Guest lecture on eco-oral literature by Peter Wasamba

June 13 is the start of a Short Training Programme seeking to innovate the PhD trajectory at Ghent University, notably in the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, with a strengthened emphasis on ecological sustainability in literary and museal studies from an East-African perspective.

We welcome Prof. Peter Wasamba from the University of Nairobi as our first guest for a public lecture and lab work on “Narratives and Objects in a Museal Oral Ecolit-Lab: Ecological Sustainability in East-African Literary scholarship and UGent Curricula”. More info and registration: https://event.ugent.be/registr.../WasambaMusealOralEcolitLab.

This Short Training Programme seeks to innovate the PhD trajectory at Ghent University, notably in the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, with a strengthened emphasis on ecological sustainability in literary and museal studies from an East-African perspective.

A growing amount of PhD students is directly interested in ecological and sustainability themes, while others integrate the theme as a transversal line in their work. Fresh input of scholars from East-Africa working on ecocriticism from the prism of oral literatures as well as performance and heritage studies will concretize UGent’s transversal theme of sustainability in African literary and museal studies.

People:

• Inge Brinkman (African Studies, UGent);
• Vicky Van Bockhaven (Museology, UGent and Africa-Museum);
• JUNE 2024: Prof. Peter Wasamba’s research visit – Lab and Lectures on Methods in East African Eco-Oral Literature.
• SEPT/OCT 2024: Dr. Kimingichi Wabende’s research visit – Workshop with PhD students on oral narratives, fieldwork and performance.  
• FEB 2025: Dr. Teshome Mossissa’s research visit - Lab and Lectures on Methods in Oromo narratives and objects.
• MARCH 2025: Dr. James Wachira’s research visit – Lab and Lectures on East African Literatures on Ecological Sustainability from an intermedial perspective.

Aims

We seek to combine objects and narratives to curate a Museal Oral Ecolit-Lab for and by UGent PhD candidates. Our Short Training Programme will start with academic lectures focused on the ways in which East-African Literary Curricula address SDG 15, that aspires to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Through the lectures and a performance workshop, we will jointly explore the potential connections between narratives and objects in our research. This will be further concretised in the museal oral ecolit-lab. The Lab will be geared to PhD students working towards contents-input in the form of portfolios for the exhibition. The expertise will rest on methods and theories of East-African scholars in tandem with staff from Tervuren’s AfricaMuseum (notably Vicky Van Bockhaven). The museal oral ecolit-lab will connect narratives and objects in an exhibition, that will be realised digital as well as physical. The project experiences will be documented in a Special Issue.