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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    Call for Papers Comics and Graphic Novels in the World History Classroom
    World History Bulletin is seeking quality essays, lesson plans, and classroom activities for inclusion in its upcoming Fall 2022 issue, “Comics and Graphic Novels in the World History Classroom.” The deadline for submissions is August 29, 2022.   Guest-edited by Trevor R Getz, author of the graphic novel Abina and the Important Men, “Comics and Graphic Novels in the World History Classroom” explores the juncture of emergent popular forms of history and the traditional texts which have historically served as the backbone of history coursework. This point of overlap has caused friction, as shown recently with the banning of Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust-set Maus by a school board in the American state of Tennessee. The controversy over Maus has motivated conversations about the uses of comics and graphic novels in classrooms and the themes they depict, as well as raised questions about the limits on teaching curriculum.   Yet Maus is but one of many comics and graphic novels scholarly historians and instructors have used in their research and classrooms, from Perpetua’s Journey to The Arab of the Future and The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt, each are rich in historical context and detailed storytelling, as well as provide vivid windows into moments of historical significance that capture the imagination of students—while at the same time being controversial. It is clear, however, that the trend toward popularizing historical events in this medium is accelerating, and World History Bulletin’s upcoming issue sets out to capture some of the ways in which educators and researchers have used comics and graphic novels in their work.   World History Bulletin invites contributions to a thematic issue at the intersection of popular histories in the form of comics and graphic novels and world histories. We are especially interested in articles that share fresh research or historiographical perspectives on the use of popular histories; present innovative teaching at all levels that employ comics and graphic novels to explore world history themes; or explore the connection between student engagement with traditional history texts and the medium of comics and graphic novels. We welcome short interviews with designers, artists, writers, and scholars and small roundtables on a book, film, or other work.   Essays and questions should be directed to Joseph M. Snyder, Editor-in-Chief of the World History Bulletin, at bulletin@thewha.org.
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    New Open Access Issue: Electronic Journal of Africana Bibliography (Vol. 17, No. 1)
    The editorial team of the new Electronic Journal of Africana Bibliography (EJAB) is pleased to announce the publication of its first issue in 2022: Verbuyst, Rafael.  "Khoisan identity, politics, and representation in post-apartheid South Africa (1994-2022): a selective and annotated bibliography."  Electronic journal of Africana bibliography  Vol. 17, no. 1 (2022): 1-35.  https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/ejab/article/view/9888   The author is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Ghent University, who earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from University of the Western Cape (2021) and a Ph.D. in History from Ghent University (2021).   Together with global shifts in the fields of postcolonial studies, anthropology, and history, South Africa's democratic transition of 1994 invigorated debates about Khoisan identity, politics, and representation in South Africa and elsewhere. While classical themes continue to inform Khoisan Studies research, the increasing number of people self-identifying as Khoisan and engaging in activism accordingly has brought new debates, topics, and perspectives to the fore. In this selective and annotated bibliography, scholarly works that epitomize this trend are discussed.                                                                                              ****************************************************   EJAB is a refereed, online, open access journal of annotated bibliographies and bibliographic essays. Originally published by the University of Iowa Libraries between 1997 and 2014, the journal has been relaunched in 2022 by Columbia University Libraries with a US-based editorial team composed of African studies librarians from Columbia University, Harvard University, The Library of Congress, Michigan State University, and The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. The mission of the journal is to serve the global research community in African and African Diaspora Studies by publishing freely-accessible, online annotated bibliographies and bibliographic essays on any aspect of Africa and the African Diaspora, including its peoples, their homes, cities, towns, districts, states, countries, and regions, and in all subject areas, with a special interest in history, politics, social movements, sustainable development, technology, creative literature, and the arts. The editorial team is still interested in receiving manuscript proposals for 2022.  