Dr. Abiguel Elijan as a guest at the Institute
From May 10 to June 19, 2022, the social anthropologist Dr. Abiguel Elijan from the University of Parakou (Republic of Benin) will be a guest at the Institute of Anthropology. Her stay will take place within the framework of the research project “COVID-19 and Pastoralism in a Context of Rupture and Structural Reforms in Benin: Learning from Uncertainty Management from Below”. In this DFG-funded project, scholars from Benin and Göttingen are studying pastoralists’ experiences and ways of dealing with the Corona pandemic and its multiple effects in northern Benin.
Abiguel is interested in questions of multiple current transformations of agropastoral lifestyles in northern Benin. For example, she studies changing gender relations, marriage practices, and children’s educational trajectories in the milieu of Fulbe pastoralists. In her dissertation, she has worked on the role of ethnicity in local education projects. She has also published on issues of conflict and security in Benin’s border regions.
At the Institute, she looks forward to interacting with other scholars, students, and all interested parties. French, English and Fulfulde are her languages of communication.