May 15, 2019
Co-host Gerardo Serra reports from the University of Ibadan
(Nigeria) to discuss new initiatives and research in the history of
African economic thought. Guests include Jerome Lange (Associate
researcher, University of Paris 1) and Richard Itaman (Lecturer in
comparative political economy of late development, King's College,
London), the main organizers of the Young Scholars Initiative
conference on 'The past and the future of African development', and
a group of scholars doing exciting research on the history of
African economic thought: Adebayo Adedokun (Lecturer in Economics,
University of Lagos), Kohol Sylvester Shima (PhD student in
History, University of Ibadan), Takesure Taringana (PhD student and
Teaching assistant in Economic History, University of Zimbabwe),
and Alex Ugwuja (Lecturer in History and International Relations,
Edo University). Topics discussed include the methodological
challenges and interdisciplinary opportunities of reconstructing
the history of African economic thought, and specific case studies
of the history of Igbo economic thought, the theory and practice of
'esusu' as a mechanism of saving and capital formation among the
Yoruba, the role played by historian Akiga Sai in reconstructing
the economic thought and life of the Tiv people, and the use
of proverbs as a source for the history of economic thought in
Zimbabwe.