Basel has become a centre for Africa-related research. This development is rooted in a long research tradition at various institutions in the region and has been fostered by the University of Basel's strong commitment to research on, in, with and for Africa. Our Centre acts as an interface for exchange between disciplines, faculties and institutions outside the University.

Six key areas of activities (KAAs) have been defined on the basis of the competence and fields of research at the University of Basel and its partner institutions. In addition, each affiliated subject area, department and institution has its own research profile.


Key areas of activities

Research in the five key areas will help to close important gaps in our understanding of the processes of rapid change in Africa, provide opportunities to tackle conceptual and methodological challenges in interdisciplinary and disciplinary research, and contribute to social development on the continent.


Departments and partner organisations

The Research Network Africa is based on the competences and activities of different research groups, subject areas and departments at the University of Basel and at various partner organisations. They all contribute to research on, in, with and for Africa, as well as to teaching and training at ZASB.



Thomas Betschart (Urban Studies)How Transport Infrastructure shapes Territory in Contemporary Africa
Stephanie Bishop (African Studies)Zambian Water Diaries: Technology in Practice
Andrea Christina Buhl-Colmsee (Anthropology)Images of Palliative Care in Tanzania – A Hospital-Ethnography in a Cancer Clinic in Dar es Salaam
Chiara Carrara  
Jung Yeon (Jacqui) Cho (Political Science)Project: International Peacemaking in Pursuit of a “Good Peace”: Integration or Separation?
Kaue Nogarotto Crima Bellini (Anthropology)Transatlantic Cruising: racialized spaces, mobility, intimacy, and Queer worlding
Raja Daoua (Economics)Emerging Trends, Developments and Opportunities of Islamic Finance: The Moroccan Case
Masa Davidovic (Epidemiology)Cancer prevention for women living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
Maria Esther Leticia Eburi Losoha (Epidemiology)Improvement of immunization uptake among pregnant women in Equatorial Guinea: Mixed methods approach
Tolulope Esther Fadeyi (History)Engendering the Colony: Maternal Health, Indigenous Knowledge and European Medicine in Southwest Nigeria, 1925-1960
Anaïs Galli (Epidemiology)Evaluating the effects of handwashing stations and hygiene promotion in primary health care facilities in the context of humanitarian emergencies
Samantha Gamez (Political Science)Project: International Peacemaking in Pursuit of a “Good Peace”: Integration or Separation?
Jennifer Giroux (Anthropology)Violence Next to Peace: Toggling between social spaces in the Niger Delta
Andrea Graf (History)Out of Sight? Bilharzia in Madagascar as a Global History of ‘Neglected Tropical Diseases’, 1950 to the present
Semhar Haile (Urban Studies)PRECURBICA — Freetown case study
Sang Hoon Han (Theology)The role of religious NGOs in the peacebuilding process in post-civil war Burundi
Nadira Haribe (Soziologie)Care Under Suspicion: A Feminist Ethnography of Ethical Communities in the Context of Counterterrorism Legislation in Switzerland
Kai Florian Herzog (History)Violent Encounters: Practices and Perceptions of Violence in Southern Namibia and the Northern Cape, c. 1880-1910
Max Hufschmidt (History)The Last Missionary Frontier: Health Care, Power, and Development in Lesotho in the 20th Century
Olutoyin Ikuteyijo (Epidemiology)Understanding Sexual and Reproductive health of Female Adolescents and Experience of Gender-Based Violence in Slum Areas of Southwest Nigeria
Franziska Jenni (Anthropology)Art/articulations: Art and the formation of Social Space in African Cities
Seyram Kaali (Epidemiology)A Prospective Cohort Study on Early Life Household Air Pollution and Cardiovascular Disease Risk in Childhood
Mellisa Chipo Kaliofasi (History)Death and Belongings: African Customs, the Colonial State and Deceased Estates Management in Southern Rhodesia
Tebuho Winnie Kanyimba (African Studies) 
Eva Kocher (History)Development through insurance – The postcolonial formation of the insurance industry in Nigeria and Cameroon
Katienegnimin Seydou Konate (French Literature)Bestiaire et biotope végétal dans la littérature de jeunesse de Côte d’Ivoire
Thanushiyah Korn (History)Development, Cooperation, and Conflict - A Global History of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda
Fabian Krautwald (History)Gone but Still Here: remembering German colonialism in Namibia and Tanzania, 1914-1969
Frida Lyonga (African Studies)Homosexuality and the African: Change and Persistence of Homophobic Attitudes among African Migrants in Switzerland
Simone Markoff (Environmental Sciences)Analyzing possible pathways to align biodiversity conservation with agricultural development in Tanzania
Matthias Maurer Rueda (Sociology)Citizenship, Immigration and political identity: Ethnographic studies of retribalization among political activists in Switzerland
Frederick Gyamfi Mensah (Theology)Reactions to Racism and Xenophobia in the Context of Global Migration: Ghanain christians in Switzerland and South Africa
Francis Daudi Mlacha (History)A History of insurance in Tanzania and Kenya (20th century)
Abdelradi Mohammed (Economics) 
Regina Molomo (Epidemiology)Reproductive health effects of pesticide exposure on children in the rural Western Cape, South Africa
Barbara Müller (African Studies)The Student Movement and the Matabeleland Conflict in Zimbabwe 
Ndeshimona Namupala (Sociology)A study on transformative social transfer systems in rural households of Zambezi region, Namibia
Brian  Ngwenya (History)Order, Politics and Memory: African Police and State-Making in Zimbabwe, c1960-90
Lotte Nielsen (Anthropology)Making the City: The Politics and Potentiality of Urban Uncertainty in Johannesburg, South Africa
Belinda Nimako (Epidemiology)Linkages between Natural Resource Extraction Projects and the Health System for Sustainable Development
Nesisa Analisa Nyathi (Environmental Sciences)Remote Sensing in Krüger Park
Corinne Othenin-Girard (Sociology)Transhumanism, Technological Colonisation, Functional Diversity
Raffaele Perniola (History)Shellac and Shacks - Early Namibian Musical Records and Modern Sound Media in the Context of Migrant Labour, 1950s–1970s
Claudine Rakotomanana (Anthropology)Transnational union between Malagasy women and non-Malagasy men: compelling attraction on sex, affect, money and power
Melina Rutishauser (Anthropology)Participation in Social Health Protection: Women’s Engagement in Tanzania
Stéphane Saintil (French Literature)Au premier coup de canon d’alarme, les villes disparaissent et la nation est debout » : Pour une analyse de la fabrique littéraire de la nation haïtienne (1804–1915)
Melanie Sampayo Vidal (African Studies)Violences et Résistances dans le théâtre postcolonial au Mali
Samuel Sarpanin (Theology)Akan Christology - towards a contemporary Akan Christology
Nathalie Claire Schöbitz (Urban Studies)When it rains, it pours: changing climate patterns, infrastructure and the African city (Kampala)
Rufino Sitoe (African Studies)Violent Extremism and Youth: Public Policies as factors of (De) Mobilization in Mozambique
Peter Ssekkadde (Epidemiology)The impact of interventions and farming practices on the health and well-being of smallholder farmer families in Uganda
Mathias Tanner (Theology)Interfaith Peacebuilding. Examining the Impact of Interfaith Peacebuilding Initiatives in a Violent Political Conflict with an Ethno-Religious Dimension in Jos, Nigeria
Pius Jonas Vögele (African Studies)Afrofuturism Echoes Back – Hip Hop’s Sonic Fictions from Black Atlantis
Berihun Wagaw (African Studies)Dealing with belonging in Times of Crisis: The Impact of the Tigray War on Ethiopian Migrant Communities in Switzerland.
