Burkina Faso seen from below
The Forum for Africa Studies is leading commissioned research in collaboration with the long-standing partner the Institut des Sciences des Sociétés (INSS) in Burkina Faso. The research is funded by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency through the Embassy of Sweden in Burkina Faso. Annual studies are conducted on strategic themes of importance to Swedish development cooperation in Ouagadougou and its Burkinabe partners.
The background to the project is grounded in a study conducted on Burkinabe Sociopolitical Transformations 2014-2016. That collective anthropological study - published both in French and in English - demonstrated the importance of analysing social change and national politics from below, from the perceptions and perspectives of oridnary citizens far from decision-making and media outlets.
In 2018, the focus was on security from below and citizen perceptions and perspectives on security and safety challenges. A team of eight anthropologists did fieldwork including project leaders Prof. Sten Hagberg and Associate Prof. Ludovic Kibora. The report was presented to researchers and stakeholders in Ouagadougou on 12 December 2018. A book entitled Sécurité par le bas: Perceptions et perspectives citoyennes des défis de sécurité au Burkina Faso was published in December 2019. The English version Security from below in Burkina Faso was published - with a long epilogue by Sten Hagberg and Ludovic Kibora - in May 2023.
In 2019, the annual study focused on women leadership and decentralisation. Fieldwork was carried in a dozen of municipalities between March and June 2019 with a team of eight anthropologists. The draft report was presented in a workshop in Ouagadougou on 9 January 2020. The book on the combat of women leadership was published in January 2021 (see below). The book is available online here
In June 2022, the project was formally ended with a workshop on engaged research and societal challenges, simultaneously celebrating 25 years of research collaboration between INSS and the Dept. of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology at Uppsala University. In May 2023, however, the publication of Security from below in Burkina Faso marked a brilliant end.
The annual studies have been published in the series Uppsala Papers in Africa Studies.