We are particularly keen to publish works which address one of the following topics: cultural, economic, political, and/or social responses to COVID-19 in Africa  African youth in the 21st century  environmental and human security in the Sahel region identity, conflict, and peace in the Horn of Africa or the African Great Lakes region Islamic revival in Africa in the 21st century China-Africa relations in the 21st century human rights movements in Africa since 1990 involving persons with disabilities, women and girls, or LGBTQI* persons the international reparations movement for the descendants of those enslaved in the era of the transatlantic slave trade cultural and political expressions of Black internationalism since 1994 See our "Submission Guidelines" If interested in publishing with EJAB, please contact the Managing Editor, Dr. Yuusuf Caruso, African Studies Librarian, Columbia University, atcaruso@columbia.edu
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY

    Memory and Identity in North Africa (New Abstract Submission Deadline)
     An International Conference on:                                                                                          Memory and Identity in North America (MINA)                                           December 22-24, 2022 Agadir - Morocco   CALL FOR PAPERS Background Memory Studies is a multifaceted academic discipline that is situated at the juncture of history, social sciences and culture. From its humble beginnings as a mnemo-technic to its complicated uses in psychology and psychoanalysis, memory has stirred wide and transformative questions, particularly with its deployment in sociology. Halbwachs’ notion of collective memory (1925) has since been a fixture of what became known as Memory Studies. This movement toward the social has led to the profusion of works around “collective memory,” which Olick and Robbins (1998) claim, became the core of scholarly exploration in early 20th century. Varied disciplines, such as literature, sociology, archive science, and historiography, among others, draw on the epistemological frameworks that developed the fields that engage with remembering. The rise in interest in commemorative practices after WWI and WWII has brought attention to genealogies, biographies, diaries, museums, and monuments, giving more presence to questions of trauma, loss, memory and history. Hence Memory studies have directed attention to the ways in which memory has become a cultural and sociological practice whose roots are entangled in political and identitarian issues and institutions (Assmann 1995; Rothberg 1993). Memory has become the glue that cements groups and communities, endowing them with commonalties that allow them to build shared ethos and identities. Ironically, Pierre Nora has written that "we speak so much of memory because there is so little of it left” (1984) or rather because memories occupy such a pivotal place in shaping national identities that there is not enough of it. Sites of memory, commemorative practices, museums, historiographical projects, autobiographies, rituals, pilgrimages, and annual celebrations of victories are all deeply immersed in memory, which shapes the commemorating societies’ present in light of their past.  However, there is a significant difference between memory practices in the Global North and their counterparts in the Global South. The North suffers from a glut of memory whereas the Global South has yet to fully account for seminal historical events that have far-reaching resonances for its nations and societies.  While there is a focus on memories of resistance to colonialism, one can easily observe the selective nature of commemorations. Specifically, memory in North Africa, which is a vast region with an incredible cultural diversity, has been mostly driven by statal actors who focus on official aspects of the past. Groups and communities that did not fit the national narratives were simply left out (Boum 2013). Imazighen, Arabs, sub-Saharans, and Jews are some of the groups that have yet to occupy their rightful place in North African memory. Although these groups are heavily present in the quotidian life of their societies, both physically and symbolically, their inclusion in the commemorative projects will be salutary for the future of these societies. The public sphere has not been amply flexile for the diverse cultural identities of the region, affecting the way renditions of the past are reenacted in the present. Official memories have overshadowed other memories, leading to the appearance of marginal sites of commemoration (El Guabli 2019). The overpowering presence of an official, unifying approach to memory counters the very essential trait of memories as being diverse, in-flux, and malleable.  This conference aims to reflect on a rich array of memory-focused topics, including performance rituals, celebrations, festivals, objects, places, literature, artifacts, and specific historical moments using the interdisciplinary methodologies honed in Memory Studies. We seek papers that draw on Memory Studies to reflect on issues related to identity, history, historiography, commemoration, remembrance, and changing conceptions of the self and the collective in North Africa. Thus, we ask how much memory is present in the North African spheres? How have memories of the past in North Africa been promoted and appropriated for the sake of a more flexible public sphere? Who are the memory stakeholders? How do they mobilize memory?  