I am a social anthropologist in African Studies and I am fascinated by questions around space, relationality and collaboration all of which link to AOEN.
Current Projects.
On Space and Possibilities (research project)
I study how possibilities materialize in concrete public spaces and how the potential of multiple possibilities can be studied ethnographically in the context of Ficgayo, a multipurpose venue in the city Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. It explores the epistemological potential of a spatial perspective, i.e. possible ways of knowing cities in Africa beyond binary notions.
„La chance“ and Conceptual Uncertainty (book project)
This book is about „la chance“ (frz. luck), which accounts for knowledge production in uncertain contexts in Bamako, Mali as well as in the social sciences.
In Bamako, „La chance“ is known to make a difference between those who get employed and those who do not. However, la chance is elusive in a sense that it appears to be indexical in concrete contexts, but it escapes our grasp as soon as we try to approach its essence.
This book relates this very elusiveness „la chance“ situated in Bamako to the elusiveness of our concepts in African Studies.
Current Affiliation.
2018- Affiliation with Institute for African Studies at the University of Leipzig, Germany. Teaching: „Culture and Technology in Africa“ as well as „Postcolonial Debates“.
Bio.
2010-1013 MA Social Anthropology at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.
Thesis: „‚débrouillage‘ as a social practice and response to neoliberal policies deployed by youths in Bamako, Mali.
2013-2018 PhD in African Studies at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
Thesis: “La chance: An Ethnography“ on university graduates making sense of uncertainty in Bamako, Mali.
Fieldwork: Bamako, Mali (overall two years), Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire and Accra, Ghana.
Africa Off-Earth Network 