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African Music in the 21^st Century – An Iconic Turn?

An International Symposium Celebrating the 21^st Anniversary of the African Music Archives Mainz (AMA)

To be held at: Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
June 13^th – 16^th 2012
Convenors: Hauke Dorsch, Matthias Krings

Since the advent of the 21^st century and the proliferation of digital media a shift in the consumption and marketing of music in a number of African countries occurred: Videos gained an increasing importance. Today, Video-CDs and DVDs are widely sold in African cities, bars and restaurants show music clips and music casting shows on TV, music videos are available online through sites like youtube, but also via homepages and blogs devoted to artists, genres, and (at least ideally) music of the entire continent.

Due to this online availability and easy circulation of discs the visual aspects of music, especially dance styles, clothing fashions, coiffure spread more easily and rapidly than ever before between different African countries and between African and its Diaspora. For example, migrants stay up to date with regards to musical and fashion trends in their respective countries of origin thanks to these videos. Prior to the mediatisation of African music through visual technologies, dance styles could only be transmitted through the presence of human bodies. Due to the proliferation of videos African dance and music travel trans-nationally on South-South and South-North axes at an accelerated speed.

So far, the pictorial turn (Mitchell) or iconic turn (Boehm) in Cultural Studies informed only few studies on African music. Consequently, the change following the digitisation and video-isation of the production and dissemination of African music is still under-researched. Taking music videos as its vantage point, this symposium will look at visual aspects of the performance and analysis of music more generally.

We invite young researchers and established scholars to present papers on the different ways music in Africa (and beyond) is interpreted, illustrated, translated or extended in its meaning by visual representations. These may refer to the analysis of individual videos, the comparison of a number of videos, or genres, changing trends of video aesthetics, the convergence of visual and aesthetic trends from elsewhere – in Africa and beyond (i.e. MTV, Bollywood, etc.). Furthermore, papers on the transformation (or even emergence) of music industries in Africa due to the impact of the visual are welcome. How are music videos produced on the ground? Who are the agents of the iconic turn in African music? How does music television support the iconic turn in African music? Finally, we invite papers on other aspects of the visual in music, performance (i.e. looking at costumes, stage shows, stage lighting, etc.), on festivals and of course dance.

The symposium will celebrate the African Music Archives’ 21^st anniversary. The AMA hosts Germany’s largest collection of recordings of African popular music. It includes roughly 10.000 recordings, from shellac records of the 1950s, to vinyl discs and singles from the 1960s to the 1990s, to music cassettes of the 1980s and 90s, to recent CDs, VideoCDs and DVDs.

The symposium will be hosted by the African Music Archives, Department of Anthropology and African Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. It will take place on campus from June 13^th to 16^th.
Organisers: Dr. Hauke Dorsch, Prof. Dr. Matthias Krings

Please submit your proposal no later than Sept., 15^th 2011 and your full paper no later than may, 23^rd 2012 to Hauke Dorsch dorschh@uni-mainz.de.

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8th Iberian Congress of African Studies - ICAS 8

Under the Palaver Tree: Resistances and Transformations Between the Local and the Global

Madrid, 14-16 June 2012

During the last decades we have witnessed profound transformations in the African continent and a reconfiguration of its relations with the rest of the world. As many other times in the past, the Africans are articulating complexes local answers that imply as much resistances as new regional and global connections and dynamics of integration. Moreover, important debates about always controversial concepts such as modernity, tradition, identity, development, liberation, democracy, human rights, social justice, state, are taking place, specially about their pertinence and utility for the comprehension of these transformations and for political action.

As in its previous editions, ICAS 8 constitutes a new opportunity to create a meeting point for dialogue between the different trends of the increasingly rich and diverse African Studies; an opportunity as well to promote and facilitate the relations and nexus between the research centres and teams that work in the Iberian peninsula, Africa and elsewhere.

“Under the Palaver Tree”, we would like to invite researchers from Europe, Africa and other places, to share our growing theoretical, analytical, epistemological and methodological pluralism. The objective of this edition is to to broaden our knowledge of the complex, multiple and diverse African realities, in the understanding of the richness of the local, national, regional and global processes of interconnection, and also in the multiples narratives on the past and about the future that are being generated in the dynamical African societies.

The researchers or research groups interested in presenting panels can send their proposals through the web page application: www.ciea8.org/call-for-panels/ since June the 1st up to September the 15th.
Panels may be thematic or geographical; they will have a length of one or two sessions depending on the number of papers being presented. Each session will last two hours, with four to five presentations.
The deadline for panel proposals is the 15th of September. The panels will be selected by the Scientific Committee and will be made public the 31st of October 2011. The working languages of the conference are Spanish, Portuguese and English.
 

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International Conference

Emerging Africa
Old Friends, New Partnerships and Perspectives for the 21st Century

“Keep your friends close – and your rivals even closer.” Nelson Mandela

14 – 16 June 2012
University of Pécs, Hungary

CALL FOR PAPERS
The Africa Research Centre of the Department of Political Studies, University of Pécs, in cooperation with Hungary’s Africa Studies journal (Afrika Tanulmányok) will host its second international interdisciplinary conference on Africa and Africa-related research.

