Autor: meisterallerdillies

Fousseyni Touré – De Bamako à Bâle : une expérience inoubliable

Je suis arrivé à Bâle un dimanche 9 septembre 2019. Les objectifs du séjour étaient la recherche et la participation aux activités scientifiques de Centre d’Etudes Africaines de l’Université de Bâle (CEAB). Du tain qui me ramenait de Zurich, mes premières impressions ont d’abord porté sur la beauté du paysage. Mon séjour à Bâle est le fruit d’une rencontre scientifique qui a eue lieu à Dakar lors de l’école d’été du Codesria en 2018. En tant que lauréat de cette école d’été, financée par la Fondation Oumou Dilly, j’ai postulé pour une bourse de recherche de trois mois que la Fondation a mise à offerte aux lauréats de l’école d’été.

Arrivé à Bâle j’ai eu l’opportunité de participer à une école d’été, mais c’est surtout le séminaire sur la recherche qualitative du Professeur Elisio Macamo qui a été un tremplin pour moi. Ces cours furent une grande expérience en termes de pédagogie et également en termes de renforcement des acquis méthodologiques. Contrairement aux idées reçues, l’analyse qualitative est un vrai défi pour les sciences sociales.

Au cours de ce séminaire j’ai rencontré des étudiants de divers horizons. Certains beaucoup moins âgés que moi, d’autres beaucoup plus âgés. Cela m’a rappelé un adage Malien : « on est jamais assez vieux pour apprendre ! » Au cours de mon séjour, j’ai également assisté au congrès de la Société Suisse d’Etudes Africaines. Cet espace de rencontre m’a permis de me rendre compte que seul le monde de la recherche ne connait pas de frontières. Ce fut une occasion pour moi d’adhérer à la Société et d’étoffer mon carnet d’adresses.

A Bâle j’ai aussi bénéficié du soutien et de l’accompagnement du personnel du Centre d’Etudes Africaines. Le cadre de travail qui m’a été offert, en plus du code d’accès à l’immense base de données, m’a permis de recadrer mon projet de thèse et de commencer la rédaction.

Sur le plan culturel, Bâle est une ville accueillante avec ses nombreux musées et ses foires. Les nombreuses lignes de tram permettent une circulation facile et les gens sont toujours disponibles à vous indiquer le chemin. Avec mon vélo, je me déplaçais facilement dans la ville. Mes escapades le long du Rhin jusqu’au canal de Huningue ont été des moments agréables pour apprécier la tranquillité et la beauté des espaces verts. J’ai également participé à des séances de barbecue pendant les week-ends avec des amis Bâlois. La rencontre avec les étudiants africains a permis de recréer une « Petite Afrique » autour des différents plats que nous nous partagions souvent les uns chez les autres.

Mon séjour à Bâle fut une expérience inoubliable !

Lerato Posholi – Basel: a beautiful calm city for intellectual life

I came to Basel with the goal to spend a few months doing some focused reading for and writing of my PhD, as well as to open up opportunities to engage with international scholars from a wide variety of disciplines and to form new friendships. I am now six months into my one-year research visit, and I can happily say that the University of Basel has been the best place for me to pursue these goals.

Two main experiences form the highlight of my Basel research visit. The first has to do with my intellectual needs and aspirations, and the other with personal growth. In my short stay here, I have experienced the intellectual vibrancy and rigour of the University of Basel. My intellectual needs have been greatly supported by both the Europainstitute and Centre for African Studies, and my work has benefitted greatly from the mentorship and supervision from Prof Ralph Weber (Europainstitute) and Prof Allais and Prof Shalem(University of the Witwatersrand).

I have also had the opportunity to participate in a number of intellectually stimulating seminars and talks. Some highlights include a workshop (hosted by the Centre for African Studies) with one of the key scholars that I am reading for my thesis (Prof Walter Mignolo). I also presented at ECAS 2019 and was fully funded to attend the conference by the Centre for African Studies. Through these engagements, I had the opportunity to share ideas I was working on in my PhD, to have them challenged and to receive constructive feedback on how to develop them further. I was also seamlessly integrated into the university system and was able to participate in a number of opportunities for graduate students including a weekend writing retreat, graduate seminars and writing workshops hosted by the G3S.

On the personal side, my time in Basel has presented the opportunity to reconnect with friends that I met in the CODESRIA summer school in Dakar, as well as form new friendships with other graduate scholars from Africa and the world more broadly. The G3S has been particularly instrumental in providing a space for these new friendships to emerge and grow. I am humbled by how much I have learned about the richness and diversity within Europe, and this has helped me critically reflect on how I continue my scholarship.

I also took up the opportunity offered by the canton to learn German, and it has been one of my best experiences in Basel. German is a difficult language and I am not sure how well I will be able to speak the language at the end of my course. But learning German has been a fun experience that has awakened a love for learning new languages that I did not know I have.

The city of Basel, with its beauty and calm, has been a productive place for thinking and writing my PhD thesis, as well as a great place to discover new hobbies and form new friendships. I’ve enjoyed the serenity and greenery that the city offers. Basel is definitely one of my top favorite cities now.

Calvin Minfegue – Opening up to the diversity of a city…

Being awarded a fellowship from the Oumou Dilly Foundation for joining the Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel was a fantastic opportunity in my academic career but also to be immerged in Basel as a city.
Basel appears to me as a structured living space marked by the nourishing udder of the Rhine, which seems to give it a particular imprint. Basel is also a striking human diversity where many cultures and ways of being in the world intertwine to give something plural. Although the city is predominantly German-speaking, it may come as a surprise to see a lady speaking Spanish on the street or a couple expressing themselves in Lingala in a tram.

The city is sublimated by a singular architecture. You can take the pulse of the city at festive events such as the fairs, which gives a different look to the space around the University’s main campus for example. Basel is also and perhaps above all particular places, necessarily dependent on the preferences and sensibilities of each individual. But how can we pass by Basler Munster without being marked by this impressive architecture, this roof of glazed tiles that can be seen from a distance? A stroll along the landscaped banks of the Rhine gives you a chance to rest for a while. Beyond that, the city’s location makes it easy to rally French and German cities and open up to different local experiences.

This public side was complemented by a personal experience of living in a building housing with people representing at least eight nationalities. This was something fascinating and it is undoubtedly a circumstantial expression of what is Basel today, at least in my view…