What place do minority memories occupy in the grand narratives of different states? Can ‘subaltern’ memories exist and be performed in public?  We invite scholars in all disciplines to submit their proposals. The themes of papers may include, but are not restricted to, the topics of: (Post)Colonial Memories in North Africa Memory dynamics and the Public Sphere in the Maghreb Representations of cultural memory in literature in North Africa Competitive/comparative models of cultural memory in North African states Memories and Trauma transformation Cultural memory in institutional discourse Amazigh memories/identities in North Africa Narratives of Jewish memories/identities in North Africa Migrants’ Memories across borders Cultural memory in Film and Music ‘Vernacular’ and ‘Subaltern’ Memories Cultural Memory in individual Diaries, Memoirs, and (Auto)biographies Memories and Identities in History Textbooks Museums, Monuments, and Photographs Digital Memories and Modes of Transmission Transitional/Restorative Justice and Memory By hosting an interdisciplinary conference, we hope to cross-fertilize local engagements with memory by a wider engagement with the approaches and methodologies that have been generative in other academic settings and social contexts. Confirmed Keynote Speakers:                                                          Dr. Aomar Boum                                                        Dr. Brahim El Guabli University of California Los-Angeles, CA                  Williams College, Massachusetts   Please submit a 400-word abstract as well as a short bio to the organizing committee (minaconference2022@gmail.com) by July 5, 2022. Abstracts should contextualize the topic and explain the argument in order to allow the organizing committee to put papers in conversation.   N.B. Pending passing the peer review process, a selected number of papers will be published in an edited volume. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Deadlines Abstract submission deadline:                      July 15, 2022 (EXTENDED) Notification of acceptance:                          July 25, 2022 Full paper submission deadline:                   November 25, 2022 Conference Days:                                        December 22-24, 2022  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Venue Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Humanities, Ait Melloul Ibn Zohr University – Agadir, Morocco -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scientific Committee                                                      Aomar Boum, UCLA - USA                                  Brahim El Guabli, Williams College - USA Rachida Yassine, Ibn Zohr University - Morocco Sadik Rddad, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdullah - Morocco Lhoussain Simour, Hassan II University - Morocco Aziz Kour, Mohamed V University - Morocco                      Abdelghani Elkhairat, Ibn Zohr University - Morocco Hassane Oudadene, Ibn Zohr University - Morocco                                                                                                      Organizing Committee Abdelkhaleq Jayed                 Fatiha Makach                            Abdelghani Elkhairat Mohamed Oudada                 Hassane Oudadene                       Seddik Ouboulahcen Kamal Sbiri                          Lahoussine Hamdoune                 Abdessadek Ahl Ben Taleb                                                                                          Conference Coordinators Hassane OUDADENE                   (h.oudadene@uiz.ac.ma) (00212 662 062 308) Lahoussine HAMDOUNE             (l.hamdoune@uiz.ac.ma) (00212 655 279 211)                                                                                                   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agadir, ⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔ, is one of the best coastal cities in the South of Morocco. It lies on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, and constitutes the capital of the Sous-Massa Region. The climate is always moderate with an annual average temperature between 14 °C and 24 °C. People in Agadir speak Tashelhit, one variety of Amazigh language. There are a few interesting historic sites to visit. For more information check this link: https://goo.gl/maps/VuRPUk8Z84PDa4AR6.  Contact Info:  Dr. Hassane Oudadene Contact Email:  h.oudadene@uiz.ac.ma URL:  https://www.memorystudiesassociation.org/call-for-papers-international-conference-on-memory-and-identity-in-north-africa…
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    Call For Papers: Conference in Honour of Professor Bolanle Awe @ 90
