An interdisciplinary and international cultural studies research project on a journey to understand the cultural politics of dirt in Africa
Dirt is not just an empirical substance that we can see, smell and touch; dirt is an idea that shapes our perception of the world around us and how we interact with the world and the people in it. In the summer of 2013, Professor Stephanie Newell successfully applied for a ERC award of €2.2 million making DirtPol the biggest research project to tackle the issue of cultural dirtiness across Africa. The project will run until 2018 involving teams at Sussex University, the University of Lagos in Nigeria and Kenyatta University in Kenya.