Yonatan N. Gez, Francis Ngure, and Keren Kuenberg (CEI-Iscte, University Institute of Lisbon)
(via Zoom)
Join us for an inspiring guest lecture with the ERC AfDevLives team – Dr. Yonatan N. Gez, Francis Ngure, and Keren Kuenberg (CEI-Iscte, University Institute of Lisbon) – as we reflect methodologically on how to study the long-term aftermaths of change, and how these are perceived and lived in everyday life.
Date: 24 February 2026, 16:20 CET
Venue: OEIKA, P2 – Zavetiška 5, Ljubljana
Language: English
Abstract:
What are the material and immaterial remains of past international development projects, and which paths are available for social scientists for studying them? ERC Starting Grant AfDevLives explores how such remains are experienced, employed, and re-appropriated by local actors over time, and how such active immanence of the past affects people’s life-worlds. It weaves together three temporal gazes: prospective (development’s blueprints); retrospective (sediments of the past, shorthanded as interventions’ ‘afterlives’); and present-time lived experiences. Inspired by phenomenological ideas and affect theory, Project AfDevLives explores methodological directions for capturing the overlaying complexity of being-in-a-place by incorporating creative and experimental methods involving walking, drawing, photography, and audio, and by emphasizing participatory approaches to research. The project is based at the Centre for International Studies at Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, with research conducted in Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. This lecture will present Project AfDevLives, focusing in particular on its methodological directions. These directions will be demonstrated through two concrete case studies, both from Kenya.
Speakers:
Yonatan N. Gez is a social anthropologist studying international development, family dynamics, well-being, and religion in East Africa. Alongside his work on Project AfDevLives, he is deputy PI on Swiss National Science Foundation Sinergia project called FamilEA: Remaking of the Family in East Africa (Project n° CRSll5_213547/1, 2023-2027).
Francis Ngure is a doctoral candidate at the University Institute of Lisbon, ISCTE-IUL. His current research interest is on the afterlives of the defunct meter gauge railway stations in Kenya, with a case study of the Naivasha station. Specifically, his interest lies in the intersection between the material remains in the station and the everyday lived realities of communities surrounding the station.
Keren Kuenberg is an architectural researcher and curator. Her practice is situated at the intersection of the built environment, archives, exhibitions, and politics – in various interactive formats. She’s previously worked for museums, universities, and non-profit organisations. Working on various projects that investigate multi-narrative histories through the use of 3D scanning.
