Invitation_Workshop "Observe, survey, map and draw relations with nature(s) in Ìbàdàn Campus"

IFRA-Nigeria, in collaboration with the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology of the University of Ibadan, and the Ecole Nationale d'Architecture de Strasbourg (France), organises a workshop on "Observe, survey, map and draw relations with nature(s) in Ìbàdàn Campus". This event will, over the course of three days, include theory, fieldwork and sessions dedicated to exchange. It will give selected participants the opportunity to experiment with survey protocols involving ethnographic observation, drawing and in-situ writing, but also the chance to question them. Overall, their goal will be to identify different forms of relationship between humans and non-humans on a day-to-day basis on campus, in order to raise awareness of the importance of non-humans on campus. Indeed, these methods of capturing a real experience take time and require one to stop and look, observe and record (Lucas, 2020). This pause, of varying length, will enable participants to rediscover the environment they are observing and trying to capture.

The ecological crisis, which is affecting different human societies to varying degrees of severity, also increasingly appears to be a crisis of coexistence, cohabitation or co-evolution between humans and non-humans (Citton, 2014, Descola, 2013, Latour, 2017, Keck, 2021). This can thus be read as the result of an increasingly strong detachment between humans and non-humans, leading to a loss of the ability to grasp and feel the interweaving that links them together. On the other hand, in African cities, the interactions between urban natures and social groups are varied and frequent. Following on from the INFRA-PATRI ANR project (coordinated by Guitard) and the IGI'BADAN exhibition (Chevalme, Chevalme, Guitard, Obayomi) held in 2024 at the Institute of African Studies, this workshop will start from the idea that in Ìbàdàn the connections with urban vegetation is ambivalent, ranging from attachment to rejection, and is intertwined with variants of social class and relationship to modernity.

The aim of this multi-disciplinary workshop is to analyse this point of view from the University of Ìbàdàn campus and to carry out, over a short period of time, a survey designed to capture the different bonds that are woven in particular places between humans and non-humans. The campus of the University of Ìbàdàn is characterized by a significant presence of natural spaces that constitute a sort of green lung for daily users, students, staff and citizens. The transformation of the campus and the deterioration of certain areas have sparked the beginnings of mobilization and awareness of their importance, but also of their fragility. The workshop proposes to take time to observe and record the various forms of “natures” to be found there in relation with human uses, in order to propose an initial, sensitive inventory of the different affiliations between humans and non-humans in this place.

The workshop will begin by a three-voice public lecture: Dr Francois Nowakowski, researcher in urbanism (ENSAS), Dr Barbara Morovich, researcher in social anthropology (IFRA-Nigeria) and Prof. Aderemi Suleiman Ajala, researcher in medical anthropology & development studies (University of Ibadan). They will present the theoretical and methodological issues at stake. The rest of the workshop will alternate between fieldwork within the University and dialogues to discuss lessons learned and feedback. At the end of the week, an exhibition and round-table discussion will reflect on the collective experience shared during the seminar and initiate a handover so that this process of observation and investigation through drawing and writing can continue, mobilizing more widely the users and inhabitants of the University campus.  

We invite Master students in urbanism, anthropology, geography and agricultural studies to apply. Strong motivation and availability for the entire three days of the workshop are mandatory.

Practical information

Date & time: On 11, 13 and 16 June, all day.

Registration: https://forms.gle/NHZdZQTXcuJZv8Kp7

Deadline for registration: 6 June 2025

Additional information: IFRA-Nigeria will offer lunch and a small transport stipends to the participants

Tags: Ibadan, Nature, Anthropology, Urban studies