    CONFERENCE IN HONOUR OF PROFESSOR BOLANLE AWE AT 90 ORAL TRADITIONS, WRITTEN HISTORIES Organised by: The University of Texas at Austin University of Lagos University of Ibadan Conveners: Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin Professor Olufunke Adeboye, University of Lagos Professor Rasheed Olaniyi, University of Ibadan Dr Sharon Omotoso, University of Ibadan   Keynote Address: Professor Olabisi Aina Department of Sociology Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria   Date:  February 13-14, 2023                                                                       Venue: University of Ibadan     Call for Papers History is undoubtedly the lifeline of every human society. It is an integral element in the intertwined processes of development and civilisation, which influence cultures, beliefs, and perceptions. Whether oral or written, history promotes data collection that helps put past trends in perspective and predicts future happenings as part of its role in achieving a sense of socio-philosophical coherence in any human context. Professor Bolanle Awe has made unrivalled contributions to Nigerian female historiography in particular and African history in general. As a result, the Bolanle Awe at 90 Conference tagged “Oral Traditions, Written Histories” will draw on the scholarship, career, and legacy of Nigeria’s foremost female history professor as she hits the nonagenarian milestone in January 2023. During her illustrious academic career, Professor Bolanle Awe, a former Professor of Oral History at the University of Ibadan, was Editor of The Journal of the University of Lagos School of African Studies, a visiting scholar to several universities within and outside Nigeria, a consultant to governments and international bodies and agencies, as well as a member of several public and private-sector boards. It is no exaggeration that Professor Awe’s life is the veritable definition of a fulfilling academic career fused with commendable non-academic stints. At her core, the nonagenarian is a researcher who focuses on solution-driven approaches to national and global problems, as evident in the posts she has held as Director at the Institute of African Studies, with the Women’s Research and Documentation Center (WORDOC), University of Ibadan, and with organisations including MacArthur Foundation, UNESCO, and UNFPA. Remarkably, oral history is a forte of this amazon around whose works this conference is woven. Oral history has proven valuable in the collection and analysis of ancient, recent, and even contemporary historical data. Given the value it has placed on the spoken word from time immemorial, the African continent continues to rely heavily on oral history. Indeed, pre-colonial Africa was peopled by diverse civilisations with distinct histories, cultures, and beliefs, which influenced their paths to indigenous growth and development, and oral literacy was a key feature of each civilisation. However, oral literacy has its downsides, especially as it concerns inter-generational transmission and sustainable preservation of history. For instance, a ton of historical data and stories, mostly in the form of written history, have been lost owing to the lack of a proper tracking system. Oral historiography has always been beset by the incremental loss of its credibility and the regrettable loss of humongous amounts of oral historical data and stories due to a lack of documentation. Moreover, the more stories were orally transmitted, the less reliable they tended to become. Luckily, African History as a discipline has greatly benefited from the emergence of Oral History as an academic subfield in history. African History is now in less danger of not being preserved due to the methodologies of oral history that allow historians to collect oral historical data and transform them into written form. While the rest of the world has largely transitioned to written history and documentation, African historians are yet to achieve full documentation of histories that were formerly oral. Nevertheless, practitioners must be mindful that written history cannot fully replace oral historical data, especially when it comes to the role of human historical sources in traditional religious practices across Africa, for instance. Thus, it should be noted that oral history and studies in oral history form only an integral and indispensable part of history as an academic discipline. Therefore, a major question that this conference seeks to answer is: What are the most important landmarks in oral historical studies in the past sixty years? As valuable and integral as oral history is to the continued existence of human societies, it faces a wide range of challenges, including a lack of access to its custodians. Certain studies in oral history have stalled due to the inability to access a key informant; therefore, we expect participants at the conference to interrogate such issues as well as others, particularly those concerning the past, present, and continued roles of both academic and non-academic historians in the study of African societies. We expect presentations to cover unique and general issues in oral and written history while examining the breakthroughs and challenges of oral history as a sub-field of History. Ideally, we will place primacy on the past sixty years as a significant marker of when Professor Bolanle Awe started her academic journey as a historian. Also, we will welcome articles that seek directly to expand the frontiers of her works, be it reviews, critiques, and/or theoretical developments. However, studies that go further back in time will be accepted too. Another main turf of this celebrated scholar is women/gender studies in Nigeria – how did this additional frame intersect with oral and written histories? This announcement calls for papers that will examine various themes related to the studies, challenges and breakthroughs of oral history, the impact of written histories, and the role of both academic and non-academic historians. We, therefore, invite papers on the following areas and closely related ones: Bolanle Awe and Oral History Bolanle Awe and Gender Studies Bolanle Awe and WORDOC (Leadership, Mentorship and Succession) Bolanle Awe and Yoruba/Nigerian History Illustrious Women in Nigerian History Women and Domesticity in Modern Nigeria Women in the Nigerian Public Sphere Nigerian Women in Popular Culture and the Arts Gender Studies in Nigeria Women Historians in the Past 60 Years Studies of Oral History in the Past 60 Years Professional Oral Historians Outside the Academy Advances in African Historiography Oral Traditions and Digital Technology New Sources in African Historiography   Participants are expected to follow these guidelines:  Each proposal must include:   Title of the work and an abstract of 250 words Name of the presenter (with the surname underlined) Phone number Email Mailing address Institutional affiliation Three to five keywords that best describe the themes and topics relevant to the submission.     Proposals for Panels (3-5 presenters) must include: Title of the panel and a collective summary of 250 words on the panel’s theme, including the title of each individual work A 250-word abstract for each speaker’s presentation Mailing address Phone number Email Institutional affiliation of each presenter.  Interested authors should follow these editorial guidelines: Please use Bolanle Awe at 90 Conference as the subject title for your submission. Font: Times New Roman, Size 12, double-spaced. All abstracts must be submitted by September 30, 2022, to: bolanleawe90@gmail.com Notification of acceptance: October 15, 2022 Full papers are to be submitted by January 10, 2023   Conference Registration Academics within Nigeria  -- N20, 000  Students within Nigeria                 -- N15, 000 International Faculty           -- $100 International Students         -- $50   For enquiries, please contact: Olusegun Olopade (bcmanager@toyinfalolanetwork.org
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    Africana Annual: A Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies
    The Department of African & African American Studies at the University of Kansas is proud to announce the establishment of Africana Annual and to invite the submission of full-length original articles and review essays. Africana Annual is a broadly conceived annual interdisciplinary peer-reviewed journal that provides an avenue for critical dialogues and analysis of the African, African American, and African Diasporic experiences.  Aims and Scope Africana Annual is an interdisciplinary journal encompassing history, politics, sociology, performance arts, economics, literature, cultural studies, anthropology, Africana studies, gender studies, ethnic studies, religious studies, the fine arts, digital humanities, and other allied disciplines, Africana Annual embraces a variety of humanistic and social scientific methodologies for understanding the social, political, and cultural meanings and functions of the varied experiences of Africana.   Submissions to Africana Annual must reflect the intellectual and political connections between Africa and the African Diaspora and to serve as a critical space for scholarly explorations of their shared historical and contemporary realities. We invite authors to submit work that examines key issues deepen inter-disciplinary and global conversations on topics about African America, Africa (north and south of the Sahara), and the Diaspora. Submission Policies Submissions to Africana Annual must be original, unpublished work not submitted for publication elsewhere while under review by Africana Annual editors. The journal encourages authors to submit unsolicited articles and comprehensive review essays. All academic articles should be between 20 and 30 pages. Comprehensive review essays should be about 10 to 15 pages in length.  Please include an abstract of 150–200 words that clearly states the main arguments of your article. The abstract should contain 3-5 keywords, along with a biographical statement of 50–75 words with full contact information and e-mail address. to accompany your submission. Authors should submit their manuscripts using the journal system. Please contact the editors at africana@ku.edu if there are any questions.  All manuscripts must follow the current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and should use endnotes. All submissions must be in 12 point Times New Roman, double spaced, with 1″margins. Again, please note that we only accept manuscripts in Word format. All manuscripts accepted are subject to editorial modification. Peer Review All research articles in Africana Annual undergo rigorous peer review. After an initial editor screening, submissions will be based on anonymous double-blind refereeing by two referees.    The deadline for submission for the inaugural issue is August 31, 2022   Peter Ukpokodu & Shawn Leigh Alexander, Editors-in-Chief James Yékú, Managing Editor
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    CALL FOR PROPOSALS 21ST CENTURY SOCIALISM AND EDUCATION
    CALL FOR PROPOSALS21ST CENTURY SOCIALISM AND EDUCATION: GLOBAL ALTERNATIVES TO PATRIARCHY, RACIAL CAPITALISM, MILITARISM, AND CLIMATE CHANGECIES 2023 CALL FOR PROPOSALSTHEMATIC TRACK   At CIES in February 2023, we will once again be organizing a thematic track of panels focused on 21st Century Socialism and Education: Global Alternatives to Patriarchy, Racial Capitalism, Militarism, and Climate Change. This series of panels, workshops, and papers will continue the discussion begun during roughly 20 panels each in CIES 2001 and 2022 on alternative education and development for the new millennium.  The 2023 CIES theme is “Improving Education for a More Equitable World”. The description references the “dream” of education for all and the abundant educational reforms around the world that fall short of realizing equity. It highlights some of the structural problems that constrain progress - power imbalance, income disparity, and neocolonialism, for example. The theme also emphasizes social factors like gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language, ability, culture, religion, geopolitics, and the current crisis context of pandemic and climate change that our education improvement agendas must address. Our “21st Century Socialism and Education” panel series for 2023 offers a unique opportunity to illuminate deeper critical analyses of the drivers of inequity and highlight the outlines of a number of promising alternatives that do in fact demonstrate a transformative pathway forward.  We refer to socialism to evoke contributions that recognize the fundamental problems with capitalism and its connections to structures of patriarchy, racism, militarism, and ecological crisis. “Socialism" is not well-defined, and "21st-century socialism" even less so; however, we use it as an attempt to deepen participatory praxis in all spheres of social life, including the state, the economy, the workplace, social and cultural spheres, media, technology, and, of utmost importance for CIES, the education system. As a society, CIES needs to reflect on how our scholarship, academic priorities, and approaches can better contribute to continuing and new struggles for eco-balance, social/economic justice, and more representative democracy. In 2022, we approached the site of CIES, Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a site of contestation and local engagement. We highlighted how it had become the epicenter of Black Lives Matter and wider global racial justice protests confronting the long history of structural racism in the US and other societies, and how this region of the US is home to struggles for refugee/immigration rights, indigenous rights, workers’ lives, and climate justice. We visited with local activists outside CIES to learn with them. In 2023, we intend to approach the new CIES site in Washington, DC in a similar way as a site of contestation and local engagement where democracy itself is under assault,  reactionary pushback against progressive progress is the current policy norm, and where civic activism resists these efforts. We see the CIES gathering in 2023 as an important opportunity to communicate the power of more just economic systems and social relations (what we call “progressive alternatives”) in the global and national power center that is the US capital city.  We invite you to propose papers or panels for the 21st Century Socialism and Education thematic track for the CIES 2023 conference - the call for submissions period is now open. Your paper or presentation or panel proposal does not have to tackle the whole theme. The theme is meant to be evocative, not restrictive. You can propose an individual paper on a topic of your choosing, an individual paper that fits with one of the suggested topics below, or an entire panel.We are particularly interested in research and perspectives from the Global South.     What is Socialism for the 21st Century? What is the Role of Education in Promoting this? Education and the Climate Emergency  Education and Social Movements  Educator and Youth Resistance and Organizing  Education and the Re-emergence of Labor Activism Racial Capitalism, Education Policy, and Politics Global and Cross-National Perspectives on Black, Feminist, and Queer Movements in and through Education EcoSocialism and Eco Pedagogy Educational Alternatives: Global Examples of Concrete Praxis Indigenous Approaches to Education and Development  Imperialism, Empire, Neo-colonialism, and Learning Militarism and new forms of 21st Century War The Internet, Social Media     If interested, please submit your paper or panel proposal to the 21st Century Socialism and Education track in the All-Academic system (listed with the SIGs) accessible online at www.cies2023.org by the CIES 2023 deadline on Monday, August 8, 2022.Feel free to contact any one of us below with questions.Also, if you know others who might be interested in proposing a paper or panel for this track, please share this invitation with them. Organizers:Frank Adamson                                              Diana Rodríguez-GómezSalim Vally                                                      Michael GibbonsMark Ginsburg                                               Sangeeta KamatSteve Klees                                                    Hugh McLeanNanre Nