CERTIZENS PhD Workshop for Students at the University of Ghana
OPEN PHD WORKSHOP ON CERTIFICATION,
CITIZENSHIP AND STATE MAKING
University of Ghana, Legon
17- 18 NOVEMBER 2021
Invitation to interested PhD/MPhil scholars in Accra
From 17-18 November 2021, the collaborative research project CERTIZENS (Certifications of Citizenship in Africa) is running a PhD Workshop for interested PhD scholars (and MPhil students at the thesis stage) at the University of Ghana, Legon – or elsewhere in Accra – working on themes related to: citizenship, certification, identification, ID documents, state-making, statelessness, nation-building, displacement, migration, belonging, and so on.
Background to CERTIZENS
CERTIZENS is a Danish-funded collaborative research project between the University of Ghana Legon, Makerere University in Uganda, and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Broadly, the project focuses on the logics, policies, practices and effects of different regimes of citizen classification, certification and identification. With Ghana and Uganda as case countries, CERTIZENS addresses the complex, inter-related dimensions of such systems through four arenas – international, national, intermediate and intimate – with particular attention to their implications for processes of state making and citizen making. Within the international arena, we examine evolving ‘global’ policies promoting strategies and technologies for identification and certification for development, and their articulation with national regimes. Nationally, we explore historical and contemporary forms and practices of these systems in relation to differentiated citizens. In the intermediate arena we investigate selected bureaucracies of certification and state-citizen encounters within them, as well as the changing materialities of ID documents, including rapid shifts towards digitalization. At the intimate level, CERTIZENS goes in close to investigate the personal, lived effects within local settings. See more at: https://teol.ku.dk/english/dept/certizens-certifications-of-citizenship-in-africa/
Format of the Workshop
The Workshop will run for 1½ days. On the first day, there will be seminar-style sessions that focus on two conceptual areas: * Citizens and Citizenship; and * Recognition, Certification, Identification; and on two more practical arenas * Exploring Historical Methods in Contemporary Research; and * Writing a ‘State of the Art’. On the second morning, there will be small parallel panels in which participants present aspects of their PhD/MPhil work and receive direct feedback from peers and senior CERTIZENS scholars.
Venue
The Workshop will be held at the MJ Grand Hotel, Accra. Refreshments and lunch will be provided on both days.
To Apply
Applications to be submitted by new deadline: local mid-day Tuesday 2 November to the following email address: CERTIZENS@teol.ku.dk
Applications must include the following:
- Full name of applicant
- Name of department where studying, and type of PhD (or MPhil) degree
- How far in the PhD/MPhil process one is
- Name of thesis supervisors
- 200-300 word abstract describing your PhD/MPhil project
- Statement of why you are interested in participating in the workshop
Preparation for the Workshop
If accepted to participate, you will need to prepare a 2-4 page summary paper of your ideas /an aspect of your PhD/MPhil project, related broadly to any CERTIZENS-relevant themes (including and beyond those mentioned above, such as citizenship, certification, identification, ID documents, state-making, statelessness, nation-building, displacement, migration, belonging, etc). The paper will need to be submitted by noon on Wednesday 9 November. Additionally, some background readings will be provided prior to the Workshop.
Senior scholars contributing to the Workshop
Kojo Opoku AIDOO, Senior Lecturer, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana Legon
Godfrey ASIIMWE, Associate Professor, Department of Development Studies, Makerere University
Amanda HAMMAR, Professor, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen’
Michael KPESSA-WHYTE, Senior Research Fellow and Coordinator of PhD Programs, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana Legon
Toke Møldrup WOLFF, Assistant Professor, Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen