Intra-Party Politics and Conflict in Ghana

African Studies Reading Group, Thursday 24 October, 5 pm.
Lady Wilson Room, Sir Roland Wilson Building, 120 McCoy Circuit, ANU.

Recent studies on democratization and conflicts in Africa have largely focused on civil wars, as well as national, sub-national and local elections. Little attention has been given to conflict and violence as a result of internal processes of political parties. The dynamics of intra-party conflicts differ from those at the national or sub-national levels, and therefore should be treated as a subject in its own right. Political parties in Ghana are beset by intra-party conflict, which poses a significant threat to the democratic development of the country. Drawing on elite interviews and ethnographic observations, this presentation will argue that the struggle for power, the lack of internal democracy, ethnicity, factionalism, and patronage have contributed to intra-party conflicts and violence within Ghana’s two dominant political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic Party (NPP).Ernest Akuamoah is a PhD student in the School of Politics and International Relations. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Studies (First Class Honours) from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana) and a Master of Philosophy in Political Science from the University of Ghana, Legon. His PhD project examines the impact of term limit relaxation on electoral violence.

All welcome, refreshments provided.

Early Career Research Small Grants Scheme

ANU’s Herbert & Valmae Freilich Project for the Study of Bigotry is welcoming applications for the 2019 round of the Early Career Research Small Grants Scheme (for activities to be undertaken in 2020).

Three grants of up to $5000 each will be awarded to emerging scholars to assist research into the causes, the histories and the effects of ethnic, cultural, religious and sexual bigotry and animosity. Applications are open to all Early Career Researchers and PhD Scholars working in Australia, and are due on 15 November.

Full details of the Scheme are available here on the Freilich Project website.

Exhibition: Photography, Race and Slavery: African Sitters of Qajar Era IranĀ (UNSW, Sydney)

(Ordinarily we restrict posts on this site to events in Canberra, but this fascinating exhibition about a little known aspect of African and African diasporic history is an exception to the rule. -IA)

Photography, Race and Slavery: African sitters of Qajar Era IranĀ ā€“Ā Seminar and Exhibition Opening

Curated by Dr Pedram Khosronejad (Western Sydney University), this exhibition traces the unexplored history of African slaves in Iran during the Qajar dynasty and looks at the unique relationship between photography and slavery in Iran from 1840s to the 1930s. This exhibition is presented as part of the UNSW Library Exhibitions Program and the Silk Roads@UNSW Research Network Seminar Series in collaboration with the Religion and Society Cluster of Western Sydney University.

UNSW Library, Sydney, 25 September 5:00pmĀ RSVP