IADS RECEIVES SCHOLARS FOR A WORKSHOP BETWEEN 12TH AND 14TH SEPTEMBER, 2023.

The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies played  host to twenty -two (22) scholars from  Universities in Africa, Europe and North America at a workshop themed “Afrobeats: Digital Encounters and the Global Mainstreaming of African Popular Music”. The workshop was held at the Arthur Mbanefo Digital Research Centre in the University of Lagos. It is part of a larger project entitled “Cultural Entrepreneurship and Digital Transformation in Africa and Asia” being funded by the Ministry of Education and Research and the Fritz-Thyssen Foundation of Germany. Participants presented their various research on this emerging genre of music and deliberated on its fluid character, in particular how its resonance among the youthful demographic in Africa is part of the current decolonial imperatives.  Two keynotes were presented by Prof. Paul Ugor of the University of Waterloo, Canada and Katrin Pype, of the Catholic University of Luven. Other participants include Prof. Matthias Krings, Prof. Ute Röschenthaler, Prof. Patrick  Oloko, Hauke Dorsch, Aghi Bahi, Imani Sanga, Solomon Waliaula, Wale Adedeji, Maureen Amimo, Tom Simmert and others.