For the first session of our “Imagine(d) Africa” Conference Series on 4 December 2025, the Institute of African Studies (IAS) at the University of Ibadan and IFRA-Nigeria welcomed Chrystel Oloukoï, assistant professor of geography at the University of Washington. They presented their upcoming book building on the PhD fieldwork they carried out in 2020 in Lagos during which they witnessed both the Covid curfews and the #endSARS protests. Their focus is on nighttime in the city, and the many ways in which it is policed.
Their work challenges the vision of Africa as a "night continent", "dark", or "benighted" which is prevalent in the West. It also relies on the concept of “condemnation of the night” which they define as a “naturalized set of assumptions, often animated by a racialized and feminized surplus of meaning, which produces specific “geographies of imagination” and “geographies of management”.”
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Marie Lureau, Research Project Manager at IFRA-Nigeria, will hold an exploratory panel at the Lagos Studies Association Conference 2026 focusing on 'non-religion' and 'anti-religion' on the African continent. This panel will seek to open secularism studies, largely built on the Western world, to Africa. It questions the various experiences of 'non-religion' on the continent, the forms of 'anti-religion' in activism, their intellectual roots and the best terms to define them.
Read the full call below or download it here.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 January 2026.
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Dr Delphine Manetta, IFRA’s deputy director, will hold a panel at the Lagos Studies Association Conference 2026 focusing on the role of care in the construction of masculinities in Africa, but proposing several shifts in perspective from the literature from a perspective that emerged with Western scholars to one more centered on African perspectives. It will also discuss care as a critical tool for discussing the imaginaries surrounding masculinities in Africa and understanding experiences of masculinity in different social settings.
Deadline for abstracts: 1 January 2026
Read the full call below or download it here.
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Between 24 and 26 September, Pauline Guinard, IFRA-Nigeria Director, and Marie Lureau, Research Project Manager, attended the 2025 Biennial conference of the African Studies Association in Africa (ASAA). Set at the University of Cabo Verde, in Praia, this event regrouped scholars from all over the continent and beyond, for numerous panels under the theme "African Responses to Global Vulnerabilities".
Dr Guinard presented her own work on the destruction of Bar Beach and the geography of emotions, in the panel "Contesting Power: Political Agency and Resistance in Africa".
IFRA-Nigeria has also become a member of the ASAA, as we are proud to share its mission to promote and celebrate Africa’s unique contributions to the study and understanding of the peoples and cultures of Africa and the Diaspora.
On 27 August, IFRA-Nigeria organised a conference at the Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, to celebrate the publication of Migration and Diaspora Identity in Northern Nigeria and Ghana, 1900–1970. The book, written by Professor Rasheed Olaniyi (department of history), was published by Boydell & Brewer in association with IFRA-Nigeria. It provides a unique exploration of the complex socio-economic and political dynamics between Yoruba diaspora and their host communities.
After an introduction by Professor Barbara Morovich, IFRA-Nigeria Director, Professor Olaniyi started by explaining the intricate process of creating a book concept and carrying it all the way to publishing. Next, he detailed his original methodological approach, which included both historical and anthropological methods, and studied both archival materials and oral sources. He took a multi-site and comparative approach in order to better understand this transnational history. Finally, he briefly looked at each chapter of his book to highlight their main findings on the driving forces behind the formation of diaspora identities in Yoruba communities of north Ghana and Nigeria.
Professor Akanle (department of sociology), as discussant, responded to the presentation highlighting the innovative and comprehensive approach of Professor Olaniyi's work.
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On 27 August, IFRA-Nigeria is hosting the book launch of Professor Rasheed Olaniyi's (Department of History, University of Ibadan) latest publication Migration and Diaspora Identity in Northern Nigeria and Ghana, 1900–1970. Accompanied by his discussant, Professor Olayinka Akanle (Department of Sociology, UI), he will uncover the driving forces and mechanisms through which Yoruba migrant communities in Kano (Nigeria) and Tamale (Ghana), forged diaspora identities and grappled with the challenges of social inclusion and exclusion. Drawing on fieldwork interviews and archival research in particular, it analyses how socio-economic forces and power relations shaped the very different experiences of the two communities as well as how they sustained ties with the homeland in southwestern Nigeria.
Practical information:
Date & Time : Wednesday, 27 August, between 2pm and 4pm.
Location : Faculty of Arts Board Room, University of Ibadan
Sign-up to attend before 25/08 : https://forms.gle/gJr5BAWbshazj3Nr9
Purchase the book here: https://boydellandbrewer.com/book/migration-and-diaspora-identity-in-northern-nigeria-and-ghana-1900-1970/
On 5 August 2025, IFRA-Nigeria Director Dr Barbara Morovich held a lecture in the media studies class of Professor Sola Olorunyomi, to present her anthropological work, and the role of interdisciplinarity in the discipline. Going back to the initial source of interest in anthropology, her time in Nairobi (Kenya), she traced her international research path, including her initial research on Akurinu churches and Nairobi slums.
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On 31 July, the Institute of African Studies (IAS) of the University of Ibadan and IFRA-Nigeria organized the fourth session of the Critical Decolonialities Seminar on the topic of “Queer Archiving – a decolonial practice? The experiences of the GALA Queer Archive”. Professor Sola Olorunyomi, director of IAS, and Dr Barbara Morovich, Director of IFRA-Nigeria, introduced the two speakers. Linda Chernis is an archivist at the GALA Queer Archive, an organization dedicated to the preservation, production and dissemination of LGBTQIA+ people in South Africa. Ayodele Olofintuade is a writer and editor-in-chief of 9jafeminista an online blog focusing on feminist and queer issues in Nigeria.
Watch the full seminar on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OeaYsbKJt-4
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On 18 June, Janet Ogundairo, assisted by Director Barbara Morovich and Deputy-Director Delphine Manetta, organized a panel on "Living at the Margins : Survival, belief, care and belonging among stigmatised groups in Africa".
Following a call for abstracts, Janet Ogundairo selected five papers on the subject of stigmatised groups in Nigeria to be presented at this session. She started by introducing her own work and the panel, before giving the floor to the panellists.
From left to right: Dr Barbara Morovich, Feyisitan Ijimakinwa, Cynthia Olufade, Janet Ogundairo, Joel Abah, Dr Bolarinwa Ogundeji and Dr Delphine Manetta.
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On 17 June, 2025, IFRA-Nigeria had the chance to present a panel at the 2025 Lagos Studies Association (LSA) Conference "Continuities and Discontinuities in African Studies", to present our activities, opportunities for researchers, publications, our resource centre and the work of our colleagues at Nigeria-Watch.
The panel included Director Barbara Morovich, Research Project Manager Marie Lureau, Deputy-director Delphine Manetta, Documentalist Olushola Babaola, and Nigeria Watch Information Retrieval Specialist Abiola Victoria Ayodokun.
The IFRA-Nigeria, as a partner of LSA, sent a delegation from 17 to 19 June, who had the opportunity to attend several panels, and the keynote lecture by Segun Adefila.
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