How much should one get involved with the field? Don’t get me wrong, this is not about activist ethnography, at least not explicitly. One of the problems of being a native anthropologist is the presence of the possibility of being co-opted by the field. As you probably know already, I am a Nigerian doing fieldwork… Read More »
Thanks Owen for checking in on me! It is nice to know that some people get around here. I am in the last few weeks of fieldwork, and it has got really intense. I am discovering holes in my knowledge, and I am trying to plug them before I leave. I realise that I cannot… Read More »
I just got in from a trip to Lomè, Togo, where I went to interview some veterans in the used clothing business. The interviews went pretty well, and I left feeling really good because I can finally see many things falling into place in my research. It is one of those moments when I can… Read More »
While reading through the ASA blog, I got thinking about the case of the migrants I work with. It is somehow interesting how the discussions on immigration rarely touch on that kind. The case of the Igbo cross-border migration is especially interesting. For one, the argument about colonial borders that partition people of the same… Read More »
In the previous blog I wrote that I was consulting some literature on Igbo history. Since I am researching in Cotonou, Benin, I have been looking for materials on Igbo migration into West Africa. Funnily, I have not been able to get any book or article on the subject. I wrote ‘funnily’ because the Igbo… Read More »
I have decided to dedicate this month to historical research. This means that I am spending time interviewing Nigerian pioneers in the trade in used clothing in the Republic of Bénin. I want to understand the initial motivations for the trade, the way the trade was structured then, and since many of them are still… Read More »
These past couple of days, I have been in Abuja, trying to learn about the trade policies of Nigeria and that of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (the ECOWAS headquarters is in Abuja). Today, at a meeting with a trade policy official at the Nigerian ministry for commerce and industry, after some… Read More »
This morning I went to eat in at a bukateria and the main topic of discussion was last night’s game. One of the customers said that Man Utd was destined to win the match. Another replied that he too thought so. Didn’t we notice that Chelsea ‘pressed’ Man Utd in the second half of the match? He was pretty sure that Man Utd was going to win when two shots from Chelsea men hit the bar during the second half. Then I got thinking about what we mean by destiny. Is it simply one of those terms/concepts people throw around when there are things they cannot explain?
After stumbling on Cicilie’s and Mary Stevens‘ blogs, I have decided to blog about my ongoing fieldwork. My PhD research is on informal transborder trade between the Republic of Benin and Nigeria, and I am currently on fieldwork in the used clothing market in Cotonou, the border area between the two countries and the retail… Read More »