CENTRAL THEME
Africa has been on the rise in a number of different ways: the continent and many of its states have a growing weight in the transnational global politico-economic arena of today. According to recent surveys, up until 2030 the African continent will keep a strong annual growth rate of around 6-7%, parallel to which, it will continue stabilising its political frameworks and processes, therefore, will be able to transmit a new “image”, which is inevitable for any longterm investment and development at large. Among the most intriguing issues we find the changing African cities, which have a substantial influence on the changing social and physical environment, as well as the transforming dichotomy between urban and rural areas, traditions and human relations; the growing middle class across the continent, which will have the strength to support and/or drive fundamental changes in their societies in the long run; or the new type of competition among actors with historic ties with Africans, and other, sometimes more dynamic and pragmatic entities of the semi-peripheries of the Global South. In light of all these it is time to further discuss the relations of African states with global key actors, the development of regional organisations, the future of the African Union, etc. The main challenges will be highlighted with the help of two prominent scholars of African research who will deliver the keynote lectures of the conference: Prof. Goran Hyden (University of Florida, USA) and Prof. Ian Taylor (University of St. Andrews, Scotland, UK).

GOALS
The conference is planned to provide a bi-annual forum for African, Western and Central/Eastern European scholars to discuss a selected circle of inter- and multidisciplinary issues in social sciences and humanities on Africa in the 21st century. The event intends to strengthen the active involvement of the young Africa Research Centre of Pécs to the network of European Centres of African Studies – in particular within the Visegrad community in Central Europe – and to provide fresh thoughts/approaches to international and Hungarian think tanks of different fields, as well.

APPLICATION
The working language of the conference will be English. Scholars of all levels are encouraged to apply. Please, submit an abstract (max. 300 words) along with your name, affiliation (institution) and e-mail address to tarrosy@publikon.hu until midnight 15 March 2012. The Scientific Board of the Conference will make the selection by 25 March and notify the accepted candidates no later than 27 March.
As part of the event a separate students’ section will offer the ground for undergraduate, graduate and PhD students to deliver presentations on their research topics/ongoing research. When applying as a student, please, indicate that you wish to contribute to this particular section.

PARTICIPATION
Selected presenters will be invited to submit their full papers until 31 May 2012. The steps and requirements of the full paper submission will be sent to the selected presenters along with the e-mail of notification. After the event the organisers plan to publish a book in co-operation with LIT Verlag, Germany, together with a special issue of the newly founded e-journal “Central European Africa Studies Review” (CEASR).
After having been selected for the conference, transfer the conference fee of 60 EUR to the conference account provided for you in a separate e-mail. The fee includes full participation in the conference lectures, the buffet lunches and the conference dinners. The optional cultural programme on 16 June costs 40 EUR per person.
There are three categories of conference fee: (1) the amount of the fee is 60 EUR between 27 March and 30 April; (2) after 30 April it is 70 EUR; (3) after 1 June and on the spot it is 80 EUR. Those who wish to take part in the event as participants without a paper are requested to pay the conference fee of 60 EUR.
Arrange your accommodation in advance in Pécs. The organisers will assist you with
information on optimal bookings and related issues. Arrange your travel accordingly. In this respect, the organisers will help you find the best ways to get to Pécs.


PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME
14 June (Thursday)
08:45 – 09:30 Registration
09:30 – 10:00 Welcome addresses
10:00 – 11:30 Keynote address by Prof. Ian Taylor, including debate
11:30 – 13:15 Panel sessions
13:30 – 14:30 Buffet lunch
14:45 – 18:00 Panel sessions
19:00 Conference dinner

15 June (Friday)
09:00 – 10:30 Keynote address by Prof. Goran Hyden, including debate
10:30 – 12:00 Panel sessions
12:15 – 13:15 Buffet lunch
13:30 – 17:00 Panel sessions
17:30 – 18:15 “Füssi Nagy Géza” Memorial Lecture
18:15 – 18:30 Final remarks and future follow-up
20:00 Farewell dinner

16 June (Saturday)
Optional Programme around Pécs, European Capital of Culture 2010
09:30 trip to the river Danube (Mohács), traditional fish lunch in Dunaszekcső
14:00 trip to the famous wine region of Villány, wine tasting and dinner in a cellar

SCIENTIFIC BOARD
Paper proposals/abstracts will be considered and selected by the Scientific Board of the Conference composed of the following researchers/experts: Gábor Búr (Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest), Sándor Csizmadia (Corvinus University, Budapest and University of Pécs), Attila T. Horváth (Budapest University of Technology and Economics), Loránd Szabó (University of Pécs), István Tarrósy (University of Pécs), Jan Záhořík (University of West Bohemia in Pilsen), Katarína Bajzíková (Africam Centre of Slovakia), Hana Horaková and Katerina Werkman (Metropolitan University Prague), Dominik Kopiński (University of Wrocław).

CONTACT
István TARRÓSY, Ph.D., tarrosy@publikon.hu
Department of Political Studies, Africa Research Centre, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs
organiser of the conference

Loránd SZABÓ, szabo.lorand@pte.hu
Department of Modern History, Faculty of Humanities, University of Pécs
organiser of the conference

http://africa.pte.hu

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The Biannual CRG African History Conference 2012

African History Today

Paris, 15-16 June 2012

  We are pleased to invite you to the 1^st Biannual CRG African History Conference. The conference will be hosted by the Centre d'études des Mondes Africains (CEMAf UMR 8171), in collaboration with the Research Centre Sociétés en Développement Etudes Transdisciplinaires (SEDET), in Paris.

The main aim of this conference is to strengthen network ties among scholars of African history, within AEGIS and outside. The second aim is to discuss the current state of our discipline. Which new developments take place, which new subjects are currently broached and which are neglected? How can we profit from closer collaboration within Europe through AEGIS and the CRG?

The conference format reflects these aims. We have chosen to organise a series of roundtables. Below you will find the calls for participation for all four roundtables. The roundtable organisers will choose a small number of key participants, who are invited to give 10 min. spotlight talks of what they see as the key issues, after which the floor will be opened for what we hope will be engaged discussions.

Also below, as reminder, you will find the call for nominations for the one lecture given during this conference: The Exciting Lecture on African History. NB: in order to facilitate organisation, we have to shorten the previously announced deadline to 15 March 2012.

