow opted for a virtual fellowship, while one other started her fellowship virtually and joined Accra after two months. Figure 7: IFG 5 members, Sept. 2021 Eight of the fellows were affiliated with German institutions at the moment of application, three were from Ghana, five from other Africa countries (Burkina Faso, South Africa and Togo), and four from other parts of the world (Canada, Finland, UK and USA). This distribution certainly does not reflect the transnational character of many MIASA fellows. While ten fellows – with the exception of short-term international research stays – have spent most of their lives and careers in one country (South Africa: 1, Ghana: 3, Germany: 6), the other ten fellows have lived and worked in different countries throughout their careers. Furthermore, twelve out of twenty fellows already had strong connections with Germany before having started their MIASA fellowships. Others showed interest in applying for Germany-based fellowships, programs or research positions in the future. The fellow cohort of 2021 was comprised of nine junior and eleven senior fellows. The interdisciplinary character of MIASA fellows included twelve different disciplines, i.e. anthropology (4), history (3), political science, sociology, economics (each 2), archaeology, environmental humanities, literature, philosophy, psychology, German Studies and Media Studies (each 1). MIASA Annual Report 2021 15 Fellows appreciated the serene environment at the University of Ghana’s campus as well as the intellectual and interdisciplinary exchange between fellows, including during social events (joint lunch breaks, hiking tour, exploring Accra’s bars et al.). Fellows also met at the MIASA bungalow, where all fellows were offered an office desk. Along with the informal opportunities of encounter, one of the main sites for academic discussion and debate at MIASA has been the weekly internal seminar (“jour fixe”) since its implementation in 2019, during which all fellows present their ongoing research. In the first half of 2021, this seminar was based on short presentations, but also included two broader discussions about the issue of “sustainable governance”, of which one was based on a reading of Felwine Sarr’s Afrotopia. During the second term, fellows pre-circulated a 1500-words written piece on their research, which was then discussed together for about an hour. Figure 8: Five individual fellows and members of the MIASA team, Sept. 2021 Fellows were very actively involved in MIASA and University of Ghana (UG) events. All fellows presented their research at MIASA’s public lecture series. IFG fellows organized a final confe- rence in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies. Three individual fellows (Dr. Emily McGiffin, Dr. S. N. Nyeck, Dr. Aidas Sanogo) contributed to MIASA-run reading groups with UG (post-)graduate students, which were facilitated each by a UG faculty member. Several fellows (such as Dr. Andrea Cassatella, Dr. Lamine Doumbia, Prof. Vivian Dzokoto) offered guest lectures and seminars at other institutes and depart- ments at UG (Institute of African Studies, Department of Psychology). Past, current and future fellows played an active role in different MIASA events, including two of the thematic conferences and the early career workshops. Some fellows were invited to events organized by MIASA’s German partners (such as Dr. Stefanie Michels, IFG 5, who participated in a round table at the German Historical Institute Paris immediately after her fellowship). MIASA Annual Report 2021 16 Figure 9: MIASA Internal Seminar, Nov. 2021 All fellows reported on the advantage of a residential fellowship at an IAS in West Africa, which – among other things – enabled them to get to know the University of Ghana as well as the city of Accra and the country. Those whose research focused on Ghana benefitted from the opportunity to collect data while being at MIASA (such as Dr. Aidas Sanogo, Dr. Louis Boakye-Yiadom, Dr. Christal Spel, Prof. Vivian Dzokoto, Dr. John Nott, Dr. Michael Stasik, IFG 5 members, Dr. Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari and Dr. Anja Osei). Others underlined that it was very insightful to compare the geographical region of their research with the Ghanaian context (such as Dr. Emily McGiffin, Dr. Andrea Cassatella, Dr. Lamine Doumbia, Dr. Nontsasa Nako). All fellows mentioned that the time they spent at MIASA was extremely valuable for them, mostly because they were able to focus on research and writing, but also because being at MIASA allowed them to (re)think their research topics, approaches and concepts and to interact with other fellows as well as with University of Ghana faculty members. For some, the fellowship had an immediate positive impact on their career. After the fellowship, several fellows continued attending MIASA events and thus demonstrated their interest in being part of the MIASA community, while some fellows considered reapplying for an individual or tandem fellowship or an IFG. MIASA Annual Report 2021 17 Thematic fields and research findings MIASA fellowships and events are all dedicated to the institute’s main thematic corridors (conflict and peace; democracy; sustainability transformation) and intersectional topics (landownership; migration; restitution; African cites; human rights). They also contribute to a deeper understanding of MIASA’s overarching topic, sustainable governance. Moreover, they are committed to MIASA’s cross-cutting issues, knowledge production, female scholar- ship and bridging cultural divides. The research of MIASA’s Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups (IFGs) is key for structuring the institute’s research focus over time. Each IFG covers one of MIASA’s thematic corridors and/ or intersectional topics. Because of the uncertainty of how the covid-19 pandemic would develop in Ghana and the world, MIASA had only one IFG in 2021 (IFG 5), which focused on the topic of restitution of colonially acquired cultural objects. Some individual research projects were thematically connected with the research of IFG 5. However, most individual and tandem fellows as well as the majority of the events contributed to different aspects of MIASA’s research fields. The experience in 2021 showed that the academic exchange at MIASA benefitted from this diversity. First, individual and tandem fellows allowed for carrying forward debates which had been introduced to MIASA at an earlier point, such as the topics of migration and democracy, which had been already addressed by IFG 1 and IFG 2 (2019), respectively, and which were further explored in 2021. Second, individual fellows added new perspectives on MIASA’s research themes. While IFG 3 (2020), for instance, had focused on rural landownership, two individual fellows in 2021 did research on the same thematic field in urban contexts. Third, individual and tandem fellowships as well as MIASA events allowed for creating new connections between the institute’s main thematic corridors, its intersectional topics and its cross-cutting issues. Moreover, some former IFG fellows came back (such as the tandem fellows Dr. Anja Osei and Dr. Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari), and some individual fellows became future candidates for IFGs (successful application of Dr. Lamine Doumbia for IFG 6). In this way a MIASA research community can be built up over the years, even in a context where fellows come from different institutions and countries and spend only limited time periods at MIASA. African knowledge production MIASA’s overarching cross-cutting issue draws the attention to African knowledge pro- duction. This implies issues of how research collaboration is shaped, of who is setting the agenda and who is defining the research regulations. Having fellows from different discipli- nary and geographical backgrounds together at MIASA and organising all events jointly can contribute to more equal collaboration. The MIASA programme also covers two conferences on knowledge production together with the Point Sud-based Pilot African Postgraduate Academy (PAPA), in order to question all too common concepts, which are not informed by African knowledge and which often end up as “black boxes”. One of these conferences was MIASA Annual Report 2021 18 organized in 2021 (see thematic section of conflict and peace). Moreover, African knowledge production has practical implications, such as expressed in MIASA’s writing and publishing workshops as well as in MIASA’s female academic careers in Africa workshop series (see section on career development). Figure 10: Unveiling of the refurbished Anton Wilhelm Amo Plaque at the Department of Philosohphy and Classics, UG, Dec. 2021 Figure 11: H.E. Ambassador of Germany to Ghana, UG Vice-Chancellor, Provost of the College of Humanities, MIASA EC members and directors and Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture speaker in front of the Great Hall, UG, Dec. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 19 MIASA’s major public event in African knowledge production is, however, its annual Anton Wilhelm Amo lecture, which was held for the first time in early December 2021. For this purpose, MIASA collaborated with the Department of Philosophy and Classics as well as the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana (namely with Dr. Richmond Kwesi and Dr. Chika Mba). The lecture focused on the life and personality of Anton Wilhelm Amo and his legacy for African philosophy. The invited guest speaker was Prof. J. Obi Oguejifor (Nnamdi Azikwe University), a Nigerian philosopher and alumnus of the Alexander von Humboldt and the Volkswagen Foundation. The lecture was held at the Great Hall (UG). It was opened with a ceremonial programme and attended by an audience of close to one hundred people onsite plus around another seventy online (in addition to those who followed the live streaming via youtube, facebook or twitter). The lecture was accompanied by a one-day international symposium, which further explored questions on the history of European-African relations, mobility, racism and the politics of knowledge production. The lecture and workshop showed how crucial it is to consider the past links between what are today Germany and Ghana for better understanding how to build sustainable relations in the present. The two events also offered ample interconnections with one of MIASA’s main research themes in 2021, restitution. Restitution, colonial past and memory The restitution of colonially acquired cultural objects is one of MIASA’s intersectional topics. IFG 5 addressed the theme of “The 4Rs in Africa: Reality or Transcultural Aphasia?”. The “4Rs” stand for “restitution, return, repatriation, reparation”. IFG 5 had two co-conveners, Dr. Gertrude Aba Mensah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo and Dr. Stefanie Michels, as well as three additional members, Dr. Kokou Azamede, Dr. Jakob Zollmann, Prof. Martin Doll. Their research focused on an ongoing restitution claim submitted by the elders of Kpando in the Volta Region of Ghana to German authorities. During their fellowship, the IFG 5 members conducted a field-trip to Kpando. In addition, they travelled to Winneba, where they visited the site of the planned Pan-African Museum and the Osimpim Heritage Centre. Indi- vidual members conducted re- search trips to Kumasi and the Volta region. Research outcomes were discussed at three indivi- dual lectures, a round table and a final conference. The IFG 5 mem- bers also drafted a joint working Figure 12: IFG 5 co-convener Dr. Stefanie Michels and PI Prof. Wazi Apoh at the IFG 5 final conference, December 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 20 paper during their stay. IFG 5 fellow Prof. Martin Doll, an expert in media studies, produced a documentary film project on restitution debates (http://thinking-about-restitution.info/). IFG 5 was accompanied by two principal investigators, Prof. Wazi Apoh (UG), who served as a mentor of the group, and Dr. Mirjam Brusius (German Historical Institute London), who spent two weeks as a visiting researcher at MIASA, during which she conducted a one-week study trip to Ghana’s Western Region and Kumasi. Both principal investigators participated in the IFG 5 conference, where Prof. Wazi Apoh gave the keynote address. Furthermore, the MIASA directors invited four additional visiting researchers in 2021, who contributed to both the research of IFG 5 and their conference; the art historian Dr. Sarah Czirr (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf), Prof. David Simo (University of Yaoundé I), scholar in literature and German Studies, the philosopher Prof. Babacar Mbaye Diop (Cheikh Anta Diop University Dakar) and the anthropologist Prof. Hans Peter Hahn (Goethe University Frankfort). In October 2021, the IFG 5 co-conveners organised a roundtable as part of the MIASA lecture series on the issue of cultural materials from Ghana in Western museums. At the beginning, the short-film “You Hide Me” (1970) by Nii Kwate Owoo on the colonization of African Art in the British museum was screened in the presence of the filmmaker. Nii Kwate Owoo then took part in a discussion with Prof. Kodzo Gavua (UG) and Isah Ishaq Ishaq (Ahmadou Bello University and UG). In December 2021, IFG 5 organized a conference. During the conference, the group members discussed their research findings with experts in the field, who brought in different perspectives from Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya and Senegal. The conference was attended by a delegation of elders from Kpando, which allowed for an ample exchange not only among academics, but also with key stake-holders from the civil society. Figure 13: IFG 5 conference guests with Kpando elders in the front row, Dec. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 21 Considering the Kpando-case as well as the #BringBackNgonnso campaign from Cameroon, the conference highlighted the experience of loss with hundred-thousands of cultural objects from Africa being displayed and stored in European museums and depots. More- over, it showed how complex configurations of actors are often framed in binary terms in the field of restitution (Africa vs. Europe, us vs. them), and how restitution needs institutions and governance for channelling what Prof. George Abungu called the “restitution tsunami”. Figure 14: MIASA IFG 5 conference with Sylvie Njobati, initiator of #BringBackNgonnso campaign, Dec. 2021 Overall, IFG 5 observed that acknowledging the necessary return of colonially acquired cultural objects by the “global North” doesn’t solve all the questions on the ground. During their four months stay, the group members demonstrated how the specific case of Kpando raises much broader issues of restitution. Three aspects became particularly evident as a result of their collaborative research and the conference: 1. Governance is crucial for making “restitution” more sustainable on the long run. Yet, it goes beyond bilateral relations between institutions. Different actors and stake- holders are involved; chiefs, museums, researchers, advisors, regional and national governments. At times, some act as gate-keepers, others as intermediaries. The role of local communities is central, but they are themselves not homogenous and come with their own internal power dynamics. 2. Legal issues are involved in the process of restitution. However, they imply the question of who sets the norms and who benefits from them when, where and how. Provenience research means more than asking if objects in the past were “looted”, “bought” or “offered” as diplomatic “presents”. It also considers the long history of claims to return objects (at times since shortly after they had been taken), the MIASA Annual Report 2021 22 symbolic, cultural, social and political meaning and context of objects in the past and in the present as well as a history of power relations, inequality and the experience of loss. 3. IFG 5 started with doing research on the “4Rs” (restitution, return, repatriation, reparation). Soon, the IFG fellows, however, noticed that different actors or groups rely on one “R” more than on others. In addition, the final conference demonstrated well that there are more than 4Rs: remembering, revealing, representing, relating, reconciling, rebuilding, reframing, rewriting, refusing… It was made clear that restitution always needs remembering and relation. The research of IFG 5 also showed that this is only possible with yet another “R”, recognition. The research of some individual fellows contributed to the broader questions of IFG 5, i.e. considering the (colonial) past and understanding “sustainable governance” through the prism of inequality, violence, trauma and memory. Dr. Nontsasa Nako’s research (based on the example of the traces and echoes of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commis- sion) demonstrated that dealing with a traumatic past is a long-term process which does not end with the work of one commission, a lesson also to be considered for the restitution process. Dr. Andrea Cassatella underlined the importance of the psychic dimension of African social realities in colonial and postcolonial conditions when addressing the question of political sustainability, an issue closely connected to the experience of trauma and its repercussions. Dr. Emily McGiffin’s research focused, too, on trauma, in this case in the context of experiencing the extreme environmental degradation due to extractive industries in West Africa, as well as on how people deal with this in their cultural expressions. Migration Another central theme in 2021 was MIASA’s intersectional topic of migration. Already in 2019, MIASA’s IFG 1 had explored this field. In 2021, three individual fellows contributed directly to it. Dr. Louis Boakye-Yiadom addressed the issue of internal migration within Ghana, showing that the experience of being a “migrant” is not necessarily related to the fact of coming from abroad. While research on migration has often asked how migrants organize themselves along ethnic or national lines of their “origins” or “home-countries”, Dr. Michael Stasik considered the individual and his/her loneliness as a central experience of migration based on ethnographic research, which he had conducted in Accra already between 2011 and 2019. The migrants described by Dr. Stasik are persons with almost no rights. This became even more evident in his follow-up field research on experiences of migrants with the pandemic and the official lockdown imposed for several months in Ghana. In her research Dr. Christal Spel asked how social and economic rights of vulnerable migrants are governed, rights which are often very limited in a context of scarce resources and which do not match the official ambitions for regional integration. MIASA Annual Report 2021 23 From September to November 2021, IFG 1 (“Migration, Mobility and Forced Displacement”) organized an IFG follow-up event in collaboration with the Centre for Migration Studies (UG), the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute Freiburg (ABI), the Centre for Global Migration Studies (University of Göttingen), and the Nordic Africa Institute. This strictly virtual lecture and seminar series on “Critical reflections on Afro-European Relations in Migration Gover- nance” worked with French-English simultaneous translation and was very well attended. Several MIASA alumni and principal investigators presented papers. The series was comprised of three parts of three meetings each on securitization (including border control policies), perceptions on migration (in political discourses and media) and “flipping the script” by looking beyond South-North migration also to South-South and North-South migrant trajectories. Presenters were invited from different African countries and Europe, both scholars, but also activists. Figure 15: IFG 1 follow-up event: lecture series “Critical reflections on Afro- European Relations in Migration Governance”, Sept.