Vorträge und Lesungen
African Agency in a World Remade
- Wann
- Mi, 10. Juni 2026, 20:15 Uhr
- Wo oder WAS
-
Freiburg
Horst-Weitzmann-Hörsaal (KG I, Hörsaal 1098)
Freiburger Afrikagespräche im Colloquium politicum - Part I
Prof. Dr. Toni Haastrup (University of Manchester):
Whose World? Whose Rules? African Agency in a World Remade
Abstract:
Drawing on research on Africa's international relations, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and Africa-EU relations, I will argue that African agency in the current moment is neither passive adaptation nor simple defi-ance. It is something more complex: a strategic, contested, and often gen-dered negotiation with a multipolar world that still runs on extractive logics. The contribution is organised around three interlocking arguments. First, multipolarity offers African states new leverage, but leverage alone does not constitute agency; genuine agency requires the capacity to set terms, not merely to play actors against one another. Second, the dominant responses to insecurity on the continent - from military coups to securitised partner-ships with external powers - often replicate rather than disrupt the colonial architecture of control, making demilitarisation an urgent pan-African impera-tive. Third, true African agency cannot be built on patriarchal foundations. A feminist pan-Africanism - one that centres solidarity, care, and the knowledge and labour of those long excluded from state-centric politics - is a necessary condition of African sovereignty. Overall, I want to interrogate what it would mean to take Afri-can agency seriously in practice - in regional institutions, policy frameworks and relationships with other actors. I conclude by suggesting that the most transformative political imaginaries emerging on the continent are already there - in feminist movements (Text: Toni Haastrup).
About the speaker:
Toni Haastrup is Professor and Chair in Global Politics at the University of Manchester. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh, and her current research encompasses a wide range of themes, with special interests in Africa's International Relations and critical feminist approaches to international relations.
Veranstaltung des Colloquium politicum in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut und dem Africa Centre for Transregional Research (ACT).
Mehr Informationen unter: https://www.studiumgenerale.uni-freiburg.de/cp/ev Quelle: Veranstalter
Prof. Dr. Toni Haastrup (University of Manchester):
Whose World? Whose Rules? African Agency in a World Remade
Abstract:
Drawing on research on Africa's international relations, the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and Africa-EU relations, I will argue that African agency in the current moment is neither passive adaptation nor simple defi-ance. It is something more complex: a strategic, contested, and often gen-dered negotiation with a multipolar world that still runs on extractive logics. The contribution is organised around three interlocking arguments. First, multipolarity offers African states new leverage, but leverage alone does not constitute agency; genuine agency requires the capacity to set terms, not merely to play actors against one another. Second, the dominant responses to insecurity on the continent - from military coups to securitised partner-ships with external powers - often replicate rather than disrupt the colonial architecture of control, making demilitarisation an urgent pan-African impera-tive. Third, true African agency cannot be built on patriarchal foundations. A feminist pan-Africanism - one that centres solidarity, care, and the knowledge and labour of those long excluded from state-centric politics - is a necessary condition of African sovereignty. Overall, I want to interrogate what it would mean to take Afri-can agency seriously in practice - in regional institutions, policy frameworks and relationships with other actors. I conclude by suggesting that the most transformative political imaginaries emerging on the continent are already there - in feminist movements (Text: Toni Haastrup).
About the speaker:
Toni Haastrup is Professor and Chair in Global Politics at the University of Manchester. She holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Edinburgh, and her current research encompasses a wide range of themes, with special interests in Africa's International Relations and critical feminist approaches to international relations.
Veranstaltung des Colloquium politicum in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Arnold-Bergstraesser-Institut und dem Africa Centre for Transregional Research (ACT).
Mehr Informationen unter: https://www.studiumgenerale.uni-freiburg.de/cp/ev Quelle: Veranstalter
Veröffentlicht am Mo, 13. April 2026 um 13:09 Uhr
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