Introductory remarks to the 2013 Lugard Lecture ‘youth, waithood, and protest movements in Africa’ given by Alcinda Honwana

Abstract

Welcome and many thanks to all of you for coming to attend this lecture at such an early hour. It is a great honour for me to welcome all of you on behalf of the International African Institute to the Lord Lugard Lecture – by now an old tradition of our Institute. This might be a good occasion to emphasize, first of all and once more, that over the last decades we have had lengthy debates on the title of this lecture: is it right to retain the name of Lord Lugard, the founder of our Institute but also an icon of colonialism? This certainly does not fit with our continuous struggle to overcome this colonial heritage and constantly renew the Institute. On the other hand, one does not overcome a heritage by denying it. So, again and again, the outcome of our debates was that it seemed best retain the title - after all, it is part of our heritage; so probably best to face this - but to be particularly diligent that we use the occasion to open up new perspectives in a constantly changing world. This is one of the reasons (there are many more) why I am so happy to introduce here Professor Alcinda Honwana for this year’s Lugard lecture.