-Nov. 2021 Land governance MIASA’s third intersectional topic is landownership and acquisition, which first had been addressed by IFG 3 on “Sustainable rural transformation” in 2020. In 2021, MIASA welcomed two fellows who are experts in the issue of urban landownership. Dr. Aidas Sanogo worked on her comparative project on land rights and conflicts in three secondary West African cities. For her, governance has to be analysed by starting from the agency of actors on the ground and their relations among each other. Dr. Sanogo showed that along with various regulations at the institutional level, research on governance has to consider how practical norms of different social actors become directly or indirectly involved in the governing MIASA Annual Report 2021 24 process over time. During her stay she conducted additional research in Kumasi, aiming to understand the similarities and differences between landownership in Bouake (Côte d’Ivoire), Kumasi (Ghana) and Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). Dr. Lamine Doumbia’s approach to land tenure in West African cities is quite close to the one of Dr. Sanogo. Dr. Doumbia, however, rather focused on grassroots organizations and activist associations which fight for their land rights in a context of legal pluralism in Dakar (Senegal), Bamako (Mali) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). African cities For the main phase, the MIASA team set “African cities” as an additional intersectional topic on its agenda. The research by fellows in 2021 has already shown how fruitful this topic is for exploring MIASA’s key themes in an interdisciplinary perspective. Dr. Aidas Sanogo and Dr. Lamine Doumbia analysed African cities through the lens of urban landownership and conflicts on land tenure. Dr. Louis Boakye-Yiadom and Dr. Miachael Stasik examined the topic of migration in an urban context. In particular, Dr. Stasik’s research can be also framed as a study on urban livelihoods, including his detailed insights into migrant’s homes and their neighbourhoods. Dr. Florian Stoll focused in his research on new middle-classes in urban Kenya. Dr. Stoll observed that rapid urbanization also has changed the political landscape (both for those in power and those who contest them). While political parties in Kenya were mainly rural-based in the past, cities have become main sites for new political processes and configurations. At the end of his fellowship Dr. Andrea Cassatella considered to think further about the use of critical urbanism for his research, both on a theoretical level, but also in his interaction with activist and theatre groups in Accra, Jamestown, and their work on urban trauma. Conflict and peace The issue of conflict management and sustainable peace is one of MIASA’s three main thematic corridors. This issue was prominently addressed by MIASA’s first Knowledge Production conference, organized by the Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with the Institute of African Studies (UG) and the Point Sud-based Pilot African Postgraduate Academy (PAPA) in December 2021. This conference was convened by a team of early career PAPA fellows from Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Mali. The conference focused on “Challenging Conflict Research in Africa: Epistemological, Theoretical and Methodological Issues”. It asked how to do research on conflicts in Africa without reproducing frequent stereotypes of a conflict-driven continent, or as Prof. Elisio Macamo (University of Basel) put it in his keynote, by “avoiding analytical demons in conflict research”. The conference also raised methodological issues in doing research on conflicts (e.g. comparative approach, focusing on the singularity of conflicts, doing fieldwork in conflict contexts). MIASA Annual Report 2021 25 Figure 16: MIASA directors with EC member Prof. Mamadou Diawara and two conference conveners at the MIASA Knowledge Production conference, Dec. 2021 In 2021, also a few individual fellows addressed this topic. Dr. Rogers Orock’s project on Cameroon’s war against Boko Haram drew the attention to an “infowar” based on rumours, media and popular politics. He analysed how, in particular, French-Cameroonian relations are affected by rumours and conspiracy theories which are dispersed through different media and how this creates a political culture of suspicion. Others examined social unrest as a source of conflict (Dr. Aidas Sanogo, Dr. Lamine Doumbia, Dr. Nontsasa Nako, Dr. Florian Stoll). Dr. Sanogo focused on two cities which have continued experiencing conflict and violent outbreaks in the last two decades, Bouaké (Ivory Coast) and Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). For her, the issue of access to urban land is one of the central reasons for conflict. Governance and democracy The second main thematic corridor reflects on democracy. Several fellows examined this field. The tandem fellowship with two political scientists, Dr. Anja Osei and Dr. Gbensuglo Alidu Bukari, examined the process of how party candidates are selected. Both fellows had already been part of IFG 2 (2019) on African Parliaments (as co-convener and fellow). Focusing on the example of Ghana, they used the tandem fellowship in 2021 for inquiring on who becomes member of the Ghanaian parliament and how party delegates’ voting preferences in primary elections work. Their research topic was interlinked with Dr. Florian Stoll’s sociological study on how political parties transform under the impact of new urban middle-classes. In the context of Kenya, where political parties have been dominated for long time by politics of ethnicity, Dr. Stoll demonstrated that urban middle-classes have become a new political player. MIASA Annual Report 2021 26 Other fellows rather explored the broader context of governance, including transforming configurations of the state and public services, which affect democratic orders (Dr. S. N. Nyeck, Prof. Vivian Dzokoto). Dr. S. N. Nyeck studied the place of gender in government outsourcing in West Africa. She argued that concerns of governance, public procurement and democratic reform are closely interrelated to each other. Dr. S. N. Nyeck showed that neglecting gender equality in public procurement reforms also undermines the inclusion of women in a democratic order. Prof. Vivian Dzokoto examined during her fellowship both the circulation and processing of coins and banknotes in Ghana as well as the daily use of e- money via mobile transfer, online banking or bitcoins. Her research demonstrated that money is central in shaping relations between individual people and the state, but also that e-money creates new tensions between state control (such as via biometric data or introduction of transfer taxes) and the influence of transnational companies (via e-money providers or bitcoins). Prof. Dzokoto’s research showed how fruitful a Science and Technology Studies (STS) approach can be for studying governance. Figure 17: MIASA-STIAS conference in Stellenbosch, Sept. 2021 Moreover, MIASA’s thematic conference on “Prospects for regional Integration in Africa: A Comparative Perspective” explored the issue of governance by focusing on economic and political African regional integration. The conference was organized in September 2021 in collaboration with the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) and two conve- ners, Prof. Andreas Freytag (University of Jena and STIAS) and Prof. Abena Oduro (until August MIASA Director ‘Ghana’ and since then Executive Council member). The conference was held onsite in Stellenbosch, South Africa, with the possibility to join online. 45 scholars from twelve countries in Africa (Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia), Europe, North America and Australia either presented a paper or served as a discussant. The conference aimed at comparing different ways of regional integration, both within Africa and between intra-African cooperation and experiences of regional integration in other continents. Selected papers will be published. MIASA Annual Report 2021 27 Sustainability transformation The third thematic corridor of MIASA, sustainability transformation, can be understood in a quite large sense as a study of how the role of natural resources change over time in modes of production and consumption in Africa, “including aspects of technology, economy, institutions, behaviour, culture, ecology and belief systems” (MIASA application for the preliminary phase). This concerns transforming environments, such as depicted in the research of Dr. Emily McGiffin on bauxite mining in Guinea, which turns large areas into dusty environments, creating huge ecological challenges to the population living in these areas. As an historian, Dr. John Nott offered a long-term perspective of over hundred years on processes of sustainability transformation through by examining the history of food and health in proximate, yet entirely different environments in the North and the South of modern Ghana. Examining nutritional health and famine allowed Dr. Nott to also explore changing modes of production, political economy and new avenues (and dead ends) of economic self-determination. Early career development MIASA supports the early career development of excellent scholars in the social sciences and humanities who are based in Africa. In April 2021, the Goethe University Frankfurt organised its first MIASA Writing Workshop in an only-online format. Prof. Akosua Darkwah (Department of Sociology, UG) served as the workshop convenor. Her team was comprised of mostly Ghanaian scholars from UG (Dr. Seidu Alidu, Prof. Abdulai Abdul-Gafaru, Prof. Simon Bawakyillenuo) and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (Dr. George Meyiri Bob-Milliar) as well as one scholar from Babcock University, Nigeria (Prof. Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso). They served as mentors and editors and shared their experiences in the processes of academic writing. The workshop addressed the question of “what makes a strong paper?” with the focus on how to make an original contribution by identifying a gap in the literature and using data to support one’s argument. In addition, they offered an in- troduction into the “world of publishing”, which consisted of a session on “where to pub- lish” (local versus internatio- nal journals, rankings, impact factors) and one on the jour- nal publishing process and Figure 18: MIASA Writing Workshop, Apr. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 28 peer-reviews. Ten female and nine male early-career scholars were selected out of 321 applicants (eight from Nigeria, three from each Ghana and Cameroon, two from Zimbabwe and one from each Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya). In October 2021, the GIGA offered a strictly virtual Publi- shing workshop. It built upon a collaboration between the GIGA-based Africa Spectrum (the only interdisciplinary African Studies journal in Germany, which is also con- nected to the German African Studies Association), and the Contemporary Journal of Afri- can Studies (CJAS), which is based at the Institute of Afri- can Studies (IAS) at UG. Dr. Julia Grauvogel (GIGA) and Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo (IAS) served as conveners. During the workshop they shared their experience in submission, revision and publishing processes together with other members of the editorial board of AS and CJAS as well as board members of the African Studies Association in Africa (ASAA). The workshop mainly aimed at offering in-depth feedback on advanced research papers for facilitating their submission to a suitable journal that centres on the study of Africa. Twelve participants from ten African countries were selected. Each of them received individual feedback on their papers during the plenary sessions. In addition, the programme was comprised of four roundtables on (i) writing a strong journal article, (ii) demystifying the editorial process, (iii) imbalances in academic knowledge production, and (iv) understanding decision letters and writing responses memos. Participants appreciated, in particular, the direct input from editors and their very concrete suggestions how to frame and revise the submitted papers. The German Historical Institute Paris is responsible for organising the annual MIASA Female Academic Careers in Africa Workshop. Due to the pandemic, the workshop was organised in a hybrid format in June 2021, with one main and two secondary sites (Dakar, Bamako and Accra) as well as one only-online group. A total of 23 female early career scholars from Senegal (8), Mali (4), Ghana (4) and Kenya (1), Nigeria (2), Uganda (2), Zimbabwe (1) participated. Those in Senegal met at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which served as a co- organizer, those in Mali at the Point Sud main office in Bamako, and those in Ghana at the MIASA seminar room. The different sites were connected to each other via zoom. The workshop contained a training on how to write a successful application, one offered in English by Dr. Ruth Murambadoro (University of the Witwatersrand), one in French, run by Figure 19: MIASA Publishing Workshop, Oct. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 29 Prof. Fatou Diop Sall (University Gaston Berger, Saint Louis). In addition, Dr. Daniela Kneissl (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), Prof. Sarah Ssali (Makerere University and Social Science Research Council), Prof. Amadou Mahamane (Campus Numérique Francophone) and Noloyiso Mtembu (Iso Lomso Fellowships at STIAS) provided insights on existing research funds for African scholars. A second roundtable focused on academic career experiences of female scholars in the social sciences and humanities. It was open to the public and more than one hundred people attended online (speakers: Prof. Nadine Machikou, University of Yaoundé II, Prof. Mavis Dako-Gyeke, University of Ghana, Dr. Sadio Ba Gning, University Gaston Berger, Saint Louis, Dr. Netsanet Gebremichael Weldesenbet, Addis Ababa University, and Prof. Djeneba Traoré, West Africa Institute, Praia). Figure 20: MIASA Female Academic Careers in Africa Workshop, Dakar, June 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 30 Events: overview MIASA Public Lecture Series Date: 2 March to 25 May 2021 and 14 September to 30 November 2021; total of 17 lectures Format: lecture series fellows gather onsite Venue: 1st term: only virtual; 2nd term: MIASA seminar room and online Responsible partner institution (budget): University of Freiburg Convener: Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP) Objectives: highlights MIASA’s residential fellows, carries research of fellows and discussions among them to a broader (international) audience, one roundtable in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology (UG); detailed programme pp. 35-36 Internal Seminar (‘jour fixe’) Date: 11 February to 27 May 2021 and 23 August to 9 December 2021; total of 25 sessions Format: seminar Venue: MIASA seminar room, optional hybrid Convener: Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP), Prof. Abena Oduro (MIASA/UG), Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante (MIASA/UG) Objectives: MIASA fellows present their ongoing research; since the 2nd half of 2021 the short presentation (5-10 minutes) has been based on a short pre-circulated paper 8up to 1500 words); only with fellows; at times inviting additional guests MIASA Writing School Date: 12 to 16 April 2021 Format: workshop Venue: only virtual Responsible partner institution (budget): Goethe University Frankfurt Convener: Prof. Akosua Darkwah (UG) Objectives: accompanying and advising postdoctoral researchers and lecturers based in Africa in how to develop efficient writing strategies, strengthen writing skill, reinforce Africa-based academic networks, enhance submission success rate External event with MIASA participation: African Studies Association in Germany conference “Africa Challenges” Date: 7 to 11 June 2021 Format: only virtual Organiser: Goethe University Frankfurt in collaboration with the German African Studies Association (VAD) Objectives: MIASA participation in different panels: nine MIASA fellows or alumni; one current, one former Director ‘Germany’, three principal investigators presented papers or organised a panel MIASA Annual Report 2021 31 Female Academic Careers in Africa Workshop Date: 24 to 26 June 2021 Format: workshop Venue: hybrid with three onsite groups in Dakar (Heinrich Böll Foundation Senegal, HBS), Bamako (Point Sud) and Accra (MIASA seminar room), one only online group Responsible partner institution (budget): German Historical Institute Paris Conveners: Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP), Dr. Laure Carbonnel (GHIP/CREPOS), Dr. Selly Bâ (HBS), Dr. Fatoumata Keita (Univ. of Bamako), Dr. Haydée Bangerezako (UCAD Dakar) Collaboration with: Heinrich Böll Foundation Senegal and Point Sud Objectives: building academic networks among early career female academics based in Africa, inter-generational transmission of experiences, focus: writing a successful research proposal External event with MIASA participation: Auswirkungen der Covid-19-Pandemie auf Wissenschaft und Forschung in Partnerregionen der Merian-Zentren Date: 15 July 2021 Format: panel Venue: only online Convener: Globe21 Festival, Leipziger Wissenschaftsfestival, https://www.globe-festival.de/ Objectives: making Merian centres known, networking between Merian centres Critical reflections on Afro-European Relations in Migration Governance Date: 8 September to 17 November 2021 Format: lecture & seminar series, with simultaneous translation Venue: only online Responsible partner institution (budget): University of Freiburg Conveners: Dr. Franziska Zanker (ABI Freiburg), Dr. Jelka Günther (Georg August Univ. Göttingen), Dr. Jesper Bjarnesen (Nordic Africa Institute), Prof. Joseph Teye (UG), Dr. Mary Setrana (UG) Collaboration with: Centre for Migration Studies (UG), ABI, Centre for Global Migration Studies (Georg August Univ. Göttingen), Nordic Africa Institute Objectives: serves as a follow-up event of IFG 1 on “Migration”, strengthens the networks which were build up based on IFG 1, continues the debate around this theme, which is central for MIASA and one of the key intersectional topics Prospects for regional Integration in Africa: A Comparative Perspective Date: 13 to 15 September 2021 Format: conference Venue: Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) and online Responsible partner institution (budget): Goethe University Frankfurt MIASA Annual Report 2021 32 Conveners: Prof. Abena Oduro (UG), Prof. Andreas Freytag (Univ. of Jena) Collaboration with: STIAS and University of Jena Objectives: MIASA’s “roadshow” conferences take place at different sites in Africa by using the already established networks of Point Sud; each conference addresses key topics of MIASA; based on this conference, a book publication is planned African-German Research Cooperation and Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities: First- hand Experiences from Fellows and Alumni Date: 19 October 2021 Format: Round-table Venue: online Conveners: Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP), Felix Barnes (DAAD) Collaboration with: DAAD-Ghana Objectives: contribution to “German Week in Ghana”, initiated by the German Embassy to Ghana; presentation of DAAD, Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation and MIASA postdoctoral fellowship offers plus sharing of first-hand experiences by current and former research fellows based in West Africa External event with MIASA participation: At the Cutting Edges of Knowledge Production: Borders and Black Holes in Academic Dialogue Date: 18 October, 2 and 8 November 2021 Format: conference Venue: online Convener: Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS) Objectives: network meeting, MIASA participation in one panel on “The Challenge of the Anthropocene: Dialogue with the Non-Human World” Info Session: Merian Institute of Advanced Studies in Africa at the University of Ghana Date: 20 October 2021 Format: Presentation and Q&A Venue: online Convener: Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante (MIASA/UG) and Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP) Objectives: Spreading the word at UG of MIASA’s academic program and fellowships Publishing Workshop Date: 21 to 22 October 2021 Format: workshop Venue: only online Responsible partner institution (budget): GIGA Conveners: Dr. Julia Grauvogel (GIGA), Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo (UG), Dr. Edwina Ashie-Nikoi (UG) MIASA Annual Report 2021 33 Collaboration with: Africa Spectrum, Contemporary Journal of African Studies (CJAS) and African Studies Association in Africa (ASAA) Objectives: early-career scholars based in Africa; selected participants submit a draft paper, which is discussed during the workshop with the purpose of getting it published; accompanying round tables on publishing processes and quality criteria External event with MIASA participation: 7th Social Sciences Conference of the College of Humanities, University of Ghana