We are seeking papers for our panel, entitled African Animals in Art and Visual Culture. Please send abstracts of 300 words or less with affiliation and contact information to Panel Chairs, Dr. Elizabeth Howie and Dr. Amy Schwartzott (ehowie@coastal.edu and aschwart@ncat.edu) by March 30, 2026.

CFP: Non-human undomesticated animals native to Africa have been widely represented in African and African diasporic visual culture, as well as in Western and global contexts. We are seeking papers addressing art from diverse geopolitical temporalities which explore the implication of the representation of animals native to the African continent in art from a broad range of styles, periods, and cultures, whether charismatic megafauna or less well-known species. Such representations could serve to reinforce or disrupt ideologies and hierarchies of anthropocentrism, racialization, and/or Western humanism. How do such representations relate to binaries of wild versus tamed, civilized versus uncivilized? Examples include traditional art of the African continent, early modern European art, Western “primitivism,” images documenting animals given as court gifts, representations of zoos, imagery associated with animal taming performance, etc. We hope to engage ideas from postcolonial studies, critical race theory, critical animal studies, etc.