Department of Anthropology

Since the year 2007, BIGSAS is part of the competitive 'Excellence Initiative' by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR). The basic aims of BIGSAS are to bring together excellent young African and non-African scholars to work jointly in the field of African Studies and to offer a center of creative and innovative PhD training and research. On 15th June 2012, BIGSAS was one of the successful DGF funded 'Centers of Excellence' which were granted support for the next 5 years. BIGSAS has more than 100 junior fellows from 25 African, American, Asian and European countries. BIGSAS builds on this experience and offers a multi-and interdisciplinary research environment based upon three clearly defined general Research Areas which are: ◼ Uncertainty, Innovation and the Quest for Order in Africa ◼ Culture, Concepts and Cognition in Africa: Approaches through Language, Literature and Media ◼ Negotiating Change: Discourses, Politics and Practices of Development The Research Areas allow for challenging theoretical studies sensitive to emerging basic problems; they also take into account practical questions and problems of the African continent. Thus, the BIGSAS Research Areas encompass basic, strategic and applied research. BIGSAS also contributes to the creation of an African universities' network. It brings together African and European networks and fosters partnership not only between the University of Bayreuth and universities in Africa but also between the universities in Africa themselves. Six African Partner Universities, namely the

Beitrag analysiert politische Positionen, die Musiker in Guinea-Bissau einnehmen, um die gegenwärtige gesellschaftliche Lage des Landes zu kommentieren. Durch Artikulation der derzeitigen sozialen und politischen Lage des Landes versuchen die Musiker, die Bevölkerung Guinea-Bissaus zu informieren und zu sensibilisieren. Ihre zentrale Botschaft ist, dass Entwicklung durch Korruption gebremst wird und die Bevölkerung ihr Schicksal selbst in die Hand nehmen muss. Das Politische wird als ein Spannungsfeld zwischen Vertrauen und Misstrauen, ungleichen Machtverhältnissen sowie dem Okkulten beschrieben. Musiker, die über besonderes Prestige in der guineischen Gesellschaft verfügen, sind die kritischen Beobachter dieses Felds. Durch sprachliche Ambivalenz und die Verwendung von Metaphern wie "Zucker", "Karpfen" und "Schiff" ist ihre Botschaft verschlüsselt. Die Sensibilisierung geschieht daher indirekt. Musik beeinflusst nicht die Tagespolitik. Indem Musiker jedoch die Landessprache Kriol mit westlich beeinflusster Musik kombinieren, erreichen sie besonders junge Menschen und (oppositionelle) Politiker.

This contribution analyses the political position musicians in Guinea-Bissau take to comment on the current state of Guinean society. By describing this state, musicians intend to inform and mobilize its population. Their central message is that development is obstructed by corruption and that people themselves need to assume responsibility for the fate of their country. The political field is described as being one of trust and mistrust, unequal power relations and the occult. Musicians as prestigious members of society emerge as critical observers of this political field. Most often they escape censorship and express the unspeakable by turning common linguistic concepts like "sugar", "fish" and "boat" into metaphors. Thus, sensitizing takes place indirectly. Musicians do not influence the politics of the day. Instead, by combining the population´s language, Kriol, with western-influenced music, they direct their message at the youth and politicians. T...

This contribution analyses the political position musicians in Guinea-Bissau take to comment on the current state of Guinean society. By describing this state, musicians intend to inform and mobilize its population. Their central message is that development is obstructed by corruption and that people themselves need to assume responsibility for the fate of their country. The political field is described as being one of trust and mistrust, unequal power relations and the occult. Musicians as prestigious members of society emerge as critical observers of this political field. Most often they escape censorship and express the unspeakable by turning common linguistic concepts like "sugar", "fish" and "boat" into metaphors. Thus, sensitizing takes place indirectly. Musicians do not influence the politics of the day. Instead, by combining the population´s language, Kriol, with western-influenced music, they direct their message at the youth and politicians. T...

New regimes of governance today emerge in connection with the effects of globally induced structural reforms, privatization and land or property reforms, and transnational economic or legal integration. These affect local relations in a broad range of settings. The comparative study of different cases requires a shared definition and a joint understanding of regimes of governance. In this contribution we assess existing approaches and propose a definition and understanding of governance that can be made useful for an anthropological analysis of processes of regulation, ordering and distribution. We find that many of the existing approaches and theories to the study of governance are either normative teleological projects or centred in European (or Western) situations of governance that do not allow for the adaptation to different historical and regional situations. In this paper we provide examples from our own long-term anthropological research in West Africa (Burkina Faso and Chad) and in India.

Oil has turned out to be something of a curse. Most developing petrostates have found that their economies have worsened, their political regimes have become more authoritarian, and their conflicts have intensified. Further, this curse is a bit crazy because oil brings wealth, which would seem to bring peace and prosperity, not the trouble that so often accompanies it. The goal of this introduction is to propose a research strategy for the anthropological analysis of oil. It does so by examining existing oil literatures, discussing the implications for research arising from the articles contained here, and, finally, formulating an anthropology of oil in a turbulent world. This formulation proposes a 'crude domination' approach to explain oil's crazy curse.

The area around the border of Sudan and Chad, where Darfur lies, has been an unimportant and unknown backwater throughout history. Today, however, Darfur is all over the international press. Everybody knows about the grim war there. There is no oil currently in production in Darfur. However, there is oil in the south of neighboring Chad and in Southern Sudan, and there might be oil in Darfur. This article considers a case of fighting for oil when there is no oil yet. It takes into account the role of local actors doing the fighting, that is, the army, rebels, and militias; national actors such as the Sudanese and Chadian governments; and international actors, such as multinational oil companies, the United States, China, and the United Nations. It explains how oil can have disintegrative consequences even when it is still only a rumor about a future possibility.

Auch wenn er es damals nicht so nannte -der Begriff "Ressourcenfluch" wurde 1993 durch Richard Auty geprägt -, so behandelte Thomas Bierschenks 1984 erschienene Doktorarbeit über das Sultanat Oman als eine der ersten empirischethnologischen Arbeiten eine lokale Form ebendieses Phänomens. Offensichtlich verweisen die Erkenntnisse aus dieser Arbeit zunächst auf einen anderen Bereich, der für Thomas von bleibendem Interesse bleiben sollte: der Staat bzw. historische Staatsbildungsprozesse. In Oman war es der auf Erdöl basierte "Rentierstaat", der für die Doktorarbeit über Rentenökonomie, politische Transformation und lokale Produktionsformen im Vordergrund stand. Aspekte, die auf einen Ressourcenfluch in Oman hinweisen, lassen sich dennoch leicht daraus ableiten -wie wir im letzten Abschnitt dieses Beitrags zeigen werden. Die Erkenntnisse dieser Studie sind zudem durchaus auf die neuen afrikanischen Erdölfunde und -förderstätten übertragbar, die Thomas Bierschenks Forschungsgebiet in Westafrika zunehmend einkreisen. So sind nach langen Jahren der Ölproduktion und damit zusammenhängender Krisen in Nigeria jetzt zum Beispiel auch Niger, Tschad, Ghana oder Gabun zu sogenannten Petrostaaten geworden. Konsequenterweise ist der Rohstoff seit März 2011 daher auch in seinen eigenen Forschungsfokus zurückgekehrt: zusammen mit den Autoren dieses Beitrags leitet Thomas Bierschenk ein vergleichendes, von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft im Schwerpunktprogramm 1448 "Kreativität und Adaptation in Afrika" gefördertes Forschungsprojekt zu "Bedeutungen des Erdöls in Niger und Tschad".

To retain respect among members of their own society, urban professional women originating from northern Ghana maintain a rural concept of proper women. This article explores how, historically, both Catholic missionaries and the Dagara people changed this concept. To the women, the ability to speak their minds and be self-con dent, attributes accorded to the concept mainly by the Catholic women's orders, help them in their professional careers. In meetings with their own people, they still know how to revert to the quiet, reserved and humble person that a woman from their home area is supposed to be, at least in public.

The authors understand Bonds and Boundaries as the demonstration of a dialogue between different nationalities and academic traditions and among between the cultural variations of anthropology. Resulting from a seminar held in the provincial town of Gaoua,

Central to this most remarkable book is the question of how ethnicity is constructed during historical processes and by different actors in the Upper West Region of northwestern Ghana. Taking a closer look this question provides the red thread to a fascinating, multivocal and extremely well investigated microanalysis. Chronologically,