Report on participation in the 3rd European Conference on African Studies
Respacing Africa
3rd European Conference on African Studies (ECAS)
04.-06.06.2009, Leipzig
Paper: Contesting the Space: The State and Emergent Context(s) of Igbo Self-Determination in Nigeria
This paper was presented at the Third European Conference on African Studies (ECAS) conference in Leipzig, Germany. AEGIS (Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies) and the Institute of African Studies at the University of Leipzig co-hosted the conference. The overall theme of ECAS 3 is ‘Respacing Africa’. Although, the conference commenced on Thursday 4th and ended on Sunday 7th June, 2009, I attended only on Saturday 6th of June to present my paper, titled: Contesting the Space: The State and Emergent Context(s) of Igbo Self-Determination in Nigeria. The paper was presented in Panel 67, on the theme: Spaces of (In) Security. The aim of the panel according to the organiser Prof. Thomas Kirsch was to assess the transfigurations in the provision of human security on the African continent. In view of this, there were four papers in the panel, one on Central Mozambique, one on Mali, and two on Nigeria. My paper addressed issues bordering on the contest between MASSOB and the Nigerian state for territorial control in the Southeast of Nigeria, and how both parties evoke claims and counter-claims of security, sovereignty and territoriality control in the region.
A Brief on AEGIS
(According to the Organisers: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~ecas2009/ .)
AEGIS was founded in 1991 as a network of European Centres of African Studies. It is a network of university and non-university African Studies centres based in Europe. It aims to create synergies between experts and institutions. With primary emphasis on Social Sciences and Humanities, AEGIS' main goal is to improve understanding about contemporary African societies. AEGIS current membership is Barcelona , Basel , Bayreuth , Bordeaux , Copenhagen , Edinburgh , Göteborg , Hamburg , Leiden , Leipzig , Lisbon , London , Mainz , Naples , Oxford , Paris , Porto , Trondheim and Uppsala . For further information see: http://www.aegis-eu.org .