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AFRAB Workshop and meeting in Niamey, Niger, in March 2023 

AFRAB Workshop and meeting in Niamey, Niger, in March 2023

AFRAB’s sixth sub-regional workshop took place in Niamey in the offices of the 'Institut de Recherche en Sciences Humaines’ (IRSH Niamey) on 12 March 2023. The Nigérien team of researchers: Professor Zakari Maikorema, Dr Alakarbo Hassimou, Dr Abdoulaye Tchiambou, and the team’s research coordinator Dr Oumarou Moussa, met with Professor Rossi to discuss research progress over the last few months.

The Niger Team research meeting on the 12th of March 2023 with (left to right): Abdoulaye Tchiambou, Oumarou Moussa, Zakari Maikorema and Alakarbo Hassimou

On March 13, 2023, IRSH hosted a research workshop organised as part of the collaboration between the LARSO laboratory (IRSH) and the AFRAB Project. Several participants had started working together on related topics in the context of the LESLAN Project. The workshop’s theme was “Islam and Abolitionsm in West Africa” (Islam et Abolitionnisme en Afrique de l'Ouest). Several researchers from Francophone West African universities collaborating with AFRAB presented their research at the workshop, alongside other invited external presenters. The workshop’s topic was not only central to AFRAB’s theme, but it also built upon the momentum occasioned in Niger’s academia by the recent award of a Doctorate of Philosophy to Oumarou Moussa for his PhD thesis entitled « The influence of Islam on the practice and abolition of slavery in Tuareg and Zarma-Soŋay societies in western Niger since the 19th century » at the Abdou Moumouni University of Niamey on 26 November 2022. Dr Moussa now coordinated the AFRAB research team in Niger. His is the first thesis defended in a university in Niger that dares to focus on what for decades has been a taboo subject: internal slavery and its resilience until today in spite of several legal measures taken by successive governments, aimed at eradicating this institution.

From left, Ahmadou Sehou, Jean Schmitz, Moulaye Hassane and Elhadj Cheikou Balde. Photo courtesy of Apsatou Bagaya.

From left, Hassimou Alakarbo, Maman Moutari, Boureima Alpha Gado, Oumarou Moussa, and Abdoulaye Tchiambou. Photo courtesy of Apsatou Bagaya.

From left, Moussa Zangaou, Roukayatou Hayatou, Janvier Guidang Tchinabi, Benedetta Rossi. Photo courtesy of Apsatou Bagaya.

 

The IRSH AFRAB Workshop in Niamey, Niger on the 13th March 2023

Please click on the pdf link below to open the programme of the workshop “Islam et Abolitionnisme en Afrique de l'Ouest”: