News Archive
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman
07.03.2023
What do Europeans do when they hear the war waged by the government of Ethiopia has killed more people than the war in Ukraine?
Dr. Jochen Lingelbach at the conference "Africa's Mobility Struggles" (Feb 22 - 23, 2023)
20.02.2023
Dr. Jochen Lingelbach from the Chair of African History will give a workshop/panel on "Mobility Control" at the conference "Africa's Mobility Struggles" on February 23.
The conference is organized by the research group "Mobilities" within the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence of the University of Bayreuth. It will take place at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya. Moi University is an African Cluster Center (ACC); the ACCs are partner institutions of the Bayreuth Cluster of Excellence "Africa Multiple" and serve as nodes for joint research initiatives and networks within the cluster.
The conference is open to the public online via Zoom, the program and the Zoom link can be found here.
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman 20.02.2023
White Saviourism is a Colonial Legacy. But White Indifference is the Larger One.
The discussion on decolonizing humanitarian aid is important. But it may well feed into false understandings of postcolonial discrimination. The main legacy of colonialism is not compassion. It's indifference.
Successful Dissertation Defense
02.02.2023
Catheline Bosibori Nyabwengi finished her doctoral defense successfully on the 2nd of February 2023 with Magna Cum Laude. After the Presentation of her study “Women Fighters in Kenya; 1952-2019” she championed the enquiry by the committee, led by Prof. Behrends.
Congratulations!
Award winner: Outstanding Academic Titel (Choice Reviews, 2022)
09.01.2023
E.Uchendu & N. Edeagu (ed.), Gender and Patriarchy in Africa
This mulitdimensional work brings together scholars from Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, the US and many more.The contributing authors examine patriarchal structures of dominance and systemic hindrances to full equality. The work is among the Editor's Picks for June 2022 and honoured by Choice Reviews as an "outstanding academic work" in 2022.
New article by Robin Frisch
30.11.2022
"One country, one government, one flag and soon one currency"
Le franc CFA au Cameroun anglophone (1960-1963)
This article examines the colonial monetarisation of Cameroun in the 1960s. The focus is not only on the politically legitimizing functions of currencies but also on their building capacities of a national identity.
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman
27.11.2022
"Politics from Nowhere. Humanitarian aid and the history from weightless institutions"
Humanitarian institutions often appear as hovering above the political and local events, as being neutral, impartial and universalistic. But those who save lifes, act politically. How is that compatible?
New article from Robin Frisch
30.08.2022
Alternativlos? Nein. Warum monetäre Souveränität für die Staaten der Franc-CFA-Zone so wichtig ist.
Seit Jahrzehnten steht der Franc CFA in westafrikanischen Staaten als „neokoloniale“ Währung in der Kritik. Viele fordern eine Währungsreform. Was monetäre Souveränität bedeutet und wie sie in den Franc CFA-Staaten debattiert wird, erläutert Robin Frisch (Universität Bayreuth) in diesem Megatrends Afrika Spotlight.
Book review of Prof. Joël Glasman's book "Petit manuel d'auto-défense à l'usage des volontaires"
09.04.2024
The journal Humanitarian Alternatives publishes a review of Prof. Joël Glasman's latest book. The review by Sylvain Pénicaud is titled "Humanitarian humanities: a combat sport?"
New PhD Project: Decolonizing Humanitarianism. Race and Power in the humanitarian sector (by Darja Wolfmeier)
09.04.2022
This project explores race inequalities and power relations in the humanitarian sector. There has been barely any academic work on the sociological and practical realities of racial inequalities in emergency aid. This project will offer one of the first historical sociology of racial inequalities of a leading humanitarian organization.
New bookreview by Perseverence Madhuku 05.04.2023
The Political Life of an Epidemic: Cholera, Crisis and Citizenship in Zimbabwe. By Siukai Chigudu.
New exhibition opening
20. April 2023
The exhibition opens on the 12th May at 9pm in the Erika Fuchs Haus in Schwarzenbach an der Saale. The exhibition presents great pieces of African storytelling through comics and art. The exhibition was developped in cooperation with students of the University of Bayreuth in the context of a seminar lead by Robin Frisch.