There is no conference fee. Our hosts will graciously provide coffee, lunch, and drinks. Due to limited capacities please send your binding registration with your name, institutional affiliation and address to: crgconference2012@gmail.com

We will confirm your participation on a first to register basis.
Registration will close on April 31^st .

Roundtable speakers and the lecturer are exempt.
For organisational questions please contact: crgconference2012@gmail.com

Preliminary programme:
Conference Venue: Centre Malher, 9 Rue Malher, Paris
Metro no 1 "St Paul", Bus 76 & 96.

Conference Dates:
Friday 15 and Saturday 16 June 2012.

Friday 15 June 2012
13:00 Start: CRG business meeting, discussing ongoing issues, agenda will follow separately
15:00 Coffee break
15:30 Roundtable I "African Global Histories" Hosts: Andreas Eckert, Baz Lecocq
17:00 "Exciting lecture on African History"
18:00 Cocktail

Saturday 16 June 2012
09:30 Roundtable II " Tyrannie du contemporain, où en est l'histoire « ancienne » de l'Afrique?" Hosts: Gérard Chouin, Bertrand Hirsch, Camille Lefebvre
11:00 Coffee break
11:30 Roundtable III "National Histories or Histories of Nationalism?" Hosts: Miles Larmer, Jan-Bart Gewald
13:00 Lunch Buffet
14:30 Roundtable IV "New research on culture in Africa" Hosts: Odile Goerg, Dominique Malaquais
16:00 Closure


Call for nominations" Exciting Lecture on African History"

For reasons lost forever to posterity it has been decided to call the one biannual lecture at the CRG conference "The Exciting Lecture on African History". The lecture shall take about 30 minutes, with a further 30 minutes for discussion. We call upon all CRG members to nominate a scholar to present this lecture. Eligible for nomination are all those scholars who have recently published or otherwise presented an exciting new book, idea, theory or other path breaking new work that merits our further attention. A small committee consisting of Dmitri van den Bersselaar, Pierre Boilley, Andreas Eckert, and Baz Lecocq will select and invite the speaker from the proposed nominations.
Nominations should reach us before 15 March 2012 at: crgafricanhistory@gmail.com


Roundtable I: African History and Global History

“Africa is at once one of the most romantic and the most tragic of continents... There are those, nevertheless, who would write universal history and leave out Africa.” When W.E.B. Dubois lodged this complain in 1915, Africa was widely regarded as a continent without history. Things have considerably changed since then, but until today the majority of ‘mainstream’ historians probably still hold the view that, all in all, Africa has little relevance for global history. On the other hand, ‘global history’, or 'world history', is not a major preoccupation for historians in sub-Saharan Africa, and in fact only very few Africanist historians outside the continent are promoting this historiographical branch or consider themselves to be part of the ‘global history movement’. How are historians of Africa responding to the challenge of global history, an approach that is booming especially among students and younger scholars in Western countries, but also in numerous non-European areas such as Latin America or China. Global or world history stand for a variety of approaches which share the attempt to look at entanglements and comparisons among different world regions. Should global history be seen as a threat that further marginalizes Africa in a global setting, devaluating area knowledge? Or is global history a welcome challenge which “provincializes Europe” and puts Africa back on the map? Could a focus on global history further marginalize historians Africa, who have neither the interest nor the financial capacities to be part of 'the global history circus'? What could be themes and perspectives to fit Africa within the global history framework? Which methodologies, approaches and insights from within African history could be of fruitful use to global history and or the comparative history of other continents or world regions? This Roundtable will discuss these and related questions in order to critically evaluate the chances and risks of global history approaches for the writing of African history. We invite submissions from conference participants for four or five informal presentations of a maximum of ten minutes each. Written papers are not required, speakers are asked to present brief but brilliant statements that stimulate debate among the panelists and all other conference participants. Interventions can be made in English or French, the working languages of this conference. Vous pouvez intervenir en anglais ou français, les deux langues de communication de cette conférence.

If you would like to make a presentation, please contact the convenors of this Roundtable by 31 March 2012:
Si vous voulez intervenir dans cette table-ronde, veuillez envoyer un courriel avant le 31 mars 2012 à:
Andreas Eckert: andreas.eckert@asa.hu-berlin.de
Baz Lecocq: baz@lecocq.nl


Roundtable II: National Histories or Histories of Nationalism?

Once dominant nationalist or patriotic histories of newly independent African nation-states have been discredited, but the challenge of how to write histories of such states remains a central problem for African historians. The legacy of colonial borders and the artificiality of African ‘nations’ has not prevented nationalism becoming an important basis of belonging and political mobilisation in post­colonial African society, even if its meaning is highly contested. Citizenship is often asserted to exclude those deemed to fall outside a politically defined ‘autochthon’ basis of national belonging. How are historians responding to the challenge of writing African histories that both reflect and critically analyse the phenomenon of nationalism? Do national (but not patriotic) histories still have their uses, or is such a framework moribund? Can we most usefully approach the nation from its (geographic, social or cultural) margins? Is the nation-state unit of analysis still vital, given our increased awareness of the long history of ‘globalisation’? Or are local and cross-border histories more revealing of the nature of African societies? What intellectual and methodological challenges confront historians pursuing innovative approaches that overcome the limitations of older forms of national histories? This Roundtable will analyse these questions, drawing on current examples of innovative practice in this area by members of the CRG for African History. We invite submissions from conference participants for four or five informal presentations of a maximum of ten minutes each, based on their research and issues that have arisen from it: written papers are not required, and speakers are asked to present their research in ways that stimulate debate. After this a general discussion will take place involving all conference participants. Interventions can be made in English or French, the working languages of this conference. Vous pouvez intervenir en anglais ou français, les deux langues de communication de cette conférence.

