African Peacebuilding Network (APN) Residential Postdoctoral Fellow (2014) Dr. Gbemisola Animasawun presented a seminar at the Institute of African Studies, Columbia University, New York, December 12, 2014. His presentation, titled “The ‘Booboisie,’ Conflict Drivers, and Peacebuilding in Lagos and Accra Informal Economies,” stressed the need for more localized peace research and the setup of early warning mechanisms to deter future conflicts and called upon policymakers and practitioners to better engage with actors of these informal economies. The seminar was facilitated by professor Abosede George of Barnard College.

Dr. Animasawun visited New York at the conclusion of his three month fellowship residency period, having spent two months at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC), Ghana, and one month at the Department of African and African American Studies, Harvard University. The title of his APN project was “Autochthony, Horizontal Inequalities, and Ethnic Insecurity: Implications for Peaceful Co-existence and Inter-ethnic Crisis in Select Markets in Lagos, Nigeria.”

The APN postdoctoral fellowship is meant to help African PhD holders based in African universities who are in the early postdoctoral phase of their scholarly careers to complete ongoing research projects focusing on a topic related to African peacebuilding.

Click here for more information about the APN Residential Postdoctoral Fellowship competition.