Nine African scholars awarded a 2022 Virtual Research Fellowship at Leeds

The Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute (LAHRI) and the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS) are delighted to announce the nine Africa-based researchers who have been awarded a virtual research fellowship. As part of the fellowship, each fellow will work with one or more Leeds-based academics on a research project, related to the overall theme of “African Knowledges for Global Challenges”.

The fellowship scheme now runs for the second year, being launched in 2021 with great success. As LUCAS director, Professor Adriaan van Klinken, comments:

This fellowship scheme feeds into the University of Leeds’ vision of internationalisation, and it strengthens the University’s engagement with the African continent. Virtual fellowships are a carbon-footprint friendly way of developing collaborative research partnerships between African-based scholars and colleagues at Leeds. The theme of the Fellowship scheme, ‘African Knowledges for Global Challenges’, addresses ongoing debates about decolonisation and contributes to the articulation of African-centred knowledges about the critical questions of our time.

Through a competitive selection process, nine fellowships have been awarded for the year 2022, to scholars based in five countries across the African continent. The successful fellows, and their projects, are:

• Prof. Austin Ovigue Asagba (University of Benin, Nigeria), “Problematising the Practice of Theatre for Development (TFD): Building Effective Communication Strategies for Sustainable Development in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria” (working with Prof. Jane Plastow, School of English).
• Dr Isaac Dery (Simon Diedong Dongo University, Ghana), “Theorising dɔɔmengaas an Alternative Understanding of a Patriarchal African Masculinity” (working with Prof. Adriaan van Klinken, School of PRHS).
• Dr Diana-Abasi Ibanga Francis (University of Calabar, Nigeria), “Decolonizing Environmental Policies in Nigeria through African Proverbs” (working with Dr Brendon Nicholls, School of English).
• Dr Robert Wabyanga Kuloba (Kyambogo University, Uganda), “Afro-biblical Reading of Genesis 2-3 in Response to Climate Change” (working with Prof. Johanna Stiebert, School of PRHS).
• Dr Clarton Fambisai Mangadza (University of Fort Hare, South Africa), “Rethinking Existing Underlying United Nations Modes of Discourse in Gender Equality: An African Philosophical Perspective” (working with Dr Heather Logue, School of PRHS).
• Prof. Olukoya Ogen (Osun State University, Nigeria), “The Globalisation of African Religion and the Post-colonial Resurgence of Yoruba Traditional Religious Practices” (working with Dr Abel Ugba, School of Sociology, and Prof. Adriaan van Klinken, School of PRHS).
• Dr Chima Onwukwe (Abia State University, Nigeria), “Unveiling the Shrouds of Secrecy: Exploring the Peacebuilding Roles of Rituals, Divinations, and Enchantments in the Indigen-settler Conflict in South-Eastern, Nigeria” (working with Dr Winnie Bedigen, POLIS).
• Dr Anitha Tingira (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania), “Acceptance and Hesitancy to Vaccinate: An Ethnographic Examination of COVID-19 Vaccination Experiences in Tanzania” (working with Dr Simon Manda, POLIS, and Dr Maryam Ba-Break , Nuffield Centre).
• Dr Abraham Waigi (Akrofi-Christaller Institute, Ghana), “Wole Soyinka and the Challenge of Religious Plurality” (working with Dr Brendon Nicholls, School of English, and Prof. Adriaan van Klinken, School of PRHS).