IPP/GCSC Workshop in cooperation with RA7 “Global Studies and Politics of Space”: Inventing the Savanna
- https://www.uni-giessen.de/en/faculties/ggkgcsc/ggk-gcsc-calendar/wise2526/workshops/workshop-savanna
- IPP/GCSC Workshop in cooperation with RA7 “Global Studies and Politics of Space”: Inventing the Savanna
- 2025-12-10T14:30:00+01:00
- 2025-12-10T16:30:00+01:00
Dec 10, 2025 from 02:30 to 04:30 (Europe/Berlin / UTC100)
SR 109
Camille Lavoix; IPP Team
The savanna is both a physical space—an expansive topography covering between half and two-thirds of the African continent, albeit with porous boundaries—and a topos, a culturally constructed idea mobilized and circulated for specific (neo)colonial purposes. This workshop, at the intersection of postcolonial critique, environmental humanities, and area studies, traces the invention of the savanna: from the coinage of the term in the 16th century, to its transfer from the Americas to Africa, to its transformationfrom topos to topography—without ever fully losing its symbolic charge. We will explore how the savanna became scientificized, and how this trajectory continues to shape contemporary imaginaries, public policies (such as the Great Green Wall), and the region’s exposure to green colonialism, fortress ecologies, and the militarization of national parks. Finally, we will debate whether the term savanna should be retained, extended to European and Global North spaces, or abandoned altogether.
Camille Lavoix completed her PhD in Environmental Humanities at the University of Würzburg, Germany, with a dissertation titled Re-imagining the Sudanian Savanna. Before her academic career, she worked as a journalist for outlets such as Le Monde, El País, Arte, The Guardian, and the BBC, reporting mainly from West Africa and South America. She is the author of several books in French for adult and youth audiences—including non-fiction, poetry, and tales—some of which grew out of her reporting on the savanna.
