ERC Study Day - Inter-species Relations

Fieldwork Reports November 2024

On November 12th and 13th, 2024, in Louvain-la-Neuve and at the Tervuren Museum, the ERC Interspecific project will organize a symposium-seminar dedicated to the relationships between humans and bats, with an interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective.

The first day starts with fieldwork reports from young researchers, with presentations by Justine Vanhaelen (Taiwan) and Daria Vinogradova (Madagascar), followed by comments and exchanges with the audience.

In the afternoon, the event will feature a lecture by Dina Dechmann (Max Planck Institute) on African frugivorous bats, followed by a guided tour of the chiropteran collections at the Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren), led by Cédric Byl (UCLouvain/OIF Québec) and the museum team.

On November 13th, the day will focus on several ethnographic interventions: Michèle Cros, Séraphin Balla Ndegue, Julien Bondaz, and Benjamin Frérot will explore the representations, uses, and ambiguous figures of bats in different regions of West and Central Africa.

Finally, a creative roundtable will examine ways to “visualize” human-bat relationships, with participants from the ERC project, followed by a collective reflection session in small groups.