The Eisenberg Institute continues its Fall 2013 Thursday Speaker Series on September 26, 4 p.m., in 1014 Tisch Hall, with Adeline Masquelier's lecture, "Possession: Stories of Spirits, Loss, and Appropriation in Nigerien Schools." The talk follows the Institute's 2013-15 theme, "Materials of History." Link for a lecture abstract. Free and open to the public.

Masquelier is Professor and Chair of Anthropology at Tulane University. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 for her work on the place of religion among young Nigerien men. Among her published works are Women and Islamic Revival in a West African Town (2009), Dirt, Undress, and Difference: Critical Perspectives on the Body's Surface (2005), and Prayer Has Spoiled Everything: Possession, Power, and Identity in an Islamic Town of Niger (2001).

On Friday, September 27, 12 p.m. in Tisch Hall, the Institute presents the workshop, "Moral / Material Spaces and Their Boundaries." The panel features Professor Masquelier, Erin Null (Ph.D. Student in History and Women's Studies, University of Michigan) and Emma Park (Ph.D. Student in History, University of Michigan); the session is chaired by Paul C. Johnson (Professor, History and Afroamerican & African Studies; Director, Program in Anthropology and History; University of Michigan). Link for more details. Lunch provided. Free and open to the public.

These events have been made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.

Photo: Dogondoutchi region, Niger, 1989 (photo by Adeline Masquelier).