Ursula  Wüthrich Grossenbacher (African Studies)Impact of religion/spirituality (R/S) on the outcome of HIV care in different health settings in rural and urban Zimbabwe with a special focus on adolescent patients
Faisal Nooh Ali (Epidemiology)Epidemiology and control of hypertension in Somaliland2024
Sindi-Leigh McBride (African Studies)The Politics and Poetics of Climate Change in South Africa and Nigeria2024
Cita Wetterich (Gender Studies)Violence against male Refugees – Patterns, Factors and Consequences for Individuals and Communities2024
Temitope Christina Adebayo-Ojo (Epidemiology)A new global Air Quality Health Index based on the 2021 WHO Air Quality Guideline Values2023
Shreya Shrikhande (Epidemiology)Climate change and cardiovascular diseases in India and South Africa: Impacts, perceptions and policy responses2023
Kirubel Mussie (Biomedical Ethics)Ethical issues in the healthcare of older adults in Ethiopia2023
Toon Dirkx (Political Science)The Political Stability of Post-Insurgent States: Institutional Legacies of Rebel Governance in Eritrea and South Sudan2023
Julia Rensing (African Studies)Trouble Archives: Namibia Auto/Biographical Accounts and Artistic Practices as Archival Interventions2023
Silvia Balzan (Anthropology)"Don't Understand Me Too Soon" Pancho Guedes and the Protestant Missons Socio-spatial Alternatives in Late Colonial and Postcolonial Mozambique2022
Olalekan Oluwaseyi Arowosegbe (Epidemiology)Air pollution exposure assessment in sparsely monitored settings; applying machine-learning methods with remote sensing data in South Africa2022
Giulia Scotto (Urban Studies)ENI's "Grande Disegno Africano": Oil Infrastructure between Decolonization and Neo-Imperialism2022
Helene Widmer (Sociology)Interdependenz von Individuum und Gesellschaft in Bezug auf Religion und Glaube. Am Beispiel der methodistischen Kirche und der Akan in Ghana. Does religion enhance or undermine work ethic?2022
Bédjou Prisca N'Dri (Epidemiology)Malaria in Elibou region, south of Côte d’Ivoire: transmission and insecticide resistance2022
Herry Mapesi (Epidemiology)Non-communicable diseases in people living with HIV in rural Africa: tackling the double burden2022
Sharmarke Jama Dugsiye (Sociology)Pastoral Conflict Management and the Role of Indigenous Knowledge and Customary Institutions in Conflict Resolution, Somali Region, Ethiopia2022
Ernest Sewordor (Urban Studies)Race, Infrastructure, and the Evolution of Gold-mining Hinterlands in South-western Gold Coast (Ghana), c. 1900-19572022
Mamane Tassiou Amadou (Anthropology)Sur la dynamique des fada des jeunes dans la ville de Zinder, Niger2022
Marta Rudnicka (Anthropology)Tastescapes in Ghana. Eating, cooking and culinary praxis in Northern Ghana2022
Balz Andrea  Alter (Science of Religion)Back from greener pastures2021
Ulrike  Lühe (Political Science)Developing the African Union Transitional Justice Policy. A Study in the Practice(s) of Expertise in International Relations2021
Nancy Matowo (Epidemiology)Dynamics of insecticide resistance in Anopheles arabiensis and Culex pipiens complex, and its associations to agricultural practices in southern Tanzania2021
Joëlle Schwarz (Epidemiology)Family Planning in Burundi: Hegemonic Discourse, Reproductive Navigation and Embodied Experiences in a Fragile Context2021
Andrea Leuenberger (Epidemiology)Investigating health impacts and equity in communities surrounding large natural resource extraction projects in sub-Saharan Africa: a contribution to sustainable development2021
Jamie Pring (Political Science)Making the Middle: Localizing Inclusivity in the IGAD-led Mediation in South Sudan (2013-2015)2021
Khadeeja "Haddy" Sarr (African Studies)Narratives of Identity, Multi-Sited Biographies, and Transnational Life-Modes of Highly Qualified Migrants. Senegambia Migrants in Switzerland and Swiss Migrants in Senegambia2021
