RSS-Feed der News

Job: Two Research Fellowships on "Judicial Independence in New Democracies"

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:15:00 +0100

Applications are invited for 2 half-time positions, each with a contract of 3 years, starting 1 May 2011 or later. The salary is commensurate with 13 TV-AVH / TVöD.
The successful candidate will work in the Pakt für Forschung (WGL) project entitled “Judicial Independence in New Democracies”. The project explores the impact of political and institutional factors on the degree of judicial independence in two regions – South America and sub-Saharan Africa – by using a cross-regional design. The project is located within the framework of Comparative Area Studies and deals with three systematically selected countries in each region (Argentina, Chile, Paraguay; Benin, Mali, Senegal). Each appointed researcher will work on 2 of the case studies in the South American/sub-Saharan African regions as well as contribute to the overall and regional analyses.

Desired qualifications:

Ph.D. in Political Science, or the intention of writing a Ph.D.
Methodological knowledge (neo-institutionalism, small-N comparative approach and/or so-cial sciences quantitative methodology)
A minor in Law and/or expertise in judicial independence as well as expertise in at least one of the two regions of study (or in any of the selected countries) are regarded as advantages but not requirements
Interest in cross-regional research
Very good knowledge of 1) written and spoken English and 2) Spanish or French
Willing and able to take on weeks of fieldwork at a time
Ability to work in a team

The GIGA promotes gender equality and actively encourages applications from women. Among equally qualified applicants, women will receive preferential consideration in those areas in which they are underrepresented.
Please send your application and relevant supporting documentation (CV, credentials, list of publications, max. 2 work samples (preferably thesis/dissertation), names and contact information for two references) to:

Stephanie Stövesand
GIGA Institute of Latin American Studies
Neuer Jungfernstieg 21, 20354 Hamburg, Germany
E-Mail: ilas@giga-hamburg.de (e-mail applications are preferred, max. 2 attachments)

Screening of applications will begin on 10 March 2011.

For further information, please visit the GIGA homepage (www.giga-hamburg.de) or contact Dr. Mariana Llanos (e-mail: llanos@giga-hamburg.de, phone: +49 (0) 428 25-766).

Doctoral thesis on colonial Switzerland

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:25:00 +0100

Patrick Minder has submitted his doctoral thesis entitled "La Suisse coloniale ? Les représentations de l’Afrique et des Africains en Suisse au temps des colonies (1880—1939)" at the University of Neuchâtel. His thesis analyzes iconographic and textual represantation of Africa and African people in Switzerland in colonial times. Minder concludes that, even though the country had no extra-european colonial territories, a colonial ideology of dominance over Africa and other societies in general was prevalent in Switzerland and is still felt today.

New position in African Studies

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:44:00 +0100

In November the trial lectures for the new chair in African Studies were held. The commission's report was submitted and the University Council decided on it on 22 January 2009. The new professor should assume the position in the Autumn term 2009.

Centre of Competence on Afrika

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 10:51:00 +0100

On the initiative of the Centre for African Studies scholars working on Africa at the University of Basel and representatives of NGOs and institutes outside of the University gathered in April 2007 in an open workshop and decided to submit an application for recognition as Kompetenzzentrum Afrika. A small team representing the five research fields identified in the workshop developed the application. As a first joint theme in research the focus is on the African City. The objective of the Centre is to provide an umbrella for all research on Africa at the University of Basel, to build a strong network and to facilitate the acquisition of funding, while the ZASB continues to focus on teaching, especially the MA in African Studies.
The inaugural meeting will be held on 16 February 2009 at 18h15 at the Wildt'sche Haus on Petersplatz, Basel. We would like to invite all scholars, research groups and institutes focussing on Africa at the University of Basel and beyond who want to join the Centre to get in touch with us.
For further information please contact Veit Arlt, coordinator of the Centre for African Studies Basel, veit.arlt@unibas.ch, T. 061 267 34 82.

Lecture Series: Living the City

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 11:23:00 +0100

In the spring semester of 2009 we hold a bi-weekly public lecture series featuring scholars specialising in the field. Programme: 18.02.2009: Abdallah Uba Adamu (Bayero University Kano):
Hell on Earth: Media-Mediated Urban Sexuality and Islamicate Popular Culture in Northern Nigeria 09.03.2009: Elisio Macamo (Universität Bayreuth):
Technologies of Everyday Urban Life 23.03.2009: Nick Sheperd (University of Cape Town):
Post-apartheid Urban Imagineries and the Bones of the Prestwich Street Dead 02.04.2009: Trudy Harpham (London South Bank University and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine): Urban health in Africa: What do we know and where do we go? (Carl Schlettwein Lecture 2009) 23.04.2009: AbdouMaliq Simone (Goldsmiths University of London): On publics and intersections: Kinshasa and Jakarta 05.05.2009: Martin Murray (University of New York Binghampton):
Taming the Disorderly City: Envisioning the Spatial Landscape of Johannesburg after Apartheid 14.05.2009: Patrick Chabal (Kings College London):
Africa. The Politics of Suffering and Smiling 25.05.2009: Bill Freund (University of KwaZulu Natal Durban):
Kinshasa: The Congolese Elite and the City 02.06.2009: David Coplan (University of the Witwatersrand):
Inseparable Since Birth: Twin Towns and Unitary Concepts in Border Studies Download: Programme (pdf) Info: veit.arlt@unibas.ch

African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE) receives funding

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 11:46:00 +0100

Main applicant was Dr Gregor Dobler of the Department of Social Anthropology. ABORNE is an interdisciplinary network of researchers interested in all aspects of international borders and trans-boundary phenomena in Africa. The emphasis is largely on borderlands as physical spaces and social spheres, but the network is also concerned with regional flows of people and goods as well as economic processes that may be located at some distance from the geographical border.
Info: gregor.dobler@unibas.ch

Research Fellow spring term 2009: Prof Nick Shepherd, UCT

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:58:00 +0100

From January until June 2009 Prof Nick Shepherd from the Centre for African Studies and the Centre for Science Research at the University of Cape Town is guest of the Centre for African Studies Basel and the Centre for Competence on Africa. The research fellowship at the University of Basel is organised jointly by the Centre for African Studies Basel and the Programme for Science Studies. The fellowship is to intensify the cooperation between these institutions and programmes. Nick Shepherd will teach two courses, one research seminar on Science Studies and one exercise course relating to urban studies.
The seminar Public Negotiations in Science and Technology is directed to postgraduate students (PhDs and postdocs but also to advanced MA students). It addresses theoretical and conceptual questions that appear at the intersection between the fields of Science & Technology Studies and African Studies. The objective is to attract and engage a group of students and researchers interested in or working at specific projects or case studies that have to do with aspects of science, technology and society in postcolonial contexts.
The excercise course Space, Memory and Identity in the Post-Apartheid City explores the busy, complex and contested set of processes whereby issues of culture, race, gender, sexuality, globalization, memory and heritage are being reframed and rethought in post-apartheid society. It is open to MA- and advanced BA-students.

ECAS 2009: 3rd European Conference on African Studies

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 19:37:00 +0100

The members of AEGIS (Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies) and the Institute of African Studies at the University of Leipzig are hosting AEGIS third biennial conference in Leipzig, Germany, from 4 to 7 June 2009. The overall theme of ECAS 3 is "Respacing Africa". The AEGIS Steering Committee encourages scholars and students interested in African Studies to participate in this conference. The first European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) was held at the School of Oriental and African Studies and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies in London in July 2005; the second Conference was held at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, Netherlands, in July 2007. Both were a great success and it is hoped that ECAS 2009 in Leipzig will be just as interesting and thought-provoking. AEGIS was founded in 1991 as a network of European Centres of African Studies. It is a network of university and non-university African Studies centres based in Europe. It aims to create synergies between experts and institutions. With primary emphasis on Social Sciences and Humanities, AEGIS' main goal is to improve understanding about contemporary African societies. AEGIS current membership is Barcelona, Basel, Bayreuth, Bordeaux, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Göteborg, Hamburg, Leiden, Leipzig, Lisbon, London, Mainz, Naples, Oxford, Paris, Porto, Trondheim and Uppsala. For further details see http://www.aegis-eu.org.

Call for papers: States at Work in Sub-Saharan Africa

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:00:00 +0100

Further information see http://www.lasdel.net/

Report of the 12th EADI General Conference

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:31:00 +0100

The Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva hosted the EADI General Conference in June 2008. Now a conference report was published which will be presented on 25.03.2009 in the Graduate Institute Geneva. Jean-Luc Maurer, President of the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes, has drawn three main conclusions from the conference: First, unresolved or worsening development issues have invaded the agenda of international relations and domestic policies worldwide. Hence, the relevance of development research in setting today’s global policy agenda. Second, in the current period of multiple crises the need for global governance is more pressing than ever. Third, a shift on paradigm is necessary to make sustainable development possible.

The full report is available online.