OxTalks is Changing
During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
The Mursi Encountering the Other: challenging hierarchies of knowledge and power
This event will be hybrid. Please sign up via MS Forms: https://forms.office.com/e/12GUSnifKd
The Mursi Encountering the Other: challenging hierarchies of knowledge and power
South Omo Zone, a lowland area of Ethiopia close to the borders with Kenya and South Sudan, has undergone rapid and unprecedented change in recent decades. Customary livelihoods have been undermined by land-grabbing for sugar plantations, national parks and hydro-electric projects. The inhabitants of South Omo are often marginalized from decision making processes that impact their land, livestock and livelihoods. Yet, far from lacking agency or knowledge, the people of the area are keen to communicate alternative narratives about development and share their aspirations and worries for the future. The richness in expertise derives from their daily experience of their localities but also deep reflection on how it is changing. A partnership between SOAS University of London, the Institute of Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University, and the South Omo Theatre Company has, since 2022, supported more than fifty research projects covering a range of subjects including pro- and ante-natal health care, mobile schools, changing land use, and the impacts of climate change on customary livelihoods. These and other topics were determined, and projects led, by researchers representing the Arbore, Banna, Bodi, Daasanach, Mursi, Nyangatom and Hamer communities. Bardoley Tula, Mercy Mulugeta, Richard Axelby and Emma Crewe will reflect on their experiences of this coalition.
Date:
21 November 2025, 15:00
Venue:
Dyson Perrins Building, off South Parks Road OX1 3QY
Venue Details:
Diversity Room, School of Geography and the Environment
Speaker: Various Speakers
Organising department:
School of Geography and the Environment
Organiser:
Ariell Ahearn (School of Geography and the Environment)
Organiser contact email address:
ariell.ahearn@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Hosts:
Adul Wahid Khan (SoGE),
Ariell Ahearn (School of Geography and the Environment)
Part of:
SoGE Economy and Society Cluster Events
Booking required?:
Required
Booking url:
https://forms.office.com/e/12GUSnifKd
Booking email:
ariell.ahearn@ouce.ox.ac.uk
Cost:
free
Audience:
Public
Editor:
Ariell Ahearn Ligham
