Periodic Reporting for period 2 - Making in W-Africa (A history of ‘Making Things’ in West Africa, 1920-1980: creating, meaning making and experience)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2024-03-01 do 2025-02-28
“A history of ‘Making Things’ in West Africa, 1920-1980: creating, meaning making and experience” studies artisans and craftspeople to write a history of ‘making things’ in Ghana and Nigeria. It brings to the fore historical bodies and systems of knowledge and experiences of ‘making things’ under colonial rule and after. Moreover, it writes a history which situates entrepreneurial labour in the context of social, cultural and political histories of West Africa. Therefore, it illuminates the broader context as well as the broad range of agency animating entrepreneurial activity. This provides important context, particularly as capital accumulation through entrepreneurial activity is one of the focal points of international development cooperation with regards to poverty alleviation. Studying ‘making things’, this project provides a historically situated account of how people engaged with various technologies. By focusing on bakers and goldsmiths, it furthermore gives insight into different ways in which people specialised in crafts, and also illuminates gender dynamics with regard to artisanal labour and craft production. Bringing together material culture studies with the history of science and technology as well as economic history, the project challenges Eurocentric notions of innovation and technology, brings to light West Africans individual and collective bodies of knowledge of how to engage with adverse colonial and post-colonial economic contexts, and thus complicates the ways in which African societies form part of growing scholarship on the global history of capitalism and science and knowledge. In addition to the scientific objectives of this project, goals of this fellowship also include the training of the researcher.
Work on the project is divided into 6 work packages – out of these, one is dedicated to project and research management (WP 1). Two of the work packages are dedicated to research: one focuses on the gathering of data (WP 3), and one on analysis and development of outputs (WP 4). Work packages 5 and 6 are dedicated to dissemination and exploitation – the former addresses this in an academic context, while the latter captures public engagement activities.
Over the course of the outgoing period, the fellow completed the majority of data collection activities (WP 3) in archives (16 archives consulted) and in the form of interviews (31 interviews conducted), and has commenced with the analysis and development of output (WP 4). The remainder of interviews (14 in number) was conducted during the return phase.
In terms of academic dissemination and exploitation, the fellow presented her research at 10 academic conferences/seminars/workshops, is currently preparing one article on gender and making/crafts, and has been invited to contribute to a Special Section of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. The fellow is also continuing to develop her monograph, for which she has presented a proposal to publishers. The fellow has engaged in teaching activities at the University of Ibadan (mainly Master’s and Doctoral students), and at the University of Graz (Bachelor students).
With public engagement (WP 6), the fellow has organised a workshop for artists in Lagos (together with the art foundation Africa 1952), and has given a presentation of first results to a wider public under the auspices of the museum and cultural hub Loving Lagos. In Europe, the fellow has presented her work to a broader public at the International Institute for social History (The Netherlands). Moreover, the fellow has worked with Advancing Equality Within the Austrian School System (AEWTAS) to facilitate workshops for policy makers authors of school text books on images of Africa. The fellow has established contact with actors in international development cooperation, which are particularly interested in the fellow’s expertise in the history of technical education in Nigiera, as well as the history of technical teacher training. The fellow has also published a map of goldsmiths in late 1940s Lagos (Lagos Island) via google maps on the project website (and Instagram). She has more generally published on her work on the project website and on the Instagram account @_makingthings_.
In terms of training, networking and career development (WP 2), the fellow has completed oral history training, and she has received training in digital humanities and in public engagement at both, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, and the University of Graz. The fellow has completed a 3-month Secondment at the African Studies Centre Leiden in The Netherlands. In terms of networking and interdisciplinary collaborations, she has participated in 16 academic conferences and workshops and seminars (and other departmental seminars and reading groups). She has built ongoing collaborations in West Africa and in Europe. Collaborations with scholars in languages/linguistics at the University of Graz involve teaching activities in 2025/2026, an interdisciplinary workshop, and contributing to building an Africa Science Hub at the University of Graz. She is also collaborating with a colleague in literature (in the UK) on developing a special issue on West African Food Cultures.
Results of this Action are and will continue to be reported in past and forthcoming conference/seminar and workshop presentations, in planned and forthcoming paper, and the project monograph, in teaching and public engagement activities in addition to the ones already produced over the course of the fellowship. Moreover, results are also reported on the project website as well as on the project Instagram account.
Over the course of the outgoing period, the fellow completed the majority of data collection activities (WP 3) in archives (16 archives consulted) and in the form of interviews (31 interviews conducted), and has commenced with the analysis and development of output (WP 4). The remainder of interviews (14 in number) was conducted during the return phase.
