The 98th ASC Seminar will be held with Associate Prof. Louisa Lombard, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Yale University. Please come along and join us if you are in the area, you can also join us via Zoom, please register in advance. Title: "The Initiative-Killing Machine: The End and the Future of Peacekeeping" Abstract: In the 21st century, expectations of UN military peacekeepers have risen. They are supposed to do whatever it takes to protect civilians - including use force. However, the increase in writ has been accompanied by an increase in bureaucracy and risk aversion, putting the soldiers in a bind. My ethnographic research with Rwandan soldiers working as peacekeepers shows the everyday ways that UN peacekeeping has therefore become redundant in the complicated conflict management marketplaces of Central Africa today, and is being taken over by bilateral and sub-regional deployments that make no pretense of impartiality. This talk illustrates these points by looking at the problem of command (the philosophy of how to get soldiers to do things), arguing that rather than a command philosophy, the UN has a control philosophy. The result is an initiative-killing machine. ◆Speaker: Associate Prof. Louisa Lombard, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Yale University　https://anthropology.yale.edu/profile/louisa-lombard【Books by Associate Prof. Louisa Lombard】https://amzn.asia/d/izhhT5o、https://amzn.asia/d/j2KDlL5 ◆Date：December 11th, 2024 (Wed) 5:40p.m.～7:10p.m.（JST）/ 8:40a.m.～10:10a.m.（GMT) ◆Venue：Hybrid　 Onsite： Room107（1F Research and lecture bldg.,TUFS Fuchu Campus） Online：ZOOM ◆Language：English ◆Addmission fee：Free 【Please pre-register in advence from here】Or Use QR Code. Registration deadline: Noon Dec 11th, 2024 (Wed) The Zoom link will be sent after you pre-registerd. ◆Jointly organized by African Studies Center - TUFS and Kanto Branch of Japan Association for African Studies Report We held the 98th seminar in a hybrid style and 16 participated on-site and 23 participated online. Prof. Louisa Lombard gave her presentation on 'The Initiative-Killing Machine: The End and the Future of Peacekeeping', being followed by lively discussion among Japanese and African scholars and also students in TUFS.

We are pleased to announce that the 97th ASC Seminar will be given by Dr. Charles Prempeh, a visiting associate professor invited by ASC. We also welcome Dr. Ran Muratsu, an assistant professor at ILCAA-TUFS, who will join us as a commentator. Please come and join us! Title："Our faith, our republic": An ethnographic re-assessment of the theory of religious nationalism in Ghana's public governance Abstract：How does religion manifest in public governance? Can devotees of transcendental religions pursue this-worldly over the other-worldly? What is it about public governance such that it incorporates religion as an alibi? These questions demand existential responses rather than technical ones. Similarly, they continue to shape conversations about secularization, modernity, public governance, human rights, and sovereignty and trans-national relations. The increasing ubiquitous expression of religion and its enduring entanglement with public governance requires daily reflections on the nexus between faith and the world of pluralities. My presentation will rely on ethnographic data and personal immersion to reflect on the tapestries of the encounter between faith and religion in the modern governance of Ghana. ◆Speaker：Dr. Charles Prempeh (Visiting Associate Professor, African Studies Centre, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies / Research Fellow, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology) ◆Commentator：Dr. Ran Muratsu (Assistant Professor, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) ◆Language：English ◆Date：November 29th Fri.2024 　5:40p.m.～7:10p.m.（JST）/ 8:40a.m.～10:10a.m.（GMT) ◆Venue：Hybrid　 Onsite： Room115 （1F Research and lecture bldg.,TUFS Fuchu Campus） Online：ZOOM ◆Addmission fee：Free 【Please pre-register in advence from here】Or Use QR Code. Registration deadline: November 28th, 2024 (Thu) * Registration will be closed when capacity is reached. The Zoom link will be sent after you pre-registerd. ◆Jointly organized by African Studies Center - TUFS and Kanto Branch of Japan Association for African Studies Report We held the 97th seminar in a hybrid style and 12 participated on-site and 18 participated online. Dr. Charles Prempeh gave his presentation on '"Our faith, our republic": An ethnographic re-assessment of the theory of religious nationalism in Ghana's public governance'. Dr. Ran Muratsu provided her comments based on her research in Benin, being followed by lively discussion among Japanese and African scholars and also students in TUFS.

ILCAA Symposium 'Situated Choices, Student Identities and Agencies for University Education in Uganda' An international symposium will be held at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies on 7 and 8 December 2024 (Saturday and Sunday).Young researchers, including postgraduate and PhD students, are invited to attend the casual lunch meeting on Saturday. It will be an excellent opportunity to network across research fields. There is no charge for participation. We look forward to seeing you there! Venue: Room 303, Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA),Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (TUFS) Access: http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/about/access Language: English Admission: Free 　 Register:https://forms.gle/QenrrF4ixJUZa7hE9. Please register by 4 Dec 2024! ◆Please check the time and program on the ILCAA website.

We held a two-day workshop hosted by the Center for African Studies (CAS) at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa. Researchers from five countries--Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, and Japan--gave their presentations based on our new project and enjoyed intensive discussions. General theme: African State-building: Actors, Actions, Performances Dates: Monday, September 2 and Tuesday, September 3, 2024 Venue: Center for African Studies (CAS), University of Cape Town (UCT) Programme: UCT Workshop_Programme African Studies Center - Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (ASC-TUFS) has made various efforts to construct and develop academic networks with African research and educational institutions. In this context, joint seminars were organized in 2018, 2020 and 2023 with the University of Pretoria (UP), South Africa and the Protestant Institute of Arts and Social Sciences (PIASS), Rwanda, and University of Ghana, respectively. This workshop at University of Cape Town (UCT) is a kickoff event for a new project on our activities. Details of our new project: African State-building: Actors, Actions, Performances (JSPS Grants-in-aid 24KK0024) This workshop at UCT was financially supported by the following research projects: Re-examining the State in Africa (JSPS Grants-in-aid 21H04390), The becoming of ancestral land: A case study of the Herero land claims in Namibia (JSPS Grants-in-aid 23K12351), and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)