Department of social anthropology seminar with Knut Graw

The Department of Social Anthropology has the pleasure to invite you to a seminar with Knut Graw from the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He will present the following paper:

"Divination in Times of Migration: Globalization, Subjectivity, and the Path of Travel in Senegal and Gambia"

Abstract
Appearing in the patterns of cowrie-shells or geomantic layouts as ‘the Path of Travel’, or simply ‘the Path’, migration is one of the most recurrent themes in Senegambian divinatory praxis today. The topic of migration in divinatory consultations forces us to consider divination not just in terms of symbolism or cognition but in relation to the experiences and situations these practices intend to counter and answer to. At the same time, divinatory praxis offers a perhaps unique perspective on how the realities of contemporary postcolonial lifeworlds are experienced and dealt with from ‘below’.

Bionote
Knut Graw (PhD) works at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA) and the Interculturalism, Minorities and Migration Research Centre (IMMRC) of the University of Leuven and, as associated researcher, at Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin. He has conducted research on the sociocultural and existential significance of divinatory praxis in Senegal and Gambia. His current research focuses on the situation of Senegalese migrants in Southern Europe and the cultural dynamics and transfers in the African-European borderzone. His theoretical interests reach from ritual analysis and migration theory to ethnographic phenomenology and globalization studies.


All interested are welcome!

Best regards
BSAS Comittee