Programme de bourses "Echanges Universitaires"

Fixing the City: cultural creativity in African cities

Commencing in February 2010, Dr. Divine Fuh, postdoc researcher at the Institute for Social Anthropology of the University of Basel was visiting lecturer and researcher at the University of Cape Town, Stellenbosch University and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. This teaching, research and exchange visits were co-organised and co-funded by the participating departments of social anthropology in Basel and Cape Town with support funding from the SDC’s “Echanges Universitaires” and the Swiss South Africa Joint Research Programme (SSAJRP). The exchange focused on capacity building for both partners through teaching and research and, the exploration/development of common research agendas and establishment of scientific exchange. Central to this was the aim of strengthening the platform for cooperation on the research project – Fixing the City: creativity and agency in the African city – which was recently submitted for an EU FP7 project application through the intercontinental consortium NURA: Network on Urban and Rural Research in Africa. A series of seminars presented in early 2011 in South Africa by Prof. Dr. Till Förster, Chair for Social Anthropology in the University of Basel, contributed towards strengthening these cooperation activities.

Since the colonial period, social anthropology has often been perceived in South Africa as a science of prejudice, misrepresentations and domination. In post-apartheid South Africa, social anthropology grapples to re-establish itself as a science to address relevant/urgent public concerns and connect with broader publics beyond the academy. Dr. Fuh’s teaching activities have contributed towards strengthening social anthropology as a public subject and an academic discipline in South Africa. Between July-December 2010 he designed and taught the undergraduate course “Public Anthropology” at Stellenbosch University, one of the first such courses across Africa. In the summer/spring of 2011, he taught two courses: “Challenge of Culture” and “Anthropology of Development” at the University of Cape Town, where he previously taught two courses on culture and, sexuality in the summer/spring of 2010. Within the realm of Dr. Fuh’s activities, he developed and established a popular BlogSpot “Living Stellenbosch: A Public Anthropology Project” (www.living-stellenbosch.blogspot.com), where, he and his Stellenbosch University students researched social issues in Stellenbosch, translating their results into articles, commentaries and observations, regularly posted on the public anthropology BlogSpot for open access, comments and debates. A similar Blogspot was setup in the summer of 2011. He also worked on developing the social anthropology department’s new website (www.socanth.uct.ac.za) and public BlogSpot “Anthroscape” (www.anthroscape-uct.blogspot.com).

These visits are not only of special interest with regard to developing the research project Fixing the City but also with a general view to consolidating existing cooperation with universities in South Africa, as well as bolstering the University of Basel’s current research focus on cities in Africa. Above all, these KFPE-supported activities have also contributed towards building Dr. Fuh’s young academic career.

Contact

Dr. Divine Fuh
Institute of Social Anthropology
University of Basel, Switzerland
divine.fuh@unibas.ch

Partners

Prof. Kees van der Waal
Department of Sociology & Social Anthropology
Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Csvdw@sun.ac.za

Assoc. Prof. Fiona C. Ross
Department of Social Anthropology
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Fiona.Ross@uct.ac.za