Dr. Isaie Dougnon
Humboldt Fellow of Prof. Dr. Georg Klute (Anthropology of Africa), University of Bayreuth, Germany
Contact Data
Email: |
isaie.dougnon@googlemail.com |
Phone: |
0049 (0) 921 55 3501 |
Fax: |
0049 (0) 921 55 4136 |
Bureau: |
B III, Room 24 |
Consultation hour: |
by appointement |
Research Interests
Anthropology of work, migration studies, local knowledge, rural development, higher education and academic freedom, West Africa
Running Project
In his current project Lifecycle, Rites and Career in Modern Work: The Case of Contemporary Mali, Isaie Dougnon looks at modern work and addresses the question as to what degree new technology and organizational structures have changed the lifecycle and its attendant mores and customs. An investigation of the interraction between lifecycle and career can shed light on such changes in both the workaday and life-worlds of post-colonial Africa. A unique aspect here is the change that has occurred in people’s perception of time - a perception which structures an individual’s occupational career: first he goes to school, graduates, gets a job, and then eventually retires. In order to accelerate their careers, civil servants as well as businessmen and intellectuals make resort to both secret and public rites. Isaie Dougnon is investigating the question as to precisely which rites are involved and how the perception of time functions in certain public institutions so as to guarantee unbroken progress in an individual’s career; in addition, he is scrutinizing the repercussions of this manipulation of time in intergenerational relations and with respect to worktime and lifetime in Africa.