AFRASO Events

31. January 2019
6.15 pm, room IG 411, ground floor of the Main Building at Campus Westend of the Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt

Abstract: Perhaps the most significant t

25. October 2018 to 31. January 2019
Goethe University, Campius Westend, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt, IG 411

Afrasian Futures is a series of four cutting-edge lectures that mark the conclusion Africa’s Asian Options (AFRASO), a major transdiciplinary research  project at Goethe University Frankfurt that has investigated transregional African-Asian interactions and entanglements since 2013.

25. October 2018
Room IG 411, ground floor of the Main Building at Campus Westend of the Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt

Abstract: The world is beset by intensely felt sp

21. June 2018
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 0.107

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Indians and Pakistanis in African Universities: The Cultural Politics of Postcolonial Knowledge-Production" by Shobana Shankar (AFRASO Fellow 2018). The lecture will take place on June, 21st in room SH 0.107 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

Abstract:

24. May 2018 to 26. May 2018
Goethe University Frankfurt

Call for Papers

24. May 2018
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 0.107

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Theorising and Researching South Space" by Pádraig Carmody (Trinity College Dublin). The lecture will take place on May, 24th in room SH 0.107 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

Abstract:

16. April 2018

We are happy to announce that the interview with world-renowned scholar Homi K. Bhabha "´Even the dead have human rights´: A conversation with Homi K. Bhabha" by AFRASO scholars Frank Schulze-Engler and John Njenga Karugia with Pavan Kumar Malreddy, conducted on the occasion of our "Afrasian Transformations" conference has just been published in the Journal of Postcolonial Writing.

Abstract

24. January 2018
Campus Bockenheim, Hörsaaltrakt H 10 (Gräfstr. 50)

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "South Korea’s Foreign Aid: An East Asian Exception?" by Sabine Burghart (University of Turku). The lecture will take place on January, 24th in room H 10 (Campus Bockenheim, Hörsaaltrakt (Gräfstr. 50)) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

 

Abstract:

18. January 2018
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus SH 2.108

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Japan and China in Africa: Allies, Partners, or Adversaries?" by Seifudein Adem (AFRASO Fellow 2017). The lecture will take place on January, 18th in room SH 2.108 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

Abstract:

14. December 2017
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 3.101, 4 pm - 6 pm

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Civilizational and Historical Connections Between Iran and East Africa" by Amirbahram Arabahmadi (Tehran University). The lecture will take place on December, 14th in room SH 3.101 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

Abstract:

16. November 2017
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 0.106, 4 pm - 6 pm

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Kaizen and Ethiopia: A Match Made in Developmentalist Heaven?" by Elsje Fourie (University of Maastricht). The lecture will take place on November, 16th in room SH 0.106 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

Abstract:

26. June 2017
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 0.106, 4 pm - 6 pm

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture: "Kaizen in Ethiopian Industries: The Case of an Ethiopian Leather and Leather Product Manufacturing Company " by Wegene Demisie Jima (Leather Industries Development Institute, Addis Ababa). The lecture will take place on June, 26th in room SH 0.106 (Seminarhaus, Campus Westend) from 4 pm - 6 pm.

26. June 2017 to 27. June 2017
The University of Vienna, Department of East Asian Studies/Chinese Studies

The University of Vienna Department of East Asian Studies/Chinese Studies will host a workshop on: Dialogues with Ethnography: The Lived Experiences of Chinese in Africa from 26.6.-27.6.2017.

14. June 2017
Goethe University, Campus Bockenheim, Juridicum 717, 16.15h

At the end of May 2016, South Korean President Park Geun-hye paid her first official state visit to Africa, visiting Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya. While South Korea’s relationship with Africa today is largely understood in terms of resource diplomacy, a rivalry with North Korea persists – highlighted during President Park’s recent visit. This talk discusses how the two Koreas have made inroads in Africa, while simultaneously fending off each other.

13. June 2017
Goethe University, Campus Westend, CAS 1.801, 12.15h

This lecture concerns the easterly movement of Africans both voluntary and involuntary. The better known westwards migration tends to colour the perceptions of the easterly movement. Archival sources together with narratives of the diasporists can contribute to recovering the lost past. Memories of the diasporists will be illustrated through a film entitled "Indian Ocean Memories and African Migrants", produced and directed by Dr Shihan de Silva in which she explores the cultural memories of the largest Afro-Sri Lankan community.

