University of Basel

Centre for
African Studies

Publications

The pages of the key areas of activities provide an overview of recent publications. More comprehenisve lists of publications by our members are avaialable via the research database and the edoc repository of the University of Basel and, respectively, the websites of the partner institutions. 

Latest publications

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/ Research, Doctorate/PhD

Publication: "The Ascension of the Astro-Goth – Yugen Blakrok’s Otherworldly Hip-Hop Poetics"

In his article, Pius Vögele explores the work of South African hip-hop artist Yugen Blakrok from an Afrofuturist perspective and, drawing on Rammellzee’s concept of Gothic Futurism, designates her unique approach as Astro-Gothic Futurism.
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/ Research

Publication: "Industrial mining and HIV risk: evidence from 39 mine openings across 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa"

In this study, researchers of the Swiss TPH assess the impact of natural resource extraction projects on HIV transmission risks in local communities in sub-Saharan Africa. The findings suggest that in the sample of households surrounding…
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/ Research

Publication: "The Paradox of Disturbance: Africa and COVID-19"

In this book contribution, Elísio Macamo argues that the social transformation of the virus into a pandemic imposed a definition of the situation at odds with the real actual significance of the problem in Africa.
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/ Research

Publication: "Voces de una comunidad africana poco visible: los guineoecuatorianos en Madrid"

In her book, Sandra Schlumpf provides a linguistic and anthropological perspective on the Equatorial Guinean community in Madrid. In addition to a historical and contemporary overview, the book is about various themes that proved central…
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/ Research, Studies

Publication: "Autoethnographic Explorations: Privileged Access to the Social or Idiosyncratic Journalism?"

The latest issue of the Basel Papers on Political Transformations, edited by Till Förster, collects autoethnographic reports written by students of a research seminar held at the Chair of Anthropology in Basel in 2021. They address distinct…
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/ Research, Doctorate/PhD

Publication: "Care of Older Persons in Eastern Africa: A Scoping Review of Ethical Issues"

Kirubel Mussie is the lead author of this review article that explores existing evidence addressing the various ethical issues in connection with elder care in the region of Eastern Africa.
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/ Research

Publication: "Informal networks as investment: A qualitative analysis from Uganda and Tanzania"

In their paper, Claudia Baez-Camargo, Jacopo Costa and Lucy Koechlin examine the relations between informal networks and public governance in Tanzania and Uganda. They apply narrative analysis to explore the experiences of citizens,…
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/ Research

Publication: "Unpacking race and ethnicity in African genomics research"

In genomics, both the denomination ‘African’ as well at the ethnic groups living in Africa have been treated as true biological identities. Yet, similar to race, these population groupings too are social constructs. In their comment,…
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Publication: "Disrupted dreams of development: neoliberal efficiency and crisis in Angola"

Based on fieldwork around the recently modernized transport hub of Lobito, Jon Schubert examines how the moralizing language of neoliberalism – talk of efficiency, responsibility, and the proverbial tightening of the belt – has been…
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Publication: "Knowing Women. Same-Sex Intimacy, Gender, and Identity in Postcolonial Ghana"

Serena Dankwa's book describes the friendships and relationships of working class women in southern Ghana. Her work is based on in-depth research, storytelling and an intersectional analysis of the life stories of Ghanaian women. She gives…
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/ Research

Publication: "Bodily ethnography: Some epistemological challenges of participation"

In this article, Till Förster explores the role of bodily interactions in ethnographic fieldwork and the related epistemological problems.
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/ Research

Publication: Defining clinical trial quality from the perspective of resource-limited settings

This study co-authored by Peter van Eeuwijk suggests that clinical trial quality should be defined by a multidimensional concept that includes not only scientific and ethical, but also quality-promoting factors. From the perspective of…
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/ Research

Publication: “‘The Only Industry That Can Make Us Hold Our Own’: Black Agrarianism in South Africa from a Transatlantic Perspective, ca. 1910–1930”

In her article, Julia Tischler investigates agricultural education initiatives in early twentieth-century Ciskei and Transkei as vernacular expressions of transatlantic Black agrarianism. The article seeks to expand the historiography of…
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/ Research

Publikation: "Spanisch in Afrika/Afrika in Spanien. Sprachliche Charakteristika von Spanischsprecherinnen und Spanischsprechern aus Äquatorialguinea in Madrid"

In ihrem Beitrag wirft Sandra Schlumpf aus Sicht der äquatorialguineischen Diaspora in Spanien einen aktuellen Blick auf das Spanische Äquatorialguineas. Die Analyse gewährt auf verschiedenen Ebenen Einblicke in den Sprachgebrauch und die…
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/ Research

Publication: "MIGCHOICE Country Report: Guinea"

Michelle Engeler is the co-author of the country report on Guinea in the frame of the research project MIGCHOICE. The project lead by the Department for International Development at the University of Birmingham is concerned with migration…
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/ Research

Publication: "Informal networks as investment in East Africa"

This report sheds light on the functioning of informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud in East Africa. Ten mini-case studies from Tanzania and Uganda are analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice…
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/ Research

Publication: "Tales from the Congo River: Catching Mami Wata"

In this article, Lesley Braun examines how rumours, memes and in-group culture endure through time by taking Mami Wata as an example for memetic transmission. Mama Wata is a half-human and half-aquatic water deity who features prominently…
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/ Research

Publication: Coloniality of Infrastructure

The Coloniality of Infrastructure essay series is a collaboration between e-flux Architecture, Critical Urbanisms at the University of Basel, and the African Centre for Cities of the University of Cape Town. Contributors include Samia…
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Publication: Left Button Picture, Right Button Bomb. Nature, Warfare and Technology in a Southern African Border Region

With a focus on the Mirage IIIR2Z, an aerial reconnaissance and ground-attack supersonic jet, James Merron and Luregn Lenggenhager examine the relationship between nature conservation and military technology in north-eastern Namibia during…
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Publication: The role of informal networks in promoting illegal wildlife trade: a qualitative analysis from Uganda

While the role of informal networks in sustaining illegal wildlife trade is ever more on the radar of scholars and practitioners, their modus operandi remains largely understudied. This paper by Jacopo Costa, Claudia Baez‑Camargo, Saba…
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/ Research

Publication: The Weight Women Carry. Research on the Visible and Invisible Baggage in Suitcase Trade between China and Africa

This article co-authored by Lesley Braun follows the transnational trajectories of African trader women between China and West and Central Africa and takes stock of some of the weight they shoulder. This refers to the to materiality of the…
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/ Research

Publication: (Un)Sighted Archives of Migration—Spaces of Encounter and Resistance

This special issue of Visual Anthropology co-edited by Fiona Siegenthaler takes a close look at (un)sighted migratory archives and archives of migration. In their introduction, the editors invite readers to engage with archives as spaces of…
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/ Research

Publication: Outlines of a Pentecostal Dominion Theology

This book chapter by Andreas Heuser is a detailed study on the conceptual and operational framework of Dominion Theology, in an effort to make sense of the new interactions between Pentecostalism, politics, societal influence, and public…
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/ Research

Publication: Turning Land into Money. Land, Inequality and Reforms in Namibia

In their article, Luregn Lenggenhager, Lena Bloemert and Romie Nghitevelekwa show how past and present developments in Namibia created opportunities to make money out of land, leading to the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few.
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/ Research

Publication: Anthropogenic erosion-induced small-scale soil heterogeneity in South African rangelands

In their study, Juliane Krenz, Philip Greenwood and Nikolaus Kuhn analyze soil redistribution in a degraded rangeland in South Africa. Soil erosion in semi-arid drylands induced by land-use changes creates patchworks of soils and…
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/ Research, Studies

Publication: Sites of Contestation. Encounters with the Ernst and Ruth Dammann Collection in the Archives of the Basler Afrika Bibliographien

This edited volume is the product of a long-term student engagement with the Dammann collection housed at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB). The essays propose creative ways of attending to the politics of race, gender, famine,…
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Publication: Window of the World: Sino–African Encounters through Copies and Simulations

Based on interviews with Kenyan and South African contract workers at a Chinese theme park that features miniature copies of heritage sites from around the world, Lesley Nicole Braun explores ways in which culture is constructed and…
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/ Research

Publication: Privileged Precariat. White Workers and South Africa's Long Transition to Majority Rule

The South African apartheid state’s ethnic and race-based politics pushed an image of whites as classless. Danelle van Zyl-Hermann's book challenges this view. It focuses on the experience of the white industrial workforce and their unique…
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Publication: Social meaning and material constraints of land scarcity in Northern Namibia

Land access, land distribution and security of tenure are major topics in Namibia, as in many other African countries. In north-central Namibia land is often described as scarce, by both the socio-political authorities as …
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/ Research

Publikation: Alternativen zur Restitution? Lokale Perspektiven auf ein globales Problem

Mit seinem Kapitel im Sammelband "Geschichtskultur durch Restitution? Ein Kunst-Historikerstreit" leistet Till Förster einen Beitrag an die Debatte über geraubte Kulturgüter und Restitution.
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