Andrea Azizi Kifyasi (History)Neither Saviour nor Exploiter: A Historical Study of China's Medical Assistance in Post-Colonial Tanzania2021
Céline Mbilo (Epidemiology)Rabies Epidemiology in DR Congo and Chad 2021
Alain Amstutz (Clinical Research)Supporting Lesotho on the way towards the UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets: Operational and clinical research addressing HIV/AIDS care in resource-limited settings2021
Kuwawenaruwa August Joachim Shayo (Epidemiology)The effects of Jazia prime vendor system in complementing the existing pharmaceutical supply chain across public healthcare facilities in Tanzania2021
Janet Michel (Epidemiology)Towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) policy roll-out experience in South Africa : how and why policy-practice gaps come about in a UHC context2021
Nina Brunner (Epidemiology)Treatment seeking and case management for suspected severe malaria in the context of implementing rectal artesunate2021
Jerry Hella (Epidemiology)Understanding the epidemiology and transmission of tuberculosis among adults in rural and urban Tanzania2021
Shakuntala Mhlanga (Epidemiology)An epidemiological cohort study of children and adolescents investigating neurobehavioural effects from pesticide exposure and e-media use in South Africa2020
Jin Ding (African Studies)China in Africa: Perspectives on development and emergence2020
Dominik Dietler (Epidemiology)Impact of mining projects on environmental determinants of health and associated health outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: insights for guiding impact assessment practice2020
Natalie Tarr (African Studies)Interpreting the Administration: Burkina Faso's Courts in Translation2020
Frederik Unseld (Anthropology)Making Art Work: Articulating Art and Urban Marginality in Kisumu, Kenya2020
Stephen Asol Kapinde (Theology)Political Sermons in Kenyas Quest for Democratic Governance between 1986 and 2010: A case Study of the selected sermons from the three Anglican Clergy2020
Kpongbo Etienne Angora (Epidemiology)Population genetic structure and hybridization of schistosomes in schoolchildren in Côte d’Ivoire2020
Owusuaa Adwoa Bobie (Sociology)Rebranding African, Reclothing Africa: The influence of Emerging Designers in the Production of Aesthetic Cosmopolitanism in Nigerian Fashion Industry2020
Peter Ayoola Oderinde (African Studies)The role of Internet in migrants’ Christianity: A case study of Nigerian Pentecostal churches in Switzerland2020
Lianne Gonsalves (Epidemiology)Understanding the role of pharmacies as contraceptive outlets for young people (ages 18-24) in Coastal Kenya2020
Jacob Geuder (Sociology)Visualizing Urban Struggles: Video Activism as Utopian Practice2020
Anna Christen (Anthropology)Walking Together. Perils of Participation in Anthropology and Philosophy of Action. A Case Study in Post-Apartheid South Africa2020
Maren Larsen (Urban Studies)Worlding Home: Peacekeepers, Camp Space, and Urbanity in Goma, DRC2020
Betty Bukenya Nambuusi (Epidemiology)Assessing the effects of interventions on child and maternal health-related outcomes in Uganda2019
Aïdas Sanogo (Anthropology)Corruption, conflict and cities in West and East Africa2019
Sandra Staudacher (Anthropology)Cosmopolitan Aging in Urban Zanzibar: Elderhood, Health and Transnational Care Spaces Related to Oman2019
Langelihle Mlotshwa (Epidemiology)Exploring incident HIV in Pregnant Women and Sexual Risk Behaviours and Practices in Soweto, South Africa2019
Grace Mhalu (Epidemiology)Identifying community determinants of health seeking behaviour and the contribution of socio-cultural and gender aspects to improve tuberculosis case detection in Tanzania2019
Juliane Krenz (Environmental Sciences)Land degradation and Carbon erosion in Southern Africa2019
