The 8th Annual Lagos Studies Association Conference took place between the 25th and the 29th of June 2024. Throughout the LSA, IFRA-Nigeria and Nigeria Watch staff organized and moderated several panels. The theme of this LSA conference was "African Identities: Peoples, Cultures & Institutions in Motion". During this conference the IFRA-Nigeria and Nigeria Watch teams organised and animated several panels detailled below.
Between the 24th and 25th of June, film director Alain Kassanda visited Ibadan to screen two of his movies in partnership with IFRA-Nigeria and Thursday Film Series. Alain Kassanda is a Congolese French film maker, film director and cinematographer. He is known for his documentary films Trouble Sleep (2020), Colette & Justin (2022), and Coconut Head Generation (2023). He moved to Ibadan in 2015, where he shot his first medium-length film. Kassanda's works have been screened at major film festivals across the globe, including the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the International Film Festival and Form on Human Rights (FIFDH Geneva), the New York African Film Festival or the Jean Rouch International Film Festival, Paris.
On the 13th of June, a roundtable titled « Around Igi’bàdàn: What Place for Plants in Ìbàdàn ?» took place at Drapers’ Hall, Institute of African Studies, University of Ìbàdàn. This round-table accompanied the presentation of the arts/science exhibition "Igi’bàdàn: Living with Trees in Ìbàdàn" by the Chevalme Sisters, Dr. Emilie Guitard and Obáyomí Anthony, presented from June 13 to July 15 in the CAMAA gallery at the Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ìbàdàn, with the support of IAS, IFRA Nigeria and the French Embassy in Nigeria.
On the 7th of June, The French embassy in Nigeria in partnership with IFRA-Nigeria organized a conference titled: “Green or Grey Urban Jungles : What Place for Plants in Nigeria's Cities?»” featuring Jomi Bello (director of WAFFLESNCREAM), Emilie Guitard (Anthropologist at CNRS/ coordinator of INFRAPATRI, a project about knowledges and attachments to urban plants in Sub-Saharan Africa), Folu Oyefeso (photographer, member of « Save Our Green Spaces Ibadan » group), Théo Lawson (architect and founder of Freedom Park), Iyabode Aboaba (Manager of Freedom Park). Tabia Princewill acted as a moderator.
On the 30th of May, a conference organised by IFRA-Nigeria titled “Religious Landscapes: Isese, Islam and Christianity in the Urban Space of Ibadan” on the 30th of May 2024 took place at the Museum of Unity of Ibadan. The conference hosted Professor R.O. Olaniyi of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, Professor Olufunke Adeboye also of the Department of History, University of Lagos and Mr Fatosin Awosola.
Between the 15th and the 17th of May 2024, the closing event of IFRA’s 2022-2024 FSPI (Solidarity Fund for Innovative Projects) program which aimed at furthering Nigerian Heritage Digitisation Program took place. The event was titled: “The now and the future: Digital technology at the service of Nigerian heritages”. In 2022, the Embassy of France in Nigeria and IFRA-Nigeria have been awarded funding to support efforts by Nigerian researchers and professionals, from partner institutions, to develop their ideas and projects on the conservation of Nigerian Heritage and Patrimony.
On the 2nd of May 2024, Beatrice Touchelay, History Professor at the University of Lille, presented a seminar on "What counting means. Gender and statistics in twentieth-century Nigeria". Beatrice currently leads a research project titled “Counting and classifying in French-speaking Africa from the origin to the XXIth century: Cameroon, Madagascar and Senegal, genesis of a continental network”, she also works in Nigeria. This methodological seminar was an opportunity to discover her methods and her work.
On the 25th and 26th of April, two study days, coordinated by Dr Barbara Morovich and Dr Ayo Adeduntan, took place at the Institute of African Studies. The first day was organized around hybrid conferences while the second one around a workshop. These two days, focused on digital humanities, aimed at fostering conversations regarding the epistemic predicament of inadequate documentation, compounded at the digital turn by the limited visibility of even documented African knowledges that are not born-digital.
On the 24th of April, Erwan Dianteill (University Paris Cité) gave a conference titled “from medieval geomancy to the church of Ifa (Nigeria, Republic of Benin): history and anthropology of a divination system". Femi Jegede (University of Ibadan) was a discutant in this conference. Prof. Dianteill’s presentation highlighted the history of Ifa and what the worship entailed, the relationship with other Yoruba Orisas (Esu, Sango, etc), the reason for syncretism and formation of the Ifa church, the geographical location of this practice and the globalization of the ifa practice itself. He also reviewed the differences and the similarities between the Ifa practice and the Ifa Church.
Between April 22 and May 3, 2024, in continuation on the execution of Earthwork conservation project of the Edo Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) and IFRA-Nigeria. A community engagement fieldwork was carried out within the three communities (Ugbowo, Iyaro and Oria) that agreed to participate in the project.
On the 17th and 18th of April 2024, IFRA-Nigeria in collaboration with the Edo Museum of West African Art (MOWAA) in the ongoing IFRA-Nigeria FSPI project organized a two-day workshop Earthwork Conservation. The theme of the workshop was Rebuilding Conservation Monitoring Capacity.
The Nigeria Watch team, IFRA, the Department of African Studies of the University of Ibadan, IRD and the Institute for Peace organized the third Peace and Security in Nigeria (PASIN) conference between the 11th and 15th March 2024. During this period the Nigeria Watch team set up a training workshop on the methodological challenges of conflict studies in Nigeria with 25 Master and PhD students of the University of Ibadan. The students attended several lectures given by Nigeria Watch fellows such as Marc-Antoine Pérouse de Montclos, director and founder of Nigeria Watch, Vitus Ukoji Nwankwo, project manager, Dr. Victor Chinedu Eze and Dr. Abiola Victoria Ayodokun.
Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (French Institute for Research in Africa Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan), IFRA-Nigeria, invites consultants based in Nigeria to apply for the opportunity to undertake an evaluation exercise on a digitization project, halfway between research, arts and actions, which has run between 2022 and 2024. This project has been funded by a grant called Fonds de Solidarité pour les Projects Innovant (FSPI) from the Embassy of France in Nigeria.
The project focus and theme are Digital technology at the service of Nigerian heritage: for protection, training and dissemination. To achieve the main objectives of the project, IFRA-Nigeria management divided the project into five different components. First, the aim was to reflect the diversity of Nigeria's cultural, social and historical heritage. Secondly, it was to put the everyday implementation of the project in the hands of Nigerian institutions and people. The management engaged with non-governmental organizations, government Institutions, and organizations that work in synergy to manage each of the components.
On the 1st of March, following a research trip in South Africa, Barbara Morovich participated in a conversation with Judith Hayem held at IFAS-Johannesburg. It featured a 45-minute presentation followed by a 45-minute conversation, providing insights into the project « A forgotten heritage? Minority, competing and contradictory memories of mining in South Africa » supported by IFAS- Research, IFRA-Nigeria, and CLERSE-Lille.
On the 28th of February, Mutiat Dr Titilope Oladejo, in a conversation with Dr Seun Olutayo, presented her recent work on the role of women in the textile industry in Nigeria and The Gambia since the thirties. Dr Oladejo’s work is derived from fieldwork from Nigeria and The Gambia, where she tried to understand the textile industry in indigenous and modern forms through oral interviews, ethnographic work, and field observations. Specifically, Dr Oladejo presentation focused on her work in southwest Nigeria and Latrikunda in The Gambia.
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