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.
Continue Reading
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.
Continue Reading
IFAS-Recherche and IFRA-Nigeria are opening a call for expressions of interest for researchers and artists for a series of workshops on "Creation as Research, Research as Creation".
These workshops aim to further reflect on the methods, possibilities, and challenges raised by the use of creative practices in academic research, and conversely, by the integration of research methodologies into creative practice. They will take place between November 2025 and May 2026.
Learn more below or download the full call here.
Deadline: 31 October, 2025.
Continue Reading
On 16 October, 2025, Joel Abah, doctoral candidate at the Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian studies at the University of Ibadan, presented his work on communities in Benue displaced camps during our latest methodological seminar "Maps, Memories, and the Craft of Ethnography: Using Participatory Tools in Displacement Research in Conflict-Affected Communities".
Continue Reading
IFRA-Nigeria is opening its call for 2026 Research Grants!
Open to master's student, doctoral students, postdoctoral and researchers working in humanities and social sciences on a country under IFRA-Nigeria's geographical mandate (Nigeria, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Liberia, Gambia, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso). We accept applications in French or English.
Download the full call or read more below
You can download the templates on the application form.
Deadline for application: 30 November 2025.
Continue Reading
On 8 October 2025, the new IFRA-Nigeria director, Dr. Pauline Guinard, and deputy-director, Dr. Delphine Manetta met with two of our Nigerian Alternative Heritages collaborators : the Oyo Cultural Centre and the National Museum of Unity, Ibadan.
Continue Reading
IFRA-Nigeria Director, Dr. Pauline Guinard, and Research Project Manager, Marie Lureau, attended the opening night of the Afrobeat Rebellion : Fela Anikulapo Kuti exhibition. Organized by the French Embassy in Nigeria and the Kuti family, this exhibition initially presented at the Philharmonie in Paris in 2022, has been augmented for its showing in Lagos. The opening night included an interactive art piece and a concert by Seun Kuti, Fela's son, and the Ezra Collective.
The book of Professor Sola Olorunyomi, Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ibadan, Afrobeat! Fela and the imagined continent is for sale at the exhibition' shop. The book was co-published by IFRA-Nigeria and Noirledge.
The exhibition remains open and freely accessible to all at the Felabration hall, Ecobank headquarters in Lagos, until 28 December.
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 October 16, we invite you to a methodological seminar on "Maps, Memories, and the Craft of Ethnography: Using Participatory Tools in Displacement Research in Conflict-Affected Communities." Joel Abah, doctoral candidate at the Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian studies at the University of Ibadan, and Lecturer at Prince Abubakar Audu University will reflect the methodological journey of conducting ethnographic research in displacement camps and conflict-affected communities in Benue State, Nigeria.
He will focus on participatory and relational tools, including oral interviews, oral cartography, memory mapping, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and digital documentation, to demonstrate how these methods emerged in response to challenges of insecurity, vulnerability, and relational dynamics in the field. Through autoethnographic reflection, the session will highlight moments of improvisation, setbacks, and surprises that shaped both access to participants and the iterative development of field-sensitive methods.
Participants will gain insights into how methodological decisions, positionality, and ethical considerations influence data collection and co-production of knowledge in challenging field contexts. The seminar emphasizes research as a craft, illustrating practical, relational, and experimental approaches to ethnography in situations marked by displacement, conflict, and social vulnerability.
Practical information
Date & Time : 16/10/2025, between 10am and 12pm
Venue: IFRA-Nigeria Resource Center, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan
Registration: https://forms.gle/A6AJ7bVYFZgetgcb8
Deadline for registration: 10/10/2025
Continue Reading
IFRA-Nigeria, in collaboration with the University of Ibadan and the French Embassy in Nigeria, is opening the call for a PhD grant for a student from the University of Ibadan, as part of a project in digital humanities with a focus on heritage studies at the Lagos National Museum Archives. A co-supervision of University of Ibadan and IFRA Nigeria will be offered.
Deadline for application : 29 October 2025
Learn more below or download the full call here.
Continue Reading
On 3 September 2025, Bérénice Busson, PhD student in geography at the Université Paris Cité (CESSMA Lab), held our first methodological seminar of the 2025-2026 academic year. She talked on "Exploring Hausa Urbanities in Lagos and Cotonou : Autoethnographic Reflections and Methodological Experiments".
First, she presented the social position of Hausa, a fluid ethnic group from the Sahelian region, specifically from north Nigeria and south Niger. In Cotonou (Benin Republic), where she began her fieldwork, they are seen as a minority on two accounts : first as a religious minority, being mostly Muslim, and second, they are perceived as strangers from an "underdeveloped" region. On the basis of this observation, she stated her two questions : Considering their different economic background and time staying in the city, how do they negotiate their position in it? How are they coping with potential discriminations or obstacles to urban resources access, being in a subaltern position?
Continue Reading
After three years as head of IFRA-Nigeria, Professor Barbara Morovich finished her contract at the end of August 2025. She will be joining the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris in September 2025 as a Professor in the Department of Urbanism. Below is her farewell message, in both French and English.
Continue Reading
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.
Scroll to see more pictures of this event
Continue Reading
Join us on Wednesday, 3 September at 1pm for our first Methodological Seminar of the 2025-2026 academic year. Bérénice Busson, a geography PhD student in georgraphy at the Paris Cité University (CESSMA research lab), will present her work "Exploring Hausa Urbanities in Lagos and Cotonou : Autoethnographic Reflections and Methodological Experiments".
Her PhD research examines the political urbanities of predominantly male Hausa workers involved in the car trade in Cotonou, Benin Republic, and the textile trade in Lagos, Nigeria. Focusing on their everyday negotiations and interactions within the city, she will discuss her use of ethnographic methods alongside a broader set of qualitative approaches.
In this presentation, Bérénice Busson will also reflect on her positionality as a French female researcher — how it may have influenced the interlocutors, the ways she adapted her research practices in response, and how both the local context and the evolving political environment shaped her fieldwork over time. Finally, she will share her experiments with alternative methodologies, including the use of sensory mapping, video, and photography, and the restitution of the research through a community exhibition held in the Zongo neighborhood.
Practical Information:
Date and time: Wednesday, 3 September, 1pm
Location : IFRA-Nigeria Resources Centre, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan.
Sign-up here before 01/9: https://forms.gle/idGzDGTqPkYixMQ97
On 13 August, Geo Meridien and IFRA-Nigeria held a conference day on “Heritage and Vernacular Architecture – a Foundational Dialogue”. The event, part of the Nigerian Alternative Heritages (French Embassy Fund) project, took place at the Olubadan Palace in Ibadan. Mrs Toyin Odugbesan (Geo Meridien) and Prof. Barbara Morovich (IFRA-Nigeria director) opened the meeting, introducing the theme and speakers, and launching the discussion on heritage protection, vernacular architecture, and definitions of the term.
Continue Reading
Social Media
Mailing List