Date: 3 to 4 November 2021 Format: conference Venue: only virtual Convener: School of Social Sciences Objectives: MIASA participated with a panel and presented the institute’s ongoing work and opportunities it offers Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture & Workshop Date: 7 to 8 December 2021 Format: Lecture and workshop Venue: Great Hall, UG, and online Responsible partner institution (budget): University of Freiburg Collaboration with: Department of Philosophy and Classics as well as Institute of African Studies (UG) Conveners: Dr. Richmond Kwesi (UG), Dr. Chika Mba (UG), Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA/GHIP), Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante (MIASA/UG), Prof. Abena Oduro (UG) Objectives: Lecture: Prof. J. Obi Oguejifor (Nnamdi Azikwe University) on 7 December; preceded by revealing the refurbished A.W. Amo Plaque at the Department of Philosophy and Classics by the German Ambassador; in the evening, the Department of Performance Studies conducted a theatre play on Amo in collaboration with the Theater des Ostens, which was sponsored by the Goethe Institute; the workshop on 8 December focused on “Anton Wilhelm Amo: Reflections on his Life and Intellectual Legacy for Contemporary Discourses” Challenging Conflict Research in Africa: Epistemological, Theoretical and Methodological Issues Date: 10 to 12 December 2021 Format: Conference Venue: Institute of African Studies (UG) and online Responsible partner institution (budget): University of Frankfurt Collaboration with: Pilote African Postgraduate Academy (PAPA), Point Sud Conveners: Dr. Mahamadou Bassirou Tangara (PAPA fellow), Prof. Elisio Macamo (Univ. of Basel), Prof. Mamadou Diawara (Goethe Univ. Francfort), Dr. Habibou Fofana (PAPA fellow), MIASA Annual Report 2021 34 Dr. Abdoulaye Imorou (PAPA fellow/ UG), Dr. Issouf Binaté (PAPA fellow), Dr. Sheila Médina Karambiri (PAPA fellow), Jean-Bernard Ouédraogo (EHESS) Objectives: serving the intellectual exchange with the PAPA programme; strengthening the franco-anglophone exchange; facilitating theoretical reflections of the use of concepts and knowledge production Interdisciplinary Fellow Group (IFG5): The 4Rs (Restitution, Return, Repatriation, Reparation) in Africa: Reality or Transcultural Aphasia? Date: 13 to 14 December 2021 Format: Conference Venue: ISSER (UG) and online Responsible partner institution (budget): University of Freiburg Collaboration with: Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies Conveners: Dr. Stefanie Michels (Univ. of Düsseldorf/ MIASA fellow), Dr. Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo (UG/ MIASA fellow), Prof. Wazi Apoh (UG) Objectives: final workshop on IFG5 research findings and discussion with external specialists Figure 21: Ghana National Dance Ensemble at the beginning of the MIASA Anton Wilhelm Amo Lecture, Dec. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 35 Public lecture series Date Name Title 2 March Andrea Cassatella Beyond the Secular: Jacques Derrida and the Theologico-Political Complex 9 March S. N. Nyeck Gender, Vulnerability and the Political Economy of Government Outsourcing in Africa 16 March Aidas Sanogo Land Conflicts in Bouaké, Côte d’Ivoire: the (In)convenient Gray Zone 30 March Emily McGiffin Gender and Biopolitics in the Poetry of Nontsizi Mgqwetho 13 April Louis Boakye- Yiadom Internal Migration in Ghana: Identifying the Migrant and an Examination of Prevalence and Patterns between 2013 and 2017 27 April Nontsasa Nako Monumental Failure: Forgetting the Victims of the Life Esidimeni Tragedy 18 May Christal Spel Rethinking Immigration Governance in the Contemporary Context of Collaboration and Integration in Africa 25 May Florian Stoll New Urbanism, New “Middle Classes” – New Policies in Africa? Some Observations from Contemporary Kenya 14 September Rogers Orock The New “Magic” of Power? Freemasonry, Postcolonial Homophobia, and Struggles for Decolonization in Central Africa 28 September Jakob Zollmann Making Loot, Making Restitution – A Short (Legal) History 19 October Michael Stasik Frontiers of Individualisation in West African Migrations MIASA Annual Report 2021 36 26 October* G. Aba M. Eyifa- Dzidzienyo & Stefanie Michels Round Table: The 4Rs in Africa: Reality or Transcultural Aphasia? 2 November Kokou Azamede What Remains of German Colonialism in the Volta Region? 9 November Lamine Doumbia A Social Anthropology of Urban Land Governance in Dakar, Bamako and Ouagadougou 16 November John Nott Metabolic History: Food Economics, Dietary Advice and Epidemiological Change in Contemporary Ghana 23 November Martin Doll Dealing with Audiovisual Aphasia: Filming Restitution in the Making 30 November Vivian Afi Dzokoto Governance and the Evolving Ghanaian Wallet: A psychologist’s perspective * in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies Figure 22: MIASA Public Lecture Series, presentation by Dr. John Nott, Nov. 2021 MIASA Annual Report 2021 37 Reading groups Period School/ department UG reading group facilitator Guest lecturer April 2021 School of Languages Dr. Alimsiwen Elijah Ayaawan Dr. Emily McGiffin Ecological Violence, Agency and Postcolonial Resistance in African Literature April 2021 UGBS Dr. Appiah Dr. S. N. Nyeck Public Procurement Reform and Sustainability May 2021 ISSER Dr. David Sarfo Ameyaw Dr. Aidas Sanogo Political Anthropology and Land Rights Fellows and guests: overview Individual fellows Name Senior/ Junior Fellow- months Discipline and Project title Country at the moment of application and affiliation Dr. Sanogo, Aidas J 5 Anthropology Burkina Faso: Centre universitaire de Manga Land tenure in West African Secondary Cities Dr. Nako, Nontsasa S 4 Literature South Africa: Durban University of Technology After all that Reconciliation: Memory and Human Rights after South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Dr. Boakye- Yiadom, Louis S 5 Economics Ghana: University of Ghana Internal Migration in Ghana: An Analysis of the Determinants and Unexplored Dimensions MIASA Annual Report 2021 38 Dr. Cassatella, Andrea J 4 Philosophy South Africa: Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies (STIAS) Frantz Fanon on Translation: Psychiatry, Politics and Knowledge Production Dr. Stoll, Florian S 5 Sociology Germany: University of Leipzig Does urbanization change the political order in Africa? A case study on cities, new middle-classes and policy in Kenya Dr. Nyeck, S. N. S 5 Economics Germany: Bayreuth Academy (University of Bayreuth) Beyond Equity: Vulnerability and Gender in Public Procurement Reform in West Africa Dr. McGiffin, Emily J 4 Environmental Humanities Canada: University of British Columbia Environmental Trauma and the Cultural Response: Arts, Extraction, and Democracy in Guinea Dr. Spel, Christal J 5 Sociology Finland Governing Social and Economic Rights of Vulnerable Migrants in the