I EDITION | ON SITE | APPLICATION

Deadline for Registration

February 7th, 2022

Coordinator

Francesco Strazzari

Period

March 7th -11th, 2022

Learning Objectives

While Africa is attracting increasing political attention by global actors (including Italy and Europe), simplistic interpretations and stereotypical representations remain prevalent. This Seasonal School therefore intends to provide participants with advanced tools for a critical understanding of key political dynamics, which, starting from the African continent, offer a prism for interpreting issues of international relevance, including migration, conflicts and emancipation, violent extremism, and extractivism.

The learning objectives of the Seasonal School thus include:

• Developing a comprehensive, critical, interdisciplinary and updated view of the challenges and opportunities arising from the dynamics of transformation and conflict in Africa, taken as a whole, that is, beyond the standard dichotomy between North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa;
• Familiarizing students with cutting-edge analytical tools for the study of diversity and social change, including comparative-historical sociology, post-colonial and gender studies, immersive and digital ethnography, and audiovisual media;
• Enabling the acquisition of the theoretical knowledge, critical tools and essential skills that are relevant to a variety of professional domains and careers, including within international and regional organizations, NGOs, think tanks, research centres and academia.

Teaching Methodologies

Building on a multidisciplinary approach, the Seasonal School intends to offer its participants a wide range of analytical tools, drawing from political sciences, international relations, political economy, communication, conflict studies, ecology and area studies. The School will place particular emphasis on cutting-edge perspectives, such as post-colonial and gender studies, digital ethnography and critical sociology.
The teaching methodology will be mixed, with a combination of different formats to stimulate the active and critical engagement of all participants: frontal lectures will be complemented by dialogue sessions between academics and practitioners, round tables with established and junior scholars, as well as informal social events (movies, music, dinners). Participants will have the opportunity to get in touch and interact with experts, researchers and professors and to develop a network of professional and academic contacts. The participation of key experts from UN Agencies, EU and AU institutions in the faculty will help students sharpen their hands-on understanding of the topics discussed during the Seasonal School.

Who should attend this Seasonal School

Undergraduate, post-graduate and PhD students from different backgrounds, who have already obtained at least 60 credits from in areas such as: political science, sociology, economics, history, philosophy, law, foreign languages, geography, area studies.

Coordinator

Prof Francesco Strazzari

Key teaching staff

Dr Luca Raineri, Prof Enrico Pè, Dr Elisa Piras, Prof Marco Roventini