Description du sujet de thèse

“Experiences of climate change: protests and mobilizations of inhabitants in coastal urban areas (Gulf of Guinea)”. The project aims to analyze forms of protests and mobilizations in the urban coastal areas of the Gulf of Guinea sensitive to the effects of climate change (sea level rise, repeated flooding, coastal erosion). The high urbanization of the West African coast has accentuated environmental risks particularly for residents of precarious neighborhoods.

Contexte de travail

• The project aims to analyze the individual and collective experience of residents of urban coastal areas vulnerable to climate change, a research area that has been little explored so far. It looks more specifically to report on these experiences in areas prohibited or unsuitable for housing and to understand forms of contestation and mobilization when these populations are evicted in the name of environmental issues.
• The project calls for a comparative analysis of at least two urban coastal areas of the Gulf of Guinea. An ethnographic field survey will explore and identify the main actors of mobilizations and protests in the areas studied and will try to contextualize the ordinary lived experiences of climate change in these areas.

Contraintes et risques

• Background in political sociology or comparative politics and appetite for transdisciplinary
• Ability to conduct ethnographic work based on interviews and observations
• Fluent in English or French, knowledge of one West African language of the proposed case studies will be an additional advantage
• Comparative case studies will be favored

Informations complémentaires

• The PhD candidate will join the Doctoral School at Sciences Po in the doctoral programme in political science. He or she will be under the supervision of Laurent Fourchard, research professor in political science at CERI and will work in association with the Sciences Po Urban School. He or she will have a second institutional affiliation at the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) at Ibadan (Nigeria). The PhD grant is funded by the Mission pour les initiatives transverses et interdisciplinaires (MITI) of the CNRS.
• Applications must include the following documents:
o A thesis project in PDF or Word format (2, 000 to 4,000 words maximum)
o A synopsis of your thesis project (one page) in PDF or Word format
o Two academic recommendations
o CV
o Proof of identity
o A copy of the last completed degree (for a PhD in political science, a minimum of 16/20 mark for the master thesis is required)
o Transcripts