Context of African Regional Integration: Policies and Access to Livelihood, Education and Health in Ghana and Kenya Dr. Orock, Rogers S 5 Anthropology South Africa: University of the Witwatersrand Infowars: Rumours, Media, Popular Politics and Anti- French Sentiments in Cameroon’s War on Boko Haram Prof. Dzokoto, Vivian S 5 Psychology USA: Virginia Commonwealth University Out of Many Currencies, One: Understanding West African Common Currency Governance and Consumer Experiences in Ghana MIASA Annual Report 2021 39 Dr. Nott, John J 3,5 History Netherlands: Maastricht University Between Famine and Obesity: the Long History of Food and Health in Modern Ghana, c. 1896-2020 Dr. Stasik, Michael J 5 Anthropology Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity Individual Migration in West Africa Dr. Doumbia, Lamine J 5 Anthropology Germany: German Historical Institute Paris Urban Land Tenure and the Pluralism of Logics in Bamako, Ouagadougou and Dakar 60,5 Tandem fellows Name Senior/ Junior Fellow- months Discipline Country at the moment of application and affiliation Dr. Osei, Anja S 3 (1 in 2022) Political Sciences Germany: University of Konstanz Dr. Bukari, Gbensuglo Alidu J 3 (1 in 2022) Political Sciences Ghana: University of Education Winneba Project title: Candidate Selection in Ghana: An Experimental Study of Delegates: Preferences in Party Primaries 4 MIASA Annual Report 2021 40 Interdisciplinary fellow group (IFG) Name Senior/ Junior Fellow- months Discipline Country at the moment of application and affiliation Dr. Michels, Stefanie S 4 History Germany: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Dr. Eyifa- Dzidzienyo, Gertrude Aba Mansah J 4 Archaeology Ghana: University of Ghana Prof. Doll, Martin S 4 Media Studies Germany: Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Dr. Azamede, Kokou S 4 German Studies Togo: University of Lomé Dr. Zollmann, Jakob S 4 History Germany: Wissenschaftszentrum Project title: IFG 5: The 4Rs in Africa: Reality or Transcultural Aphasia? [Restitution, Return, Repatriation, Reparation] 20 Fellow statistics Total number of fellows Total 20 Total number of fellow months: Total: 84,5 Among them virtual: 7 MIASA Annual Report 2021 41 Countries of current or last institutional affiliation of fellows Germany: 8 Ghana: 3 South Africa: 3 Burkina Faso: 1 Togo: 1 Canada: 1 Finland: 1 Netherlands: 1 USA: 1 Germany-based: 8 Africa-based: 8 Other: 4 Ghana-based: 3 University of Ghana affiliated: 2 Junior / Senior Fellows: Junior Fellows: 9 Senior Fellows: 11 Female/ Male Fellows: Female: 9 Male: 11 Main disciplines of fellows: Anthropology: 4 History: 3 Economics: 2 Political Science: 2 Sociology: 2 Archaeology: 1 Environmental Humanities: 1 German Studies: 1 Literature: 1 Media Studies: 1 Philosophy: 1 Psychology: 1 MIASA Annual Report 2021 42 Visiting researchers Name Institutional affiliation Dates of the visit Dr. Brusius, Mirjam German Historical Institute London, UK/Germany 26.09.-09.10.2021 Dr. Czirr, Sarah Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany 27.11.-5.12.2021 Prof. Simo, David Université de Yaoundé 1, Cameroun 5.-16.12.2021 Prof. Hahn, Hans Peter Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany 10.-21.12.2021 Prof. Diop, Babacar Mbaye Université Cheikh Anta Diop Dakar, Senegal 5.-14.12.2021 Mentor UG Faculty School/ department Period ‘Mentee’ Prof. Apoh, Wazi Dept. of Archaeology, School of Arts, University of Ghana September to December 2021 IFG 5 MIASA Annual Report 2021 43 Team and governance bodies Academic Advisory Board (AAB) Name Affiliation Prof. Catherine Boone London School of Economics Prof. Andreas Eckert Humboldt University Berlin Prof. Ruth Hall University of the Western Cape Prof. Elisio Macamo Basel University Prof. Birgit Meyer Utrecht University Prof. Francis Nyamnjoh University of Cape Town Prof. Paul Nugent University of Edinburgh Prof. Fatou Sow Dakar, Senegal Prof. Bjorn Wittrock Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study Prof. Tadesse Zenebework Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Executive Council (EC) Name Affiliation Comments Prof. Dzodzi Tsikata University of Ghana EC spokesperson Prof. Francis Doodoo University of Ghana to July 2021 Prof. Abena Oduro University of Ghana from August 2021 Prof. Andreas Mehler University of Freiburg Speaker for the German consortium Prof. Bernd Kortmann University of Freiburg Prof. Mamadou Diawara Goethe University Frankfurt MIASA Annual Report 2021 44 Prof. Jann Lay German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) Prof. Thomas Maissen German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP) Directors Name Position Affiliation Comments Prof. Abena Oduro MIASA Director ‘Ghana’ University of Ghana to July 2021 Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante MIASA Director ‘Ghana’ University of Ghana from August 2021 Dr. Susann Baller MIASA Director ‘Germany’ German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP) from January 2021; based in Accra Team Name Position Affiliation Comments Dr. Schneider- Musah, Agnes Academic Coordinator University of Freiburg based in Accra Herbst, Lisa Administrative Coordinator University of Freiburg to February 2021 Bichlmaier, Johanna Administrative Coordinator University of Freiburg from February 2021 Dr. Scholze, Marko Goethe University of Frankfurt MIASA event support Goethe University of Frankfurt Adu, Rebecca Senior Administrative Assistant University of Ghana Adamtey, Ophelia Cleaner and messenger University of Ghana MIASA Annual Report 2021 45 Abbreviations AAB Academic Advisory Board ABI Arnold Bergstraesser Institute ACT Africa Center for Transregional Research AEGIS Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies AS Africa Spectrum ASAA African Studies Association in Africa BMBF Federal Ministry for Education and Research, Germany CALAS Maria Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies CEGENSA Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy CJAS Contemporary Journal of African Studies CMS Centre for Migration Studies DAAD German Academic Exchange Service EC Executive Council EHESS École des hautes études en sciences sociales FRIAS Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies GHIP German Historical Institute Paris GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies HBS Heinrich Böll Foundation Senegal IAS Institute of African Studies IFG Interdisciplinary Fellow Group ISSER Institute of Statistical Social and Economic Research KNUST Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology MIASA Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa PAPA Pilot African Postgraduate Academy STIAS Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Studies UBIAS University-based Institute of Advanced Studies UG University of Ghana UGBS University of Ghana Business School VAD German African Studies Association