Research and Higher Education as Global Exchange

Gathering six experts in the field of African studies, specializing in different disciplines and languages, the discussion will focus on larger issues of policy making that might impact on international university exchanges as well as on specific questions related to research projects. The example of Africa is particularly interesting also beyond the field because it actualizes complex questions linked to the unevenness of global exchanges on several levels, the history and present of Western colonialism, the linguistic and cultural variety, that will shed light on blind-spots in European research and university politics as well. How do we cooperate in ways that do not repeat colonial structures of power? What are the challenges of conducting research in vulnerable situations? In a globalized academic world, what are the possibilities of decolonized research? As global history becomes more present on campuses across the world how can we conduct critical pedagogies in tune with other spaces?

Participants:

Ruth Bush, professor of Comparative Literatures and Cultures at the University of Bristol, and PI “The Creative Lives of African Universities” ERC Starting Grant

Sten Hagberg, professor in Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Forum for Africa Studies at Uppsala University

Ashleigh Harris, professor of English at Uppsala University and PI “African Literary Metadata” ERC Advanced Grant

Stefan Helgesson, professor of English, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Stockholm University

Friederike Lüpke, professor of African Studies and Chair of the Africa Research Forum for the Social Sciences and the Humanities at Helsinki University

Oulia Makkonen, Dr in Theology and research coordinator at the Forum for Africa Studies at Uppsala University