Principal Investigator
Project Description
This project builds on existing collaborations between IAS and institutions in West and North Africa and France to explore innovative approaches in researching, writing, and teaching theory and methodology in an African context through summer seminars to be held at the Columbia Global Center in Nairobi (with the possibility of including the Center in Tunis at a later date). It brings together faculty and students working within disciplines across Arts & Sciences in the fields of history, anthropology, philosophy, political science, urban planning, and literature, and in doing so, encourages all participants to think across these disciplines and between the social sciences and humanities to generate new approaches and ways of thinking about African philosophy and epistemologies as well as issues of urban space, politics, religion and citizenship. These conversations and activities will take place within the context of summer seminar that will include Columbia faculty and students as well as faculty and students in Kenya. Additional scholars and students from Nigeria and France will join these summer seminars with the use of external funds. These seminars will last 10 days and will be held in June or July at the Global Centers in Nairobi. Modeled after a summer program that the IAS is sponsoring this June in Nigeria, these workshops will be taught collaboratively by Columbia and local faculty, and will instruct students in theory and methodology that privileges an African lens and includes a hands on opportunity to learn practical ethnography based research skills in various local field sites. All activities will be planned in collaboration with our colleagues in the Philosophy Department at the University of Nairobi who coined an innovative approach to fieldwork on African philosophy, and our colleagues at the Technical University of Kenya and local activists working on urban projects throughout the city.