Dennis Massue (Epidemiology)Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Bed Net (LLINs) for malaria control in Tanzania: Barriers to physical and chemical protection2019
Ousmane Seydi (History)Voyages et construction d'une identité savante à l'epoque moderne. Michel Adanson (1727-1806): un homme des Lumières en quête d'une reconnaissance scientifique2019
Melanie Boehi (History)A South African social garden: people, plants and multispecies histories in the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden2018
Andrea Grolimund (Anthropology)Ageing, Agency and Health in Dar es Salaam2018
Julius Ssempira (Epidemiology)Bayesian spatial-temporal modeling of malaria risk in Uganda during 2009-2016, and the effect of control interventions and health system strengthening2018
Samuel Andreas Admasie (African Studies)Dynamics of Assertive Unionism in Ethiopia2018
Susann Ludwig (African Studies)La chance: En Ethnography. University Graduates making Sense of Uncertainty in Bamako, Mali2018
Victoria Amma Agyeiwaah Osei-Bonsu (Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies)Representations of the African Other in Selected Works of Joseph Conrad2018
Tanja Hammel (History)Shaping Science and Society at the Cape – A Relational History of Mary Elizabeth Barber 2018
Anne Laube (Sociology)The Organisation of Violence in the Actions of the Lord’s Resistance Army2018
Beryl Akoth Bwong (Environmental Sciences)At the crossroads of two biodiversity hotspots : the biogeographic patterns of Shimba Hills, Kenya2017
Séverine Erismann (Epidemiology)Children’s intestinal parasite and nutritional patterns in face of integrated school garden, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in central Burkina Faso2017
Kristina Keitel (Epidemiology)e-POCT: Improving health outcomes of febrile childresn in Tanzania through innovative point-of-care technologies at the primary care level2017
Julia Büchele (Sociology)Expat Spouses in Kampala, Uganda: An Ethnography of Migration from the Global North2017
Mari Dumbaugh (Epidemiology)Influencing Factors on the Utilization of Maternal Health Services and Uptake of Family Planning in the Context of Conditional Cash Transrers, South Kivu, DRC2017
Gabriela Bueno Bittencourt Silva (Environmental Sciences)Lacuna Mozambique : adding an important piece to the African jigsaw puzzle2017
Myra Posluschny-Treuner (Political Science)Land grabbing or an essential move towards development? A case study of Ethiopia2017
Sabine Renggli (Epidemiology)Promoting Universal Health Coverage in Tanzania: An Evaluation of the Initiative to Strengthen Affordability and Quality of Health Care (ISAQH)2017
Olivier Moreillon (Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies)Reading the Post-Apartheid City. Urbanite and Capetonian Literary Topographies in Selected Texts Beyond 20002017
Sokhna Thiam (Epidemiology)Spatial analysis of diarrhoea and environmental risk factors in an urban context in Senegal, West Africa2017
Vladimir Wingate (Environmental Sciences)Terrestrial ecosystem change monitoring: Satellite remote sensing the Namibian savannah biomes in the context of the global carbon cycle and local livelihoods2017
Sabine Schultz (Anthropology)The Game of Personal Politics or How to Rule a Kingdom. The State of Affairs in Rey Bouba/North-East Cameroon.2017
Carole Ammann (Anthropology)The Work of State Imageries: Women and the Imageries of the State in Guinea2017
James Merron (African Studies)Travelling technologies of the environment: Knowledges of water management and the transformation of land in South Africa2017
Christopher Barratt (Environmental Sciences)Using Next Generation Sequencing data to estimate the Biodiversity value of the Coastal Forests of East Africa2017
Bobby Luthra Sinha (African Studies)A Comparative Interpretation of Peoples’ Movements: Actors, Evolving Consciousness and Democratic Imagination in India and South Africa2016
Claudette Simone Sutherland (Epidemiology)An elimination investment case (EIC) for human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) Trypanosoma brucei (T.b.) gambiense (“sleeping sickness”)2016
Adrian Indermaur (Environmental Sciences)Comparative ecology and phylogeography in east African cichild fishes2016
Joschka Philipps (Sociology)Crystallizing Contention. A cumulative dissertation on youth, politics, and urban violence in Conakry, Kampala, and beyond2016
Henry  Frimpong Owusu (Epidemiology)Insecticide Resistance Monitoring – a review of current methodology2016
Albert Tibaijuka (African Studies)Multinational Mines and Communities of Place: Revisiting the Stakeholder Dialogue Discourse from Geita, Tanzania2016
Michael  Aeby (History)Zimbabwe's Gruelling Transition: Interim power-sharing and conflict management in Southern Africa2016
Nicolas  Schicketanz (History)A History of Teacher Training Colleges in South Africa and the Effects of Teacher Training on Identity Formation2015
Thomas Fürst (Epidemiology)Assessing morbidity and burden due to neglected tropical diseases at different geographical scales2015
Marcel  Dreier (History)Health Care, Welfare, and Development in Rural Africa: Catholic health services in Ifakara/Tanzania in the 20th century2015
Nanina  Guyer (History)Picturing Secrecy - A History of the Visualization of "Secret Societies" in Historical Photographs from West Africa2015
Barbara Heer (Anthropology)Spaces of Encounter and Unequal Neighbourhoods. A Comparative Ethnography of Agency, Space and Difference in Maputo and Johannesburg2015
Patricia  Schwärzler (Epidemiology)“ De nos jours, chacun fait ce qu’il veut ” ? Dynamiques des relations sociales  et pratiques sexuelles  dans le contexte du VIH/sida  à Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 2014
Aurélie A.  Righetti (Epidemiology)Aetiology of anaemia and public health implications in the Taabo health demographic surveillance system, south-central Côte d’Ivoire 2014
Sara Anna Hellmüller (Political Science)Bridging the Gap – Examining Local Dimensions of International Peacebuilding in the DR Congo2014
Eveline  Hürlimann (Epidemiology)Effects of parasitic infections on clinical outcomes, self-rated quality of life and physical fitness in Côte d’Ivoire2014
Demissie Ferdissa Bekele (Political Science)Ethnic Decentralization and Negotiating Statehood in Urban Ethiopia: A Case Study of Adama and Hawassa Cities2014
Hans Christoph Liedtke (Environmental Sciences)The Evolution of Terrestrial Breeding in African Amphibians2014
Sandra  Rubli (Political Science)Transitional Justice and State-Formation in Burundi2014
Christine  Giustizieri-Haberstroh (Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies)Writing the City. Narratives of Johannesburg’s Urban Space in Contemporary South African Literature2014
Rita  Kesselring (Anthropology)Bodies of Truth. Law, Memory, and Emancipation in Post-Apartheid South Africa2013
Verena JeanRichard-dit-Bressel (Epidemiology)Crowding at Lake Chad: An Integrated Approach to Demographic and Health Surveillance of Mobile Pastoralists and Their Animals 2013
Jana  Gerold (Anthropology)Full of Life: old age and care in urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania2013
Pascal  Schmid (History)Medicine, Faith and Politics in Agogo. A history of health care delivery in rural Ghana, ca 1925 to 19802013
Richard Faustine  Sambaiga (Anthropology)Sexual inter-subjectivity and the quest for social well-being : an ethnographic inquiry of adolescent sexuality in urban Southern Tanzania2013
Andrea  Kaufmann (Anthropology)Spaces of Imagination Associational Life and the State in Post-War, Urban Liberia2013
Katharina Elisabeth Heitz Tokpa (Anthropology)Trust and Distrust in Rebel-Held Côte d’Ivoire2013
Michelle  Engeler (Anthropology)Youth and the State in Guinea: Meandering Lives2013