11. May 2017
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, SH 1.106, 16.00 c.t.

Wie aus dem Nichts bauen chinesische Investoren die Infrastruktur afrikanischer Großstädte wie Addis Abeba, Hauptstadt Äthiopiens, um.

20. January 2017
Goethe-Universität, Campus Westend, PEG-Gebäude, Raum 1.G111

Das Projekt AFRASO der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt untersucht seit Anfang 2013 Globalisierungsprozesse mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Interaktionen und Beziehungen zwischen Afrika, Asien und Europa. Im Kontext dieses Forschungsprojektes sind zwei Unterrichtseinheiten zu den Themen „Land grabbing, Landwirtschaft und Entwicklung“ und Cyberkriminalität entstanden, die zurzeit intensiv und kontrovers in Medien und Öffentlichkeit diskutiert werden.

15. December 2016
Goethe University, Campus Westend, Seminarhaus SH 0.105, 16.15h

Migration is a cross-cutting theme that is bound to occur in different forms and with complex consequences. Migration of people, minds and cultures has and continues to be the cornerstone of human civilization. African population has always been on the move. Pre-colonial migratory patterns occurred without barriers, borders or legal restraints, driven mainly by the availability of livelihood opportunities (no state boundaries).

01. December 2016 to 03. December 2016
Campus Westend, Casino, Renate-von-Metzler-Saal, CAS 1.801

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Workshop "Fraud, fake and make-believe: Transregional and transdisciplinary perspectives" as well as the public keynote by Philipp Ruch from The Centre for Political Beauty

Thursday 1st December, 6 pm

Renate-von-Metzler-Saal (Casino, Raum CAS 1.801)

Goethe-Universität Frankfurt / Main

10. November 2016
Goethe University, Campus Westend, Hörsaalzentrum, HZ 15

We are delighted to invite you to the upcoming AFRASO Lecture in Cooperation with the Cornelia Goethe Centrum: "„Asking, we walk“. The South as New Political Imaginary" by Corinne Kumar (Secretray Genreal of EI Taller International).

The lecture will take place on November, 10th in room HZ15 (Hörsaalzentrum, Campus Westend) from 6 pm - 8 pm.

Abstract:

28. September 2016
Uni Campus Westend, Casino, Room CAS 823

The collaborative research project „Africa’s Asian Options“ (AFRASO) cordially invites all members of Goethe University to attend the Keynote Lecture by Prof. Homi K. Bhabha (Harvard University) that will open the AFRASO Conference „Afrasian Transformations: Beyond Grand Narratives?“ to be held at Goethe University from September 28-30.

28. September 2016 to 30. September 2016
Goethe University Frankfurt

Across various disciplines, our understanding of African-Asian interactions and their transformative potential has been significantly shaped by grand narratives and theoretical frameworks. The Global South, postcolonialism, the Indian Ocean World or China’s Scramble for Africa are routinely invoked to understand African-Asian encounters, as are different notions of development, area studies or transregionalism. These epistemological lenses have informed our perspectives and generated important insights, but they have also created significant blind spots. For instance, restricting the focus of attention to Chinese agency shifts attention away from other Asian (and African) actors. Many scholars working on the Indian Ocean emphasize connectivity but pay little attention to conflict and boundary making. Concepts such as the Global South or postcolonialism highlight a common past of oppression and resistance, but it is by no means certain whether that past can serve as secure orientation for the present and the future. The intricate small and large Afrasian stories of transformation that we encounter in our research often seem to strain against the limits imposed by the grand narratives we habitually come across in our fields of expertise. Coming to terms with Afrasian transformations in the social world may indeed involve a challenge to revise the theoretical frameworks that inform our own work.

06. December 2018
6.15 pm, room IG 411, ground floor of the Main Building at Campus Westend of the Goethe University, Norbert-Wollheim-Platz 1, 60323 Frankfurt

Abstract:

01. December 2016 to 03. December 2016
Goethe University Frankfurt

Call for Papers

02. June 2016
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, Raum, 0.107, 4 p. m. (c.t.)

 

12. May 2016
Campus Westend, Casino, Raum, CAS 1.811, 6 p. m. (c.t.)

Life narratives and the sculpting of gendered trans-regional East African Asian memories.

21. April 2016
Campus Westend, Seminarhaus, room SH 2.108, 4 p.m. (c.t.)

This paper discusses the actual and potential influences of Asia on the development of Africa in terms of agency with specific reference to Nigeria. Many scholars have already pointed out that the structure of the economic relations between Asia and Africa is basically the same as that between Africa and the West.

18. April 2016
Campus Westend, RuW 4.201

5:15 p.m.

Catia Batista (Nova University of Lisbon and the NOVAFRICA Research Center) will present her paper "Promoting Migrant Remittances Using Mobile Money: Evidence from a Field Experiment".

The talk is organized as a joint presentation with the 2nd Workshop on the Economics of Migration and the "AFRASO Project - Africa's Asian Options".

01. February 2016
Cas. 1801 (Renate von Metzler Saal), Campus Westend

6-8 p.m.

Last talk of the AFRASO-Lecture Series "TransArea: New Paradigms in Area Studies" (Wintersemester 2015/16)

Please notice, the lecture will be held in German!

20. January 2016 to 21. January 2016
Campus Westend, Cas. 823 (Festsaal)

In recent years, “World Literature” has become a hotspot of international academic debate. At the centre of the manifold and diverse attempts to turn the concept into a viable framework for engaging with literature in the 21st century world lies a widely shared urge to overcome the Eurocentric limitations that so long bedevilled literary studies in general and the institutional practices of comparative literature in particular. It is in this context that the idea of a “Global South” has re-emerged as a powerful point of attraction in global literary debates.

11. January 2016
Cas. 1801 (Renate von Metzler Saal), Campus Westend

Third talk of the AFRASO-Lecture Series "TransArea: New Paradigms in Area Studies" (Wintersemester 2015/16)

03. December 2015
Cas. 1812, Campus Westend

6-8 p.m.

Second talk of the AFRASO-Lecture Series "TransArea: New Paradigms in Area Studies" (Wintersemester 2015/16). This lecture takes place in cooperation with Afrika Kolloquium and the Workshop "Geteilte Forschung".

03. December 2015 to 05. December 2015
Goethe Universität Frankfurt

Die gegenwärtige Forschungslandschaft fördert und fordert geteilte Forschung: intensive Zusammenarbeit in Forschergruppen, gemeinsame Publikationen, interdisziplinäre und transnationale Kooperationen. Trotzdem sind das Selbstverständnis und die alltägliche Forschungspraxis in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften meist von individueller Arbeit geprägt. Neben den veränderten Rahmenbedingungen der Forschungsförderung implizieren jedoch auch die Forschungsgegenstände selbst neue Arbeitsteilungen; transnationale und transregionale Verflechtungen werden multilokal und mobil erforscht.

16. November 2015
Cas. 1801 & Cas. 1812, Campus Westend

In a rapidly globalizing world, area studies have often come to be regarded as a somewhat old-fashioned relic of the Cold War era and as an attempt to squeeze complex cultural, social and political ensembles into narrowly defined regional containers. In response to this critique, a new array of theories has sought to reconceptionalize area studies from a transregional perspective. The interdisciplinary lecture series "TransArea: New Paradigms in Area Studies" presents new approaches to transregional area studies developed in literary and cultural studies, anthropology, philosophy, history and the social sciences.

16. November 2015
Cas. 1801 (Renate von Metzler Saal), Campus Westend

Opening talk of the AFRASO-Lecture Series "TransArea: New Paradigms in Area Studies" (Wintersemester 2015/16).

Please notice, the lecture will be held in German!

24. June 2015
Cas. 1.811, Campus Westend

The system of indenture became a useful substitute for the slavery that was officially abolished by the British in 1838, and by the French in 1848. In this presentation I would like to implicitly compare the Anglophone Sea of Poppies, the first book in Amitav Ghosh’s recently completed “Ibis trilogy,” to the francophone Bénarés, by Mauritian novelist Barlen Pyamootoo.

11. June 2015
Campus Westend, HZ 3

Security has evolved from the margins to a much more prominent part of China’s engagement with Africa. The military aspects of China’s engagement, inseparable as these are from geopolitical concerns, remain salient. This talk, however, will explore a set of related dynamics and questions that go beyond this by examining the changing relationship between security and development in China’s relations with Africa

24. March 2015 to 26. March 2015
Cape Town, South Africa

Over the last 15 years, relations between Africans and Asians have multiplied, beginning with booming trade and increasing investments in Africa from Asia, that have been supplemented by a broad range of recently emerging social, political and cultural interactions. Globalization not only entails the rise of large-scale economic and political communities but also an historic increase in identities born of human travel and the concepts and ideas stemming from it.

06. March 2015
Goethe-Universität, Campus Westend, Casino-Gebäude, Raum 1.802

Das Projekt AFRASO (Africa's Asian Options) untersucht seit Anfang 2013 die neuen
Beziehungen zwischen den beiden Kontinenten Afrika und Asien in vergleichender und
transregionaler Perspektive. Die Fortbildung „AFRASO macht Schule“ bietet einen Einblick in neuere Forschungsergebnisse, zu Themen, die zurzeit kontrovers und intensiv in Medien und Öffentlichkeit diskutiert werden.

13. February 2015 to 14. February 2015
Fridtjof-Nansen-Haus, Ingelheim

"Nach jahrzehntelanger Vernachlässigung gehören ländliche Regionen als Schlüsselräume für Entwicklung wieder auf die politische Tagesordnung." Dieses Zitat des ehemaligen Entwicklungsministers Dirk Niebel aus dem Jahr 2010 lässt keine Zweifel: Landwirtschaft ist wieder "in". Doch woher kommt dieses plötzliche Interesse für die ländlichen Räume des Globalen Südens? ...

29. January 2015
Goethe University, Campus Westend, RuW 4.202

6 pm - 8 pm
Chinese development finance is a lightning rod for criticism. Politicians, policy analysts, and scholars charge that Beijing is using its largesse solely to cement alliances with African political leaders...

18. December 2014
Campus Westend, PEG, 1.G 192

6 pm - 8 pm
When talking about ‘Africa’s Asian Options’, mentioning North Korea is likely to provoke raised eyebrows – too dominant is the country’s othering as isolationist ‘rogue state’ or ‘hermit kingdom’ in our western mediascapes...

13. November 2014
Campus Westend, PEG, 1.G 192

6 pm - 8 pm

Lecture and title are based on joint work titled "Language Policy and Human Development" with Prof. Dr. David Laitin.

17. June 2014
PEG 1.G147 (PEG Building)

AFRASO-Lecture by Prof. Ajay Dubey (Visiting Professor Kansai University, Japan & Professor, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)

Tuesday, June 17th 2014 at 6 p.m. in Room PEG 1.G147 (PEG Building).

India and its Diaspora in Africa

05. June 2014
Campus Westend, IG Farben Building, Room IG NG 2.701

What is Africa in Chinese Eyes? Past and Present

19. May 2014
Campus Westend, IG Farben Building, Room IG 454

Dr. Renu Modi: The Indian Ocean World: the Past Alive in the Present

The ‘Indian Ocean World’ (IOW) has historical resonances. India and the littoral states of Eastern Africa referred to as the Swahili coast, have been connected since antiquity by the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean.

15. May 2014 to 17. May 2014
Goethe University, Campus Westend

AEGIS THEMATIC CONFERENCE

“Africa in the Global South: biographies of mobility and aspirations of success”

11. March 2014 to 13. March 2014
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

new early bird registration deadline: 31 January 2014

new call for papers deadline: 30 November 2013

1st INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF
AFRICA-ASIA DEVELOPMENT UNIVERSITY NETWORK - AFRICA’S ASIAN OPTIONS
(AADUN-AFRASO) 2014

30. January 2014
Room IG 411, IG-Farben building, Campus Westend

30/01/2014, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Ian Taylor: Emerging Patterns in Afro-Asian Relations: Reinscribing Dependency?

16. January 2014
Konfuzius-Institut, Dantestraße 9

16/01/2013, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.: John Njenga Karugia:Discussing China in Tanzania's Parliament

28. November 2013
Konfuzius-Institut, Dantestraße 9

28/11/2013, 6:00 p.m. - 08:00 p.m.: Dr.Cobus van Staden: CCTV in Africa – How Chinese Television Reports About Africa

14. November 2013
Aula (2. Stock), Hauptgebäude (Jügelhaus), Campus Bockenheim, Mertonstraße 17-21, 60325 Frankfurt

14/11/2013, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Opening lecture

Prof. Pang Zhongying: China’s Cultural Diplomacy in Africa – Recent Developments

28. October 2013
PEG 1.G 135, Campus Westend

28/10/2013, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.: Prof. Jamie Monson: Building Mao's African Railway:  Stories from the Other Cold War

02. August 2013
Juridicum, Room 718

AFRASO Lecture Invitation

Dr. Shigehiro Sasaki (Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University):

11. July 2013
Alter Senatssaal, Jügelhaus, Campus Bockenheim

Re-thinking Japan's Agricultural Assitance in the Brazililan Cerrado and Northern Mozambique: Local Farmers and the Environment

09. July 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

Das asiatische Engagement in Afrika und seine Auswirkungen auf westliche Geber

02. July 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

Berufliche Möglichkeiten in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit

Wie sieht das Arbeitsfeld der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (EZ) aus? Welche Qualifikationen sind für eine Tätigkeit in der EZ von Vorteil oder Voraussetzung? Und welche Möglichkeiten gibt es, sich durch gezielte Kurse und Praktika darauf vorzubereiten? Hierauf soll die Veranstaltung zu den Berufsmöglichkeiten in der EZ Antworten geben. Sie bietet auch die Chance, zu wichtigen Organisationen der deutschen EZ und spezialisierten Weiterbildungseinrichtungen direkten Kontakt zu knüpfen.

TeilnehmerInnen:

18. June 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

Veränderungen in der politischen Kultur Afrikas durch asiatischen Einfluss

Politische Prozesse in Afrika sind nicht immer mit westlichen Demokratiemodellen kongruent und schon seit Jahrzehnten gibt es Diskussionen, inwieweit die politischen Strukturen und Systeme von außen beeinflussbar sind. Dabei stellt sich immer mehr die Frage, ob sich die politische Kultur in Afrika mittlerweile mehr durch eine verstärkte Interaktion mit Asien verändert.

13. June 2013
Casino Room 1.801, Westend Campus

South-South migration and trade: Sino-African small traders in Senegal and China

04. June 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

African-Asian Landscapes: Süd-Süd Beziehungen in Prozessen der globalen Landnahme

21. May 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

China's Economic Cooperation and its role for economic transition in Africa

China's trade, investment and aid contribute to economic transition in Africa and create new opportunities for promoting growth and reducing poverty. Realising this potential will depend on China drawing lessons from its own successful record of economic growth and poverty reduction, including the development of the agricultural sector and of the rural areas, of infrastructure and the creation of an attractive environment for businesses to flourish and to create jobs.

07. May 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

Working and Living Together: Realities of Life for Africans in Asia and Asian in Africa.

Thousands of Africans and Asians live on the other’s continent. In some cases there is talk of new waves of migration and the replacement of Europe as number one destination. But what can be said about the experiences of these people and what do they mean for the African-Asian perspectives?

23. April 2013
Hörsaal II, Hörsaalgebäude Mertonstr. 17-21, Campus Bockenheim

Evolving cartographies of power: Geo-economic and geo-institutional forces in northeast Asia-Africa relations in past and present

The current shift in economic gravity towards Asia has major ramifications for the African continent. Indeed, growing trade and investment ties between African countries, and the rising powers of north and south Asia have been part of a change in economic trajectory for many countries in Africa in recent years. What underpins this apparent shift, how deep does it go, and with what implications?

07. February 2013
Historische Aula, Juegelhaus, Campus Bockenheim

Thursday, 7 Feb 2013, 6.15pm, Historische Aula Juegelhaus, Campus Bockenheim

Keynote Address by Dr. Celestin Monga, Senior Advisor Worldbank: The Political Economy of Dignity: Understanding the New Asia-Africa Dynamics.