Autumn 2017
October 3: Fall Welcome Event with François Richard (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago). Title: Selections from his forthcoming book Reluctant Landscapes: Historical Anthropologies of Political Experience in T, Senegal, 1600-1930. Discussant: TBD. Location: Please email raffaella@uchicago.edu for address.
October 17: Caroline Melly (Associate Professor, Smith College). Title: Selections from her recently published book Bottleneck: Moving, Building, and Belonging in an African City. Discussant: Raffaella Taylor-Seymour (Comparative Human Development).
November 7: Red Lion Event with Damien Droney (Postdoctoral Researcher, Stevanovich Institute on the Formation of Knowledge, University of Chicago). Title: Performing Technology: Alternative Medicine Diagnostic Technologies in Ghana’s Herbal Medicine Clinics. Discussant: Jessica Pouchet, Northwestern University.
November 13: George Paul Meiu (Assistant Professor, Anthropology and African & African American Studies, Harvard University). Title: Book launch for Ethno-erotic Economies: Sexuality, Money, and Belonging in Kenya. Location: Seminary Co-op Bookstore (5757 S. Woodlawn Ave, Chicago, 60637) 6-7.30pm.
November 28: John Cropper (PhD Candidate, Department of History). Title: Fueling the Pre-colonial State: Energy, Drought, and Environmental Change in the Senegal Valley. Discussant: Elizabeth Fretwell, History.
Winter 2018 (completed)
January 9th: Jatin Dua (Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan). Title: Captured at Sea: Piracy and Protection in the Western Indian Ocean. Discussant: Ellen Richmond (Anthropology).
January 23rd: Zebulon Dingley (PhD Candidate, Departments of Anthropology and History). Title: ‘Rumor and History Revisited: “Vampires” in Coastal Kenya to 1945.’ Discussant: Zoë Berman (Comparative Human Development).
February 6th: Cécile Vigouroux (Associate Professor, Department of French, Simon Fraser University). Title: ‘The Politics of Hosting and Guesting.’ Discussant: Shirley Yeung (Anthropology).
February 20th: Matthew Knisley (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology). Title: TBA. Discussant: TBA.
March 6th: Elizabeth Fretwell (PhD Candidate, Department of History). Title: TBA. Discussant: TBA.
Spring 2018
April 3: Jeong Hyun Oh (PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology). Title: ‘Population Composition and Health Inequality: The Reassessment of Educational Gradients on Health in Ethiopia.’ Discussant: Sarah Garver (Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Sociology).
April 17: Kris Petersen (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, U.C. Irvine). Title: Selections from Speculative Markets: Drug Circuits and Derivative Life in Nigeria. Discussant: Jenny Hua (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology).
May 1: Zoë Berman (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative Human Development). Title: ‘Making Elders Cry: on the Politics of Affect and Rwanda’s Post-Genocide Generation.’ Discussant: Natacha Nsabimana (Harper Fellow & Collegiate Assistant Professor, Social Sciences).
May 8, 12.30pm: Devaka Premawardhana (Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Colorado College). Title: Selections from Faith in Flux: Pentecostalism and Mobility in Rural Mozambique. Discussant: Emily D. Crews (PhD Candidate, History of Religions, Divinity School). Location: Swift Hall, Room 208.
May 15: Gregory Valdespino (PhD Candidate, Department of History). Title: ‘At Home in Empire: Dwelling, Domesticity, and Citizenship in Colonial France and Senegal, 1860-1960.’ Discussant: Mitchell Edwards (PhD Candidate, Department of History, Northwestern University).
May 29: Jonathan Schoots (PhD Candidate, Department of Sociology). Title: ‘Becoming an African: Biographical Trajectories and Political Innovation in Colonial South Africa.’ Discussant: Loren Kruger (Professor, Departments of English & Comparative Literature).