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- Convenors:
-
Daniele Cantini
(Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient)
Bouchra Sidi Hida (Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA))
Amal Abdrabo (Alexandria University, Egypt)
David Mills (University of Oxford)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Location:
- Peter Froggatt Centre (PFC), 02/011
- Sessions:
- Friday 29 July, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The panel invites papers, in English and French, discussing how the pandemic affects the making of anthropology in and on Africa , with changes in how fieldwork and research are conducted and on topics of analysis, and in the interaction with societies in which anthropologists operate.
Long Abstract:
This panel asks how the pandemic has transformed anthropological practice in Africa and its global interconnectedness. The practice of anthropology in Africa continues to face processes of extraversion and marginalization, with geographical dependencies that are being challenged but also reworked in new ways.
One theme is on how the pandemic has affected Africa-based anthropologists, their access to networks and resources, and the very possibility of doing research and teach? How does it limit African researchers' opportunities for global networking, and is online communication replacing face-to-face networking? Are African universities supporting digital conference attendance, and how does this reshape knowledge production?
The making of anthropology on Africa from elsewhere is also changing, not only as a consequence of travel restrictions, but also through a disciplinary re-orientation that critiques extractivism and prioritises collaboration and equity. In which ways are international research projects, conferences and publication projects adapting to these transformations? And what is the impact of increased quantification of research outputs and impact?
The pandemic is showing how societies across the continent (and beyond) are creatively coping with the unprecedented emergency. This panel welcomes papers exploring how anthropologists working in and on the continent are coping creatively and negotiating existing institutional and disciplinary hegemonies.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 29 July, 2022, -Amal Abdrabo (Alexandria University, Egypt)
Paper short abstract:
This paper studies the everyday meaning-making initiatives of African citizens during the Covid pandemic, based on a textual-visual analysis of African artwork. It compares innovative survival techniques, depicted in the art work and street graffiti found in mega African cities.
Paper long abstract:
It has been almost 27 months since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Humanity did not turn to live inside caves in protection against the virus’ lethal impacts. They invented different survival techniques for their mental, psychological, and physiological health. Based on the aforementioned, this paper is about studying the resilient narratives of people’s everyday practices on the face of COVID-19 pandemic. It studies different meaning-making initiatives of African citizens based on a textual-visual analysis of some of the African artwork presented during the first-second waves of the pandemic. The paper does not limit itself to the analytical scope of a particular society; as it studies different innovative survival techniques, as depicted in the art work and street graffiti, practiced by African citizens in mega African cities in order to create a meaning out of the entire context. These narratives will reflect the context, the actors, the hidden and manifest narratives, the techniques, and the explicit and underlined goals which reflect several social and cultural transformations in relation to the sociology of living through pandemics. The analyzed discourse will encompass an assemblage of verbal and non-verbal forms of expressions using visual-textual analysis of different resilient techniques from all over the world. The main findings highlight different implications of the Corona pandemic on the social and cultural levels, with its positive and negative aspects together, and how the pandemic has brought about social and cultural changes in our societies, in addition to reviewing a number of specialized academic concepts in the field of sociology - the science of studying society and culture.
Faisal Garba (University of Cape Town)
Paper short abstract:
How did migrants and refugees survive under Covid lockdown in South Africa with no state support? Issues of research responsibility became central in this research. Working at Africa’s most resourced University made it possible to offer support, particularly to women refugees and migrants
Paper long abstract:
At the onset of COVID-19 South Africa emerged as a model in the management of the pandemic due to its adoption of decisive public health and targeted social welfare measures. It imposed an early nation-wide total lockdown and provided food parcels and other social relief packages to underprivileged communities. The relief packages however excluded undocumented migrants and refugees, many of whom rely for survival on daily retail: in kiosks, on street sidewalks and hawking from home to home. How do these migrants and refugees survive under lockdown and with no state support? We set out to find out in a context where COVID was raging across the country. To do so we required an ethical clearance that obliges us to maintain physical distance. Spending ample time with migrants and refugees was our chosen way to understand how the pandemic was affecting migrants and refugees in a moment of general existential uncertainty. Issues of methodology and the social responsibility of a university in an African context came up sharply. Observing physical distance became a challenge as relationships grew between researchers and participants. Maintaining physical distance came to be read as social separation and “social distancing”. In a context where handshake signposts friendliness and mutual respect, insisting on elbows or knuckle greeting did not always do down well. Our location in what is arguably Africa’s most resourced University made it possible to offer targeted intervention, particularly to women refugees and migrants whose preexisting peculiar challenges were exacerbated by the pandemic and the lockdown.