afriBIAN - The Africa-Bayreuth International Alumni Network

Thanks to its successful proposal submitted by the Institute of African Studies (IAS) for the DAAD’s "Alumni Programme for German Universities BMZ and AA", alumni work in the Bayreuth African Studies 2020 and 2021 will be funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA).

In close cooperation with graduates of the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), they worked together on a concept for an alumni network that will deal with the topic "Religions in Africa" over the next two years. The result of the cooperation was the planning of a conference series entitled "Rolling Religion on the African Map: Beliefs, Practices and Contentions in Times of Transition", which will take place over the next two years in Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and Kenya.

At the kick-off workshop in Bayreuth in February 2020, the five project partners Dr. Ramzi Ben Amara from Sousse (Tunisia), Dr. Moulay Driss El Maarouf from Fès (Morocco), Dr. Chikas Ishaku Tsilpi from Jos (Nigeria), Dr. Samuel Ndogo from Eldoret (Kenya), and Dr. Louis Ndong from Dakar (Senegal) took part. The programme for the first conference "Religion in Times of Transition", scheduled for 26 - 30 May 2020 at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of the Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fès-Sais (Morocco), was drawn up. Graduates who have completed their doctorate at the University of Bayreuth in African Studies or on a topic relevant to Africa are invited to apply for participation in this conference. The call for applications and further information can be found on the website of the new alumni network www.afriBIAN.uni-bayreuth.de.

During the workshop, the idea quickly arose that cooperation should not be limited to the organization and implementation of the conference series. This was the birth of the Africa-Bayreuth International Alumni Network (afriBIAN).