New Article by Dr. Jochen Lingelbach
03.11.2021
In this short article the new book "On the Edges of Whiteness" is presented. During World War Two a large group of Polish refugees arrived after an extraordinary odyssey in the British colonies in East and Central Africa. How did the colonial administrators and settlers handle this heavy influx of poor whites? How did Africans view these destitute Europeans? And how did the refugees position themselves in the racist, hierarchical colonial societies?
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman
28.09.2021
The myth of humanitarian action supported by data and scientific evidence has had its day – or so argues the author here, drawing on the history of the most widely known standards in the sector. He does not refute the essential role that science can and must play within it, provided it does within the framework of a permanent dialogue with the stakeholders and not on the basis of the exploitation of science.
Successful Dissertation Defense 15.01.2024 Ibrahima Sene finished his doctoral defense successfully in the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar (Senegal) on the 29th of december 2023 with the best grade. After the Presentation of his study “Die Geschichtserfahrung des deutschen Kolonialismus in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur (1978-2015)” he championed the enquiry by the committee (picture).
Congratulations!
New Blogpost by Perseverence Madhuku 07.12.2023
The Medicalisation of Exhaustion: Kruschen Salts in Early Twentieth-Century Southern Africa
The article explores the increasing demand of so called "Exhaustian Cures" in southern Africa in the early twentieth century and embedds it in into the broader historical colonial background.
Neuerscheinung von Prof. Dr. Joël Glasman und Marcia C. Schenck
14.09.2023
Nehmt endlich die Welt in den Blick!
Ein Vorschlag, wie die provinziellen deutschen Geschichtswissenschaften globaler werden können
(Newspaper article in German)
"China hat die größte Armee der Welt, Afrika das schnellste Wirtschaftswachstum, Indien ist die bevölkerungsreichste Demokratie. Es ist an der Zeit, das Studium dieser Gesellschaften als strategische Priorität zu definieren. Um zu entscheiden, wie man zu unserer Welt stehen möchte, muss man sie kennen. Das ist keine Option, es ist unabdingbar im 21. Jahrhundert."
In: Die Zeit N°39, S. 36.
Kostenlos online hier zugänglich.
New article by Robin Frisch
10.03.2021
“Fraudonomics”: Cartooning against Structural Adjustment in Togo
This article offers a sensative reading of political oppositional cartoons in Togo in the early 90s, during the period of structural adjustment, which was accompanied by the swift reversal of democartizing trends and the restoration of authritarian rule.
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman and Brendan Lawson:
14.09.2023
Ten Things We Know about Humanitarian Numbers
The modern humanitarian sector is gripped by a data frenzy. How can we take a step back and critically engage with what datafication means?
After outlining three broad theoretical positions within the literature, this introduction to the special section points to ‘ten things we know about humanitarian numbers’. These points, taken together, offer different springboards from which academics can launch into critiques of data in the humanitarian sector.
In: in Journal of Humanitarian Affairs, Volume 5, Issue 1.
Online available here.
New article by Prof. Joël Glasman 27.09.2023
Petit manuel d'auto-défense à l'usage des volontaires.
Humanitarian action involves difficult choices. Should you accept the conditions of access imposed by jihadists? Should you leave refugee camps when aid is diverted? Can you accept donations from any private company? Should humanitarian organisations make the fight against global warming their priority?
The first Humanitarian Humanities textbook offers a time of reflection. From the history of humanitarian action to the anthropology of global health and the sociology of massacres, this textbook offers an overview of the most useful research for thinking in emergency situations. An introduction to the humanities for those who help others to save their lives and dignities.
The introduction is open access here.
New Article by Prof. Joël Glasman
23.11.2020
It is about the principle of impartiality in the field of humanitarian aid. Therefore he talks about the history and change of impartiality from a fundermental principle of legitimacy from aid organisations to a rather mathematical and alogrithmic principle.