Liverpool Workshop on Hausa Identity

I've just come back from a workshop on Hausa identity in Liverpool. A lot of the great English names of research into Hausa language, culture and history were around. And, lucky me, a lot of the papers dealt with material culture in one way or the other ... so, I actually picked up a few ideas and a lot of encouragement to actually get properly started writing ... yeah, I think I found a beginning and hope it will develop some dynamics of its own soon but its really not enough I've yet written, should have managed to get much more done but then ... blame it on the writer's block and the need to kind of get settled first ... alright, all pretexts, you're right but the last two days in Liverpool were really inspiring, even though the question of Hausa identity (what makes a Hausa a Hausa, since when can we talk about the Hausa etc) is not actually too relevant for my own work - I try to dodge it by focusing on specific locations rather than their ethnic set-up ... anyway, let's get back writing ...

Anyway, for those of you who are intersted find the conference’s abstracts here.