Elvira Pietrobon awarded for her doctoral thesis “Sull'abitare contadino. Spazi in divenire nel sud del Mali - On Rural Dwellings. Spaces in the Making in Southern Mali”

Elvira Pietrobon has won the scholarship for the best doctoral thesis in African Studies 2026 awarded by ASAI (Associazione per gli Studi Africani in Italia - Association for African Studies in Italy) for her doctoral thesis “Sull'abitare contadino. Spazi in divenire nel sud del Mali - On Rural Dwellings. Spaces in the Making in Southern Mali”, defended on 30 June 2025 at Università Iuav di Venezia.

The ASAI committee for research and studies on Africa and its populations, both within and beyond the continent, unanimously awarded the scholarship to Elvira Pietrobon for the originality of her approach, the methodological rigour and interdisciplinary nature of her research, which reinterprets the relationship between rural and urban space in contemporary Mali through extensive fieldwork, solid theoretical reflection and strong engagement with the local context.

The award ceremony was held on 3 July 2026 at the University of Pavia during the 8th ASAI Biennial Conference “Acque d'Africa. Flussi, destini e contesti - African Waters. Flows, Destinies and Contexts”.

In the photo, Elvira Pietrobon participating in the award ceremony via video link.