Katekisama Lecture Series

Chinese Deals in Africa: Resource-Financed-Infrastructure Exchange Dynamics in Ghana's Energy Sector

Lecture | 11 March, 2024

Lecturer: Nelson Quame (Argelander Fellow, University of Bonn / Doctoral Researcher, University of Ghana)

In this lecture, Nelson Quame discussed the implications of Resource-Financed-Infrastructure (RFI) deals for Ghana's economic development, and their associated challenges and opportunities. Furthermore, by examining the experiences of Ghana within the broader context of Africa-China energy cooperation, this lecture shed light on emerging trends, patterns, and lessons from the exchange deals between China and Ghana. Finally, focusing on the Bui Hydroelectric Dam and the Western Corridor Gas Infrastructure Projects in Ghana, Mr. Quame discussed the implications of China's growing influence in Africa's energy sector for regional energy security, sustainability and governance, considering factors such as technological innovation and financial implication dynamics.

Co-designed seminar: "Understanding Global China"

Winter Semester 2023/2024

The theme of this newly co-designed seminar in the Katekisama Program was "Understanding Global China." During this course, MA students from the University of Ghana, University of Basel, and University of Bonn delved into the political, cultural, and technological aspects of China's expanding global presence. They explored how these factors are reshaping diplomatic, geopolitical, and geoeconomic relations around the world. The seminar also involved researchers from Germany, Ghana, and China, who examined various actors such as the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese companies. Additionally, they analyzed processes of knowledge production and the transnational operations of the party state. The hybrid course took place in both Basel and Bonn.

Katekisama Lecture Series 

Globalizing, Decolonizing, or Nationalizing? On the Future of Area Studies in China

Guest Lecture | 10 November, 2023

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Xin Zhang (East China Normal University, Shanghai)

This talk critically examines the political and economic process of the recent desciplinisation of Area Studies with the Chinese academic system. Drawing comparisons with historical and contemporary Area Studies in other countries, it explores the possibility of Chinese Area Studies developing along the three major trajectories in the future: "globalising", "decolonising" and "nationalising".

Katekisama Lecture Series

Adapting the Competition Policy for the Digital Age: Assessing the EU's Approach

Guest Lecture | 17 October, 2023

Lecturer: Dr. Gentjan Skara (Visiting Fellow, University of Basel)

The Katekisama Lecture Series returns, this time with a talk focusing on the rationale and the necessity for regulating Big Tech companies' behaviour in the EU digital market. Dr. Gentjan Skara introduced the audience to the goals of the Digital Markets Act, gatekeepers' obligations and its enforcement system. Furthermore, with the insightful contribution of Ms. Krisztina Mezey in the role of discussant, this lecture also illuminated the relationship between the DMA and EU Competition Law, focusing on whether and to what extent the DMA will regulate the behaviour of the gatekeepers, so as to not hamper the competition in the digital markets. 

Katekisama Lecture Series

Reconsidering the Concept of International Return in the African Context: The Place of Immobile Cognitive Return

Guest Lecture | 06 June, 2023

Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Mary Boatemaa Setrana (University of Ghana)

This summer, we had the immense pleasure of receiving Prof. Dr. Mary Boatemaa Setrana, Director of the Centre for Migration Studies at the University of Ghana, as part of ongoing cooperation efforts under the flag of the Katekisama Program.

While migration broadly categorises return into voluntary and involuntary, Prof. Dr. Mary Boatemaa Setrana and Dr. des. Maria Ullrich argue that there is a more complex categorisation than this binary in the African context. The category of return of immobile migrants is a significant category to consider although their stories have not yet been told as migration scholars unravel the complexities of migration to include immobility discourse. The aim of this presentation is to examine the contribution of voluntary and involuntary returnees as well as the return of immobile migrants to Ghana’s development.

Expanding cooperation: First official visit from the Universities of Bonn and Basel to the University of Ghana

12-19 August, 2022

First official visit of a joint delegation from the University of Bonn and the University of Basel to Accra, Ghana. Participants were guests of the University of Ghana with the purpose of introducing the Katekisama Initiative. The visit resulted in fruitful discussions on extending cooperative efforts in the sphere of teaching between the representatives of the three universities, as well as in the agreement on starting a pilot-phase for the University of Ghana as a new partner institution in the Katekisama Program. 

Collaborative Seminar: Interdisciplinary Research on Forced Migration and Refugees. Co-conceptualizing 'Access'

Block Seminar | 29–30 April, 2022 (Bonn) & 13–14 May, 2022 (Basel)

Organized by Dr. Barbara von Rütte (Basel), Dr. Lena Laube (Bonn) and Dr. des. Maria Ullrich (Bonn), the this was the first collaborative seminar for students from the Universities of Bonn and Basel. Designed in a hybrid format, the seminar provided an interdisciplinary approach to research on forced migration and refugees focussing on different notions of "access". The discussions and ideas shared in this forum led to a further extension of the academic collaboration in the shape of a joint research paper. 

An den Grenzen von Citizenship. Fluchtmigration, politische Subjektivität und Zivilgesellschaft / On the Borders of Citizenship. Refugee Migration, Political Subjectivity and Civil Society

Lecture | 03 November, 2021

Lecture on the subject of: "An den Grenzen von Citizenship. Fluchtmigration, politische Subjektivität und Zivilgesellschaft" by Dr. des. Maria Ullrich, University of Bonn, CASSIS, as part of the lecture series „Citizenship in the 21. Century” at our partner Institute for European Global Studies in Basel.

Second Katekisama-Workshop between the Universities of Bonn and Basel (online)

Workshop | 25 October, 2021

During the second Katekisama-Workshop, researchers from various disciplines, including area studies, history, social sciences and law continued the conceptual discussion on "globality", and planned collaborative teaching projects. The session produced a conceptual map of seminars and joint research projects for the upcoming collaboration period 2022-2024. 

Conceptualizing Globality: Global Crossings, Convergence und Coexistence. Neue Ansätze zur Entwicklung ganzheitlicher außenpolitischer Strategien / New Approaches to Developing Holistic Foreign Policy Strategies

Lecture | 12 May, 2021

Lecture held by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer, University of Bonn, Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies (CASSIS), as part of the intercultural, interdisciplinary and interuniversitary lecture series of the German-Japanese scientific cooperation. Three conceptual "glasses", which also form the research foci within the Katekisama Initiative, are presented here: Global Crossings, Global Convergence and Global Coexistence. 

First Katekisama-Workshop & Kick-Off-Meeting between the University of Bonn and the Institute for European Global Studies (IEGS) at the University of Basel

Workshop | 11 May, 2021

First Katekisama-Workshop & Kick-Off-Meeting between researchers of the University of Bonn and the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel. The event marks the start of the Katekisama Collaborative Teaching Initiative and an agreement on the first batch of Open Courses to be offered to students from the two universities.