Centre of African Studies Lecturer awarded Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship
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Akin Iwilade, a lecturer in African Studies, has been awarded a Personal Research Fellowship from the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
His project is titled Mass Offending Bodies: Youth gangs, violence and crowds in an African city (MOBS).
This project is 'interested in the intersections of proximate bodies (crowds), gang culture, and the material universe of postcolonial cities. It seeks to understand the transformation of gangs into crowds and back by teasing out the specific social practices or imaginaries that are deployed to resolve the tensions between the closed hierarchies that normally govern gangs and the spontaneity of action and openness that is seen within crowds. It asks whether/how the mob and the city co-produce each other and how crowds rupture (and inhabit) the rhythmic permanence of the postcolonial city. Focusing specifically on violent flash mobs in Lagos, Nigeria, the project draws on intellectual work around crowds and gangs, and uses spatial histories, visual records and interviews to explore how gangs evade, reconstruct and challenge the discipline of the city.'
The fellowship begins in August 2022 and concludes in August 2023.
Congratulations, Akin!