Team > Ibrahima Sene

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
African History

CV

Academic Education:

2021–2024: Master’s degree in Culture and Society of Africa (M.A.), University of  Bayreuth
Focus: Development Policy and Development Sociology / History with a focus on Africa
Thesis Topic: “Integrating or Suppressing Knowledge? Examining the Inclusion of Local Voices in GIZ and AFD Projects in Senegal”
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Alexander Stroh-Steckelberg, University of Bayreuth

2018–2023: Doctorate in Intercultural German Studies and Comparative Literature at UCAD, Dakar / Saarland University (Saarbrücken)
Dissertation Topic: “The Historical Experience of German Colonialism in Contemporary German-Language Literature (1978–2015)”
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ibrahima Diagne (UCAD, Dakar) & Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Saarland University)
Grade: Summa cum laude

2015–2016: Master’s degree in Intercultural German Studies & Communication at Cheikh Anta Diop University
Thesis Topic: “Senegal in Contemporary German-Language Travel Literature”
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ibrahima Diagne

2012–2014: Bachelor’s degree in German Studies at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Dakar.

Work Experience (University):

Since April 2023: Research Associate at the Chair of African History, University of Bayreuth

06–09/2021: Research Assistant to Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Senior Professor at the Chair of Romance Cultural Studies and Intercultural Communication, Saarland University)

04–09/2021: Lecturer on the topic “German Colonialism in Francophone Literature” at Saarland University

03–08/2016: Lecturer on the topic “Compréhension & Rédaction” at Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD), Department of German Languages and Civilizations, Prof. Dr. Ibrahima Diagne

Publications

Book / Monograph:

Sene, Ibrahima. Die Geschichtserfahrung des deutschen Kolonialismus in der deutschsprachigen Gegenwartsliteratur (1978-2015). Königshausen & Neumann, forthcoming 2025.

Edited Volume:

Sene, Ibrahima, and Marcus Mühlnikel, editors. Afrika im Bayreuther Alltag: Repräsentationen, lokale Diskurse und Erinnerungskultur. University of Bamberg Press, forthcoming 2025.

Book Chapter:

Sene, Ibrahima."Forms and Obstacles of Reparation in Bernhard Jaumann’s Der lange Schatten". Reparation, Restitution, and the Politicsof Memory / Réparation, restitution et les politiques de la mémoire:Perspectives from Literary, Historical, and Cultural Studies, edited by Mario Laarmann et al., De Gruyter, 2023, pp. 225-242.

Sene, Ibrahima. "Afrikanische diasporische Wissensproduktion und die Politik der Ausblendung in Frankreich und Deutschland." Afrikawissen inDeutschland, edited by Hans Peter Hahn and Sylvestre Kouakou. Transkript Verlag, forthcoming 2025.

Essays:

Sene, Ibrahima. "Forms and Obstacles of Reparation in Bernhard Jaumann’s Der lange Schatten." In: Reparation, Restitution and the Politics of Memory, edited by Mario Laarmann et al., De Gruyter, 2023, pp. 225–242.

Sene, Ibrahima. "African Diasporic Knowledge Production and the Politics of Omission in France and Germany." In: Afrikawissen in Deutschland, edited by Hans Peter Hahn and Sylvestre Kouakou. Transcript Verlag, forthcoming 2025.

Newspaper Article:

Sene, Ibrahima. “Pouvoir et Répression Politique : Les Pratiques Contestées du Régime de Macky Sall” Rewmi, Dakar, 19. Januar 2024, pp. 8

Conferences and Lectures

09–11 Oct. 2024: “Colonialism and Collective Memory in Germany: The Voices of the African Diaspora and Petitions on Colonial Legacy (2015–2023)” Marc Bloch Forum, Workshop: “Colonialism, Restitution and Memory,” Berlin

20 Sep. 2024: Guest Lecture: “The Challenge of Integration and Diversity: African Presence in Upper Franconia.” Organized by: Evangelisches Bildungswerk Oberfranken-Mitte e.V., Bayreuth

18–19 July 2024: “African (Colonial) Migrants: Knowledge Transmission and Suppression (Germany and France)” Workshop: Goethe University Frankfurt, organized by Sylvestre Kouakou & Hans Peter Hahn

09–13 Sep. 2021: International Summer School on: “Restitution, Reparations, Reparation – Towards a New Global Society?”, Villa Vigoni – German-Italian Center for European Dialogue –, Cluster for European Research (CEUS), Saarland University

8–10 July 2021: “Narratives of the Third Reich as a Literary Bridge to German Colonial History,” Transnational Graduate School in the Humanities and Social Sciences: “LOGOS 2021”

17 June 2020: “Fiction and Historical Knowledge in the Experience of German Colonialism in Contemporary Literature.” Guest Lecture at Saarland University (Center for Lifelong Learning (ZelL) and GradUS program)

4–6 July 2019: “Innovating the Vision of German Colonialism through Fiction: The Example of Sansibar Blues Oder: Wie ich Livingstone fand (2008) by Hans Christoph Buch,” Transnational Graduate School in the Humanities and Social Sciences, “LOGOS 2019”

13–15 July 2017: “Photography and Travel Writing: Intermedial Dimension and Confirmation of Knowledge in Representing Senegal,” International Colloquium: “Globalized Media Cultures and Senegalese Literatures. Intermedial Dimensions from the Colonial to the Postmodern Era,” Saarland University

Research Interests:

• German Colonial History
  
• Memory and Remembrance Studies
  
• African Travel Literature
• Cultural and Knowledge Transfer
  

Postdoctoral Project:

•  Working title: “Speaking Truth to Empire: Legacy and (Dis-)Continuity of Afro-Diasporic Knowledge in contemporary associations”
  

Knowledge production and circulation within diasporic networks have gained prominence in recent years, re-evaluating (Black) diasporas in Europe through postcolonial and decolonial perspectives. While existing literature in Diaspora and Black studies often emphasizes the biographies of key historical figures tied to national identities (van der Heyden 2008; Sarr 2011) or highlights the role of transnational networks in anti-colonial struggles (Weiss 2014; Goebel 2016; Edwards 2003; Sonderegger 2020), and the mechanisms of knowledge circulation (Florvil 2018; Meyer 2011; Östling 2018; Keim & Medina 2023), less attention has been given to how these networks shaped and transformed knowledge across borders. This project explores Afro-diasporic knowledge – defined as cultural practices, discourses, intellectual traditions, and lived experiences of African migrants and Afro-descendants, shaped by the legacies of colonialism and slavery, and their navigation of contemporary socio-political realities in foreign or often hostile environments. It proposes that (contemporary) Afro-diasporic associations in Europe serve as both platforms for disseminating knowledge and spaces for negotiating with hostile socio-political contexts, leading to the re-appropriation, transformation and dilution of shaped Afro-diasporic knowledge.

This project focuses on two main sources: the Ligue de Défense de la Race Nègre, founded in 1927, and (ii) its German section, the Liga zur Verteidigung der Negerrasse (1929), examining key figures like Lamine Senghor (1889-1927), Tiemoko Garan Kouyaté (1902-1944) and Joseph Bilé (1895-1957). It also includes interviews with representatives of two contemporary Afro-diasporic associations in France and Germany, such as Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (CRAN) and Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD). Methodologically, the project combines content and network analysis, grounded in archival research and interviews. These methods are framed within post-colonial theory (subaltern studies), cultural theories of knowledge circulation, and network analysis from sociology.

Keywords: Afro-diasporic knowledge, Empire, Legacy, Diasporic Activism, Germany, France

Teaching:

Winter Semester 2024/25: “Civil Societies in Postcolonial Africa: Actors, Spaces of Participation, Public Media”

Winter Semester 2024/25: “Travel Literature in Colonial Africa”

Summer Semester 2023: “Black Internationalism (1920–1960)”

Winter Semester 2023/24: “Africa in Everyday Life in Bayreuth: History and Memory Culture”

Summer Semester 2023: "Travel Literature in Colonial Africa"

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
African History

German Colonial History
Memory and Remembrance Research
Africa -Travel Literature
Cultural and Knowledge Transfe Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
African History

Ibrahima Sene
Teaching Assistant

Building GW II, Room 2.19
(Online) Office Hours: upon consultation

E-mail: ibrahima.sene@uni-bayreuth.de