Inge Butter started her PhD research project in March 2011. The objective of this research is to gain an understanding of the reasons and ways in which Chadians (re)construct their identities while finding a means of belonging to the (insecure) society around them. The focus is on the social, economic and religious networks of which a group of Arab semi-sedentary nomads are a part. Within this context it also examines the role of changing means of communication. Her research is carried out in Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

This MaGW-funded project is being supervised by Prof. dr. Mirjam de Bruijn and Prof. dr. Maarten Mous. The fieldwork is made possible by the support of the Centre de Recherches en Anthropologie et Sciences Humaines (CRASH) in N’Djamena, Chad.

Inge Butter studied cultural anthropology at Leiden University and has a special interest in the Arabic language and culture. Her MA fieldwork took place in Cairo, Egypt among the informal garbage collectors, the ‘zabbaleen’. See her thesis ‘An Informal Waste Management System in Cairo’ (2006).

CTD publications by Inge Butter:

Papers:

• Butter, I., ‘Questioning the importance of the more ‘mundane’ forms of duress: A methodological reflection on the role of ‘silences’’ CTD conference, N’Djaména, 25-28 October 2017.
• Butter, I., ‘Under duress: Chadian opinion makers in the digital age’, ASA UK Conference 2014, 9-11 September 2014, University of Sussex (Brighton).
• Butter, I., ‘Money versus cattle: a Chadian perspective on the vulnerabilities of providing banking for the un-banked’, CRESC Conference: Precarious lives and experimental knowledge, 4-6 September 2013, London.
• Butter, I., ‘La mobilité transationale et le reseau economique des nomades de Batha’, Workshop organised by Djimet Seli & CRASH as part of Mobile Africa Revisited Project: De la mobilité physique à la mobilité par les ondes, 19 March 2013, N’Djamena. Presentation including short film.