In terms of academic dissemination and exploitation, the fellow presented her research at 10 academic conferences/seminars/workshops, is currently preparing one article on gender and making/crafts, and has been invited to contribute to a Special Section of the Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. The fellow is also continuing to develop her monograph, for which she has presented a proposal to publishers. The fellow has engaged in teaching activities at the University of Ibadan (mainly Master’s and Doctoral students), and at the University of Graz (Bachelor students).
With public engagement (WP 6), the fellow has organised a workshop for artists in Lagos (together with the art foundation Africa 1952), and has given a presentation of first results to a wider public under the auspices of the museum and cultural hub Loving Lagos. In Europe, the fellow has presented her work to a broader public at the International Institute for social History (The Netherlands). Moreover, the fellow has worked with Advancing Equality Within the Austrian School System (AEWTAS) to facilitate workshops for policy makers authors of school text books on images of Africa. The fellow has established contact with actors in international development cooperation, which are particularly interested in the fellow’s expertise in the history of technical education in Nigiera, as well as the history of technical teacher training. The fellow has also published a map of goldsmiths in late 1940s Lagos (Lagos Island) via google maps on the project website (and Instagram). She has more generally published on her work on the project website and on the Instagram account @_makingthings_.
In terms of training, networking and career development (WP 2), the fellow has completed oral history training, and she has received training in digital humanities and in public engagement at both, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, and the University of Graz. The fellow has completed a 3-month Secondment at the African Studies Centre Leiden in The Netherlands. In terms of networking and interdisciplinary collaborations, she has participated in 16 academic conferences and workshops and seminars (and other departmental seminars and reading groups). She has built ongoing collaborations in West Africa and in Europe. Collaborations with scholars in languages/linguistics at the University of Graz involve teaching activities in 2025/2026, an interdisciplinary workshop, and contributing to building an Africa Science Hub at the University of Graz. She is also collaborating with a colleague in literature (in the UK) on developing a special issue on West African Food Cultures.
Results of this Action are and will continue to be reported in past and forthcoming conference/seminar and workshop presentations, in planned and forthcoming paper, and the project monograph, in teaching and public engagement activities in addition to the ones already produced over the course of the fellowship. Moreover, results are also reported on the project website as well as on the project Instagram account.
In terms of progress beyond the state of the art and potential impact, results of this project contribute the emerging field of ‘new’ African economic history, not least with its research on female goldsmiths in Lagos. Moreover, the fellow has developed agility with different approaches and research methodologies, and gained maturity as a global historian as well as in interdisciplinary research and in facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations.
In Lagos, various private initiatives illustrate cotemporary discourses on ‘making things’ and therefore the potential of the action to historically contextualise such initiatives and discourses. Conversations in The Netherlands have also highlighted the potential of the fellow’s research into regimes of making (in particular with regards to mechanization) to be of relevance to policy makers in international development cooperation. And contacts to actors in international development cooperation in Lagos also show that the fellow’s expertise in the history of technical education and technical teacher training is of interest.
The fellow’s experiences in public engagement work in Europe also point to the impact the action can have on wider society. The Action informs the fellows various areas of work (teaching, public engagement, research), and is greatly facilitating how the fellow can communicate in an understandable way ideas about broader und underlying structures and dynamics shaping social coexistence, such as racism.
Moreover, working with Loving Lagos and Africa 1952 in terms of research collaboration and public engagement have shown how the project can be beneficial to local society, when insights into research contribute to, and animate the discussion, preservation and celebration of cultural heritage and memory.
In Lagos, various private initiatives illustrate cotemporary discourses on ‘making things’ and therefore the potential of the action to historically contextualise such initiatives and discourses. Conversations in The Netherlands have also highlighted the potential of the fellow’s research into regimes of making (in particular with regards to mechanization) to be of relevance to policy makers in international development cooperation. And contacts to actors in international development cooperation in Lagos also show that the fellow’s expertise in the history of technical education and technical teacher training is of interest.
The fellow’s experiences in public engagement work in Europe also point to the impact the action can have on wider society. The Action informs the fellows various areas of work (teaching, public engagement, research), and is greatly facilitating how the fellow can communicate in an understandable way ideas about broader und underlying structures and dynamics shaping social coexistence, such as racism.
Moreover, working with Loving Lagos and Africa 1952 in terms of research collaboration and public engagement have shown how the project can be beneficial to local society, when insights into research contribute to, and animate the discussion, preservation and celebration of cultural heritage and memory.