If you would like to make a presentation, please contact the convenors of this Roundtable by 31 March 2012:
Si vous voulez intervenir dans cette table-ronde, veuillez envoyer un courriel avant le 31 mars 2012 á:
Miles Larmer: m.larmer@sheffield.ac.uk
Jan-Bart Gewald


Roundtable III: Tyrannie du contemporain, où en est l'histoire « ancienne » de l'Afrique?

En France et aux Etats-Unis, les chercheurs spécialisés en histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique se sont récemment interrogés sur la désertion de ce champ et sur ses raisons. En France, ces réflexions ont montré que loin d’être générale cette désaffection concerne spécifiquement ce qui fut pendant trente ans le sujet privilégié de la recherche francophone en histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique : le Sahel médiéval. Les modalités de formation de cette discipline et l’évolution du contexte français permettent d’expliquer cette désertion et l’éclatement de la recherche vers d’autres zones géographiques. Il est désormais temps de dépasser ce questionnement national et de s’interroger sur l’état de ce champ à l’échelle européenne. Si l’histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique n’est pas une histoire désertée, un constat s’impose néanmoins celui d’une domination de plus en plus forte de l’histoire « contemporaine », de la colonisation à nos jours. L’histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique recouvre des réalités historiques extrêmement variées sur plusieurs millénaires, tandis que l'histoire contemporaine est par définition plus ramassée du point de vue chronologique. Si l'on rapporte le nombre de chercheurs ne serait-ce qu'à la profondeur temporelle des périodes étudiées, le déficit de chercheurs, et donc sans doute d'intérêt institutionnel, est patent. Ce déficit est aggravé par la difficulté qu'il y a pour des chercheurs relativement isolés dans leurs zones chronologiques et temporelles, à établir des passerelles heuristiques avec d'autres chercheurs. De plus, l'histoire de l'Afrique « ancienne » ne s'enseigne nulle part en France, à l'exception notable de l’Université Paris 1 et le constat est vérifiable ailleurs en Europe. Certes, la recherche ne s'est pas tarie, mais elle s'est distendue jusqu'à devenir invisible dans le fond d'écran efficace imposé par les contemporanéistes Autour de nous, l'étau du pragmatisme et de l'utilitarisme se resserre, et partout il faudrait « servir à quelque chose ». Si les recherches en histoire contemporaine peuvent tant bien que mal s’adapter et argumenter sur la nécessité de construire à partir du passé proche un commentaire sur le présent d'une Afrique que l'on voudrait pouvoir 'comprendre'. Une obscure et lointaine relation de voyage, une fouille de forêts sacrées, une histoire lignagère à exhumer, voilà des 'produits' bien plus difficiles à placer. En Afrique même, après la course folle des années 60 et 70 vers l'Histoire, beaucoup ne se contenteraient-ils pas de l'histoire « ancienne » telle qu'elle a déjà été écrite? Au-delà de ces questions de fond se posent des questions de méthodes et de pratiques, notamment par exemple la déconnexion de plus en plus problématique, et profonde, entre archéologues et historiens. Ainsi, l'archéologie historique de l'Afrique en tant que telle n'existe pas en France - et peu en Europe -, et s'il existe des historiens qui pratiquent l'archéologie, et des archéologues qui n'ignorent pas la démarche historique, il manque encore l'architecture institutionnelle qui permettrait de constituer de véritables pôles organisés à la fois autour de compétences variées, de visions communes et de projets fédérateurs. Nous invitons à réfléchir sur ces questions, notamment à nourrir un état des lieux des recherches sur l’histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique en Europe, à interroger les catégories et particulièrement la notion même d’histoire « ancienne », mais aussi à évoquer des questions de sources ou de méthodologie qui pourront aider à appréhender les recherches innovantes en histoire « ancienne » de l’Afrique. We invite submissions from conference participants for four or five informal presentations of a maximum of ten minutes each. Written papers are not required, speakers are asked to present brief statements to stimulate debate among panelists and other conference participants. Interventions can be made in English or French, the working languages of this conference. Vous pouvez intervenir en anglais ou français, les deux langues de communication de cette conférence.

If you would like to make a presentation, please contact the conveners of this Roundtable by 31 March 2012:
Si vous voulez intervenir dans cette table ronde, veuillez envoyer un courriel avant le 31 mars 2012 à:
Gérard Chouin: gerard.chouin@gmail.com
Bertrand Hirsch: Bertrand.Hirsch@univ-paris1.fr
Camille Lefebvre: camillelefebvre@yahoo.fr


Roundtable IV: Nouvelles recherches sur les cultures

La culture semble plus que jamais omniprésente, prise dans une vive tension entre une mondialisation qui accélère la circulation des productions, assure la diffusion d’une diversité de modèles alors qu’elle tendrait de fait à l’uniformisation ET l’affirmation d’expressions valorisant des identités locales ou régionales. C’est dans ce contexte que la question des cultures, prises ici au sens de productions artistiques (musique, danse, peinture, littérature et usages du langage…) et de pratiques, est questionnée. Il s’agit d’examiner l’apport de nouvelles approches face à des objets d’étude mouvants et émergeant dans des contextes politiques et sociaux précis à l’instar des concert parties ghanéens, des cantates mises en scène par la bourgeoisie loméenne, des musiciens congolais des années 1950, des groupes de rappeurs sénégalais, des plasticiens offrant des alternatives aux statues monumentales coréennes… Des termes tels que “patrimonialisation, folklorisation, mobilisation politique, instrumentalisation, hybridité…” jalonnent les recherches. Outre la musique, déjà largement explorée, quels sont les objets étudiés par la recherche ? Quelles sont les sources mobilisées ou inventées ? Les méthodologies mises en œuvre ? De quels sens ces productions sont-elles le signe ou le véhicule ? La question des cultures entraine celle de la diversité des acteurs, de l’impact de leur action, du rôle de passeurs, des politiques menée ou des subversions induites…? Autant de questions que de nouvelles recherches abordent à partir d’objets (affiches, langage, sculpture, musique…) et d’angles variés. Cette table ronde sollicite de brèves présentations, portant sur des thèmes, des périodes et des lieux variés. A partir d’études de cas, elles doivent viser à poser des problèmes généraux et à ouvrir des pistes de discussion. Interventions can be made in English or French, the working languages of this conference. Vous pouvez intervenir en anglais ou français, les deux langues de communication de cette conférence. This Roundtable will analyse the above questions, drawing on current examples of innovative practice in this area by members of the CRG for African History. We invite submissions from conference participants for four or five informal presentations of a maximum of ten minutes each, based on their research and issues that have arisen from it: written papers are not required, and speakers are asked to present their research in ways that stimulate debate. After this a general discussion will take place involving all conference participants. Interventions can be made in English or French, the working languages of this conference. Vous pouvez intervenir en anglais ou français, les deux langues de communication de cette conférence.

If you would like to make a presentation, please contact the convenors of this Roundtable by 31 March 2012:
Si vous voulez intervenir dans cette table ronde, veuillez envoyer un courriel avant le 31 mars 2012 à:
Odile Goerg: o.goerg@free.fr
Dominique Malaquais: malaquais@yahoo.com
 

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AEGIS / Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies

AEGIS CORTONA SUMMER SCHOOL IN AFRICAN STUDIES
African Dynamics in the Global World: New powers, subjectivities and social forces

This is to announce that a Summer School designed for advanced Ph.D. students in African Studies (social sciences and humanities) aiming to take part in the Fifth AEGIS European Conference of African Studies (ECAS 5, Lisbon, June 2013) will be held in Italy at

Cortona, Tuscany, 18-24 June 2012

The 2012 summer school will focus on the theme of African Dynamics in the Global World and will be addressed in interdisciplinary panels dealing with sub-topics such as consumption, public spaces and policies, and multilevel conflicts and mediations. Other topics may be proposed, and approaches to each of them from a variety of disciplines are encouraged. The aim is not merely to address the effects of globalization, but also to examine the dynamics of African societies, politics, cultures and histories in a manner that is sensitive to wider comparison and articulation. The programme will be articulated into thematic sessions coordinated by a senior researcher and/or an AEGIS Centre with particular interest in the thematic.

The 2012 Summer School is organized by AEGIS-Naples in collaboration with the AEGIS Centres of Bayreuth, Bordeaux, Edinburgh, Gent, Lisbon, and Leiden. The aim of the Summer School is: a) to bring together advanced Ph.D. students and teaching staff from AEGIS Centres in order to exchange field and research experience; b) to improve the students’ ability to prepare and present their research in an international context; c) to promote graduate training within AEGIS and stimulate African-European inter-university cooperation.

Both students and senior researchers are expected to present papers on their current research. The emphasis will be on field methodology and comparative research results, both in writing and oral presentation.

The basic modalities for the Summer School are as follows:
The workshop is open to some 20 Ph.D. students and young researchers coming from AEGIS Centres and their affiliates in Europe and Africa. Applicants are invited to submit proposals that address the general topic of African Dynamics in the Global world within possible themes or sub-themes favoring interdisciplinary encounters.

Applicants are asked to send a 500-word abstract of their papers within the general topic of the summer school, or in any way relevant to these issues, as well as a one-page outline of their Ph.D. status and current research. Papers that apply and/or refine conceptual and theoretical approaches to the subject matter, as well as presenting fresh empirical information, will be especially welcome.
Applicants will be selected on the basis of their research outline and their ability to engage with wider issues in African Studies today. Priority will be given to students and researchers with recent field experience and fresh research results. Application by African students is encouraged; subsidies for the participation of a limited number of successful African applicants are being sought.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 15 March 2012. Participants will be informed of acceptance by 15 April 2012. Upon acceptance, participants will be asked to send confirmation and a deposit fee of 100 €.

Each participant will be asked to contribute to the Summer School expenses by paying a lump-sum of 600 € to cover registration, food and lodging in Cortona. The cost of travel to and from Cortona is to be met by individual participants. Candidates coming from AEGIS Centres can apply to their Centre for financial assistance. External candidates will have to pay for their own expenses. A limited number of grants are available for African students.

Participants are expected to register in the afternoon of Monday 18 June 2012. Working sessions will be held from Tuesday 19 June through Saturday 23, 2012, with departure the following day, Sunday 24 June.

For more details you can write to:

Local Organizing Committee
Cristina Ercolessi mcercolessi@unior.it
Antonio Pezzano pezzanoan@yahoo.com

Scientific Board:
Clara Carvalho (Lisbon) claracarval@gmail.com
Ton Dietz (Leiden) dietzaj@ascleiden.nl
Cristina Ercolessi (Naples) mcercolessi@unior.it
Alessandro Triulzi (Naples) a.triulzi@agora.it
Baz Lecoq (Gent) baz@lecocq.nl
Paul Nugent (Edinburgh) paul.nugent@ed.ac.uk
René Otayek (Bordeaux) directeur.lam@sciencespobordeaux.fr
Achim von Oppen (Bayreuth) achim.vonoppen@uni-bayreuth.de

Coopted Members:
Jon G. Abbink (Leiden) abbink@ascleiden.nl
Manuel Joao Ramos (Lisbon) mjsr@netcabo.pt

Application form (.doc)
 

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Von der Entwicklungshilfe zur internationalen Zusammenarbeit: Chancen nutzen - Zukunft gestalten
Entwicklungszusammenarbeit im 21. Jahrhundert. Wissenschaft und Praxis im Dialog

22. - 24. Juni 2012
Tagungshaus Weingarten, Akademie der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Kirchplatz 7, 88250 Weingarten, Deutschland

Seminar in Zusammenarbeit mit der Arbeitsgruppe Entwicklungspolitik des Alfred-Weber-Instituts für Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Universität Heidelberg.

Die Neuorientierung der deutschen Entwicklungspolitik zielt auf Formen und Instrumente der internationalen Zusammenarbeit, die geeignet sind, vorhandene Entwicklungspotenziale besser zu nutzen und Entwicklungschancen zu schaffen. In dem Seminar werden damit zusammenhängende aktuelle Fragen und Herausforderungen aus der Perspektive von Wissenschaft und Praxis diskutiert. Die zu Beginn des Jahrtausends von der internationalen Staatengemeinschaft vereinbarten Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) werden bis 2015 mindestens 30 Staaten nicht erreichen können. Daher sind Fragen nach dem effizienten Einsatz verfügbarer Ressourcen zur Erreichung der MDGs zu stellen. Darüber hinaus werden zukunftsweisende entwicklungspolitische Ansätze diskutiert, die über die Millenniumsziele hinaus weisen. Wie können Ursachen von Armut abgebaut werden, anstatt nur Symptome zu bekämpfen? Ist ein ökologisch breitenwirksames Wirtschaftswachstum überhaupt möglich? Kann mit militärischen Mitteln Sicherheit für Entwicklung erreicht werden? Ist Bildung der Schlüsselfaktor für Innovationsfähigkeit und Entwicklung? Welche Konsequenzen zieht die internationale Zusammenarbeit aus heute erkennbaren globalen Bedrohungen?

http://www.akademie-rs.de/veranstaltungen.html

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Call for Papers for the 3rd Conference of IESE

"Mozambique: Accumulation and Transformation in a Context of International Crisis"

Maputo, 4-5 September 2012

Nowadays the international crisis is an omnipresent theme in news items, in analyses and in debates on public policies, options and priorities, and on corporate strategies, modes of production, appropriation, distribution and use of surplus, but also on the implications of climate change, the possibility and meaning of the Development State, and the sustainability of the Welfare State. Economies with noteworthy economic growth (such as that of Mozambique and of several other countries in sub-Saharan Africa) have been rather ineffective at reducing poverty, vulnerability and real inequality, in modifying productive structures, in reallocating income between social groups, and in reducing patterns of dependency and instability. At the same time, we witness the emergence of new forms of political organisation and new dynamics of demonstrations and expressions of social struggle outside of the formal institutional framework, related with waves of unemployment and social frustration, particularly among young people. Are we looking at a crisis caused by “failings of the State” reflected in lack of fiscal discipline, failure of the social protection model, and/or by deregulation of finance capital? Or is this a crisis of the social mode of accumulation and capitalist reproduction which, naturally, is of a political nature and has political implications and also affects models and options of the State and of representation, affirmation and political struggle? Through this conference, IESE intends to introduce new perspectives and approaches, based on a political economy analysis, with relevance for Mozambique.

Without prejudicing other relevant questions, the papers proposed should seek to develop problematics related with the following interrogations:

                How are the various dimensions of the crisis characterised, how do they relate to each other and reinforce each other, and what impact do they have on the options for social, economic and political transformation and transition? To what extent the crisis is one of financialization of global capitalist patterns of accumulation and what are the implications for transition and transformation?

                To what extent does emerging from the crisis require fundamental changes in the political and economic patterns of production, accumulation, reproduction and redistribution of wealth, in what directions could such changes occur, and through what political processes could such a transition develop?

                What are the relevance, tendencies and dynamics of foreign investment and its relationship with natural resources and domestic processes of capital accumulation, and what are the implications for transition and transformation? What is the role of emerging economies in this process and what are the challenges and opportunities that they represent in the process of change?

                What role can education play in the dynamics of crisis and change?

                What challenges and pressures for employment and urbanisation emerge from these processes of crisis and change, and what implications do they have for options of social and economic transformation?

                How are the crisis of social security models and the social inequalities that this crisis reveals (with regard to the control, appropriation and redistribution of surplus) characterised, and how do they tend to develop? What economic, social and political implications can flow from them? Is this a demographic crisis or a crisis of the mode of accumulation (or both)?

                How can social and economic pressures affect these mass social movements, and what impact can such movements have on future options? How to characterise these movements in Europe, the USA, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa? What do they have in common and in what ways are they different? And what lessons are emerging from these processes?

                How do climate change, and the social pressures resulting from it, contribute to and how are they affected by the other dimensions of the crisis, and what impact do they have on the options for political, economic and social transformation?

Researchers interested in presenting papers at the conference are invited to send a summary of their themes (in Portuguese or English), in no more than 750 words to conferencia.crise@iese.ac.mz. The summary should indicate the theme, the problematic, the methodology and the basic sources of information, as well as information on the institutional position of the candidate and his/her contact details. The proposals may be individual or collective. All proposals will be considered and submitted to a jury for selection.

The themes should be relevant for Mozambique, although they can have generic theoretical or methodological foci, or may be based on case studies from other countries.
In addition to their presentation at the conference, the approved papers will be published by IESE in its series of “conference papers” and later some of them will be selected for publication in a book.
IESE may bear the transport and accommodation expenses for some participants.
For any further information, please contact IESE at the address conferencia.crise@iese.ac.mz.

Important deadlines to bear in mind:

                Summaries of the proposed papers should be submitted to IESE by 10 April 2012.

                IESE will inform the candidates as to whether their proposals have been approved by 15 May 2012.

                The definitive texts of the papers approved for the conference should be delivered to IESE by 5 August 2012.

Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos (IESE)
Av. Patrice Lumumba 178, Maputo, Moçambique
Web site: http://www.iese.ac.mz
 

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African Studies Association of the United Kingdom Conference 2012

 We are beginning to plan the 2012 ASAUK conference. The ASAUK Biennial conference will be held in
Leeds in 2012 and will run from 2pm on Thursday Sept 6th to 1pm on Saturday 8th September 2012.

Streams
There will be no overarching 'theme', but there will be a number of 'streams' running through the conference. A 'stream' could be anything between 4 and 9 panels (of 3/4 speakers each). We would like to encourage journals, centres, networks and individuals to make preliminary proposals for streams, so that we can begin to plan. We would welcome anything that reflects a current area of research. If you wish to propose a stream of panels for the conference then please email David Kerr d.kerr (at) bham.ac.uk

We are grateful to the below for organising a series of panels running through the conference.

Deborah Johnston (SOAS) and Morten Jerven (Simon Fraser University) on the data base for African economic development.
Miles Larmer (Sheffield) Katrien Pype (MIT) Reuben Loffman (Keele) Congo research network stream
Miles Larmer (Sheffield) The Yorkshire African Studies Network
Gabrielle Lynch (Warwick) Transitional Justice in Africa
Lizelle Bisschoff (Edinburgh) Contemporary African cinema: New innovations in genres, themes, production and distribution
Jane Plastow (Leeds) Culture
Stephanie Newell (Sussex) and Ranka Primorac (Southampton) Literature
Emma Hunter (Cambridge) Citizenship
Lotte Hughes (Open) and Clara Arokiasamy (KALA) Heritage
Frances Cleaver (Bradford) Is ‘good’ water governance compatible with water equity in Africa?
Chris Paterson (Leeds) Media and communications

We are also very pleased to have two panels on North Africa submitted by George Joffe (Cambridge) and Martin Evans (Portsmouth).

We are encouraging journals, centres, networks and individuals to offer papers for the conference. At this stage we are asking interested parties to submit papers into the conferences online abstract submission website. The deadline for paper submissions is the 27th of April 2012.

A full list of panels proposed for the conference is available on the ASAUK website (see link below).
 
http://www.asauk.net/conferences/asauk12.shtml 
 
To submit a paper for the ASAUK Conference you need to register via the link below. Once you have registered you can then log into the online submission system and submit your paper.
 
Once you have registered on the conference website you will need to log in click on "Click here to make a new submission" and you will be presented with a list of the panels currently proposed for the ASAUK Conference. Please select the panel into which you wish to submit your paper and click next to proceed. Papers can also be submitted independent of any of the panels currently proposed, to do this you should select the not for a symposium option.
 
All papers require abstracts of no more than 250 words.
 
It is worth noting that you can use your one email and password to propose several papers. Should you wish to amend your personal or paper details you can this by logging into the system at any time up until the close of submissions.
 
https://asauk.conference-services.net/authorlogin.asp?conferenceID=2615&language=en-uk
 

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African Studies Conference

18-20 September 2012
Pavia University, Faculty of Political Science

The Conference addresses African studies conducted in all disciplines and specialized fields. Scholars and researchers are invited to present their contributions to the study of Africa in its historic and contemporary dimensions.

The past two decades witnessed impressive transformations in African countries and societies, and their interactions with the rest of the world. These changes took place in a context marked by strong pressures from outside, such as the restructuring of the global balance that followed the end of the Cold War, the policies of support to the development of democracy, the neo-liberal economic strategies and their effects on society, the quest for energy sources and raw materials by old and new players in the world economy, the spread of global forms of communication and culture, new powerful interpretations of the social and political role of religious beliefs and institutions, the increase of migration fluxes within and without the Continent.

These and other external influences operated within an African context that was also deeply marked by dramatic internal developments, such as the end of the system of Apartheid, which normalized relations between South Africa and the rest of the Continent, a sustained economic growth in several countries and regions, but also powerful pushes for social and institutional changes coming from within societies and political systems. These changes resulted in numerous internal and international conflicts as well as requests for a wider representation and participation in the political realm, a ruling group recruited from a larger social base, inclusive of growing lower-2 middle classes and younger generations. We add the demands for more effective polices against growing poverty and widening social gaps, more attention to the rural world and its structural problems, the acknowledgement of specific communitarian dimensions and minorities, a fairer national redistribution of resources and assets, a more balanced centre-periphery relationship, and in some cases the questioning of national boundaries established by European colonialism and confirmed by Decolonization (such as in the case of Eritrea and, recently, of Sudan, with the secession of the southern part of the country as a new sovereign nation, South Sudan).

In 2011 North Africa entered a period of dramatic changes in long-established power balances in Tunisia and Egypt, through popular protest that culminated in violent clashes with state security apparatuses and eventually the toppling of authoritarian regimes. The uprising against the regime in Libya slid into a full-fledged civil war and international military intervention on the side of the rebel forces that ended with the defeat and execution of Muammar Gaddafi.
The African Continent is experiencing a rapid reshaping of its political, social, economic and cultural landscapes, and its relations with the outside world, marked by emerging new forms of dependency/interdependency and the repercussions of North-South tensions.

The participants in the African Studies Conference are invited to present papers on topics that are central to lively current debates taking place in several African countries, such as:
- how modern African societies deal with their own histories;
- identity, community membership, citizenship and connected rights;
- the form and substance of institutional and constitutional frameworks: political representation and participation, democratization, governance, decentralization, and the role of traditional institutions;
- the politics of space, borders, territory;
- economics and development policies; labor and social classes, and the dynamics of personal dependency;
- forms of land tenure and different conceptions of ownership;
- violence, wars, conflicts, peace restoration;
- the roles of diasporas, migrations, minorities, peripheral groups and communities;
- international and regional relations;
- the relationship between religion and politics;
- gender and generation issues;
- language and language politics;
- the educational systems and the role of intellectuals and the media;
- art expressions in their global dimension;
- cultural heritage issues;
- literature, philosophy, theology;
- poetics and politics of the cultured body in contemporary contexts: ornaments, cloths, fabrics;
- therapeutic and medical issues;
- environmental problems and the issue of biodiversity;

The Scientific Committee encourages in particular papers dealing with:
- overviews of current studies;
- historical and present relations between Italy and Africa.

Registrations to the Conference and proposals for panels or individual papers are to be sent to the following address: conferenza.africanisti@unipv.it.
The deadline is 15st March 2012.
Proposals for panels or individual papers should include: a) title; b) abstract (a maximum 1000 characters); c) a brief profile of the speaker (a maximum 300 characters). The Scientific Committee will supervise the selection of panels and individual presentations. The time slot allocated to each paper presentation is 20 minutes maximum.

Participation at the Conference as a presenter (panel or individual paper) is subject to payment of a registration fee of 30 euros in the case of graduate students and post-docs who are not enjoying a scholarship; 50 euros in the case of all other presenters. Registration fees for the ASAI (Associazione per gli Studi Africani in Italia) members are 25 and 45 euros respectively.
The fee will be reduced to 20 and 40 euros respectively for all those registering before 31st August 2012 and to 15 and 35 euros for ASAI members.

Payments to be made to the following bank account:
Account holder: Amministrazione Centrale dell'Università di Pavia
Bank: BANCA POPOLARE COMMERCIO E INDUSTRIA
Address: Strada Nuova, 65 – 27100 Pavia
Account details: IBAN IT32I0504811302000000046566
IT IS CRUCIALLY IMPORTANT YOU DETAIL “AFRICAN STUDIES CONFERENCE, PAVIA” ON THE ORDER FORM

The registration fee includes participation at the Conference as a presenter, two meals and the possibility to book accommodation at a discounted rate in student halls in Pavia.
The organization of the Conference will consider granting two nights free accommodation in student halls to a maximum of 50 presenters (panels or individual papers) who are graduate students or post- docs but not enjoying scholarships or research grants.

For further details about registration, accommodation in Pavia and transport please browse the link http://www-3.unipv.it/webdsps/conferenza/homepage.html
For further details about ASAI, please browse the link http://studiafricani.wordpress.com

Scientific Committee
Gian Paolo Calchi Novati, University of Rome “La Sapienza”
Maria Giovanna Parodi da Passano, University of Genova
Pierluigi Valsecchi, University of Pavia
Fabio Viti, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
Mauro Tosco, University of Torino
Mario Zamponi, University of Bologna

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2nd Biennial Kwame Nkrumah International Conference

September 21-24, 2012
at the campus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.

 THEME: “Africa’s Many Divides and Africa’s Future”

“If in the past the Sahara divided us, now it unites us.” Dr. Kwame Nkrumah declared some fifty years ago. Keenly aware of Africa’s many artificial divides, Nkrumah was determined to lead a revolution that would bridge those divides. One way to achieve this goal, Nkrumah proposed, was a continental pan-African government, which would provide the African people the opportunity to pool and marshal their enormous real and potential economic, human and natural resources for the optimal development of their continent. A continental union government, Nkrumah was convinced, would ensure that Africa ended the divisions created by the trilogy of enslavement, colonization and neocolonization of Africans. Nkrumah was concerned by other divisions as well; those created by time/history, nature and above all those created by Africans themselves, such as ethnic/racial, and religious discrimination, classism, sexism, ageism, as well as atavistic and backward traditional practices, including ‘tribalism’ and patriarchy.

Nkrumah had long predicted that unless Africans formed a political and economic union to address the continent’s acute problems, the raging ‘revolutions’ in the north of the continent, religious, and ethnic strife and civil wars in other parts of Africa were inevitable. He warned that unless urgent steps were taken to bridge Africa’s divides, Africans would be warring among themselves as their detractors and neo-colonialists hide behind the scene pulling “vicious wires” to cut “each other’s throats.” For him, these upheavals are all masked economic “wars.” In other words, these wars and unrests are struggles over scarce economic resources and scrambles to control political power. Religion and “tribalism” are mere fronts for deep-seated grievances over economic deprivation.

Topics to be discussed include, (but not limited to) the following:
The Northern Africa-Southern Africa Divide
The Linguistic Divide
The Class Divide
The Ethnic Divide
The Ideological-Political Divide
The Gender and Sexuality Divides
The Generational Divide
The Religious Divides
The Rural-Urban Divide
The Afro-Pessimism-Afro-Optimism Divide
The Continental Africa-Diaspora Africa Divide
The Intellectual-Non-intellectual Divide
The Elitism-Non-Elitism Divide
The Global South-Global North Divide
The Cold War Ideological Divide (the Soviet-East-American-West) Divide
The Post-Cold War Divide (s)
The slaver-raiders/sellers and the enslaved Divide
The rhetoric (theory)/action (practice) Divide

Paper Abstract Submission
Abstracts of approximately 250 words for papers of 20 minutes duration, and suggestions of panels consisting of 3 panelists each are welcome and should be e-mailed, with a short bio-note (50 words) contact address, and one to three keywords related to the area of research to Dr. Charles Quist-Adade, knic@kwantlen.ca no later than December 15, 2011, final notification of selection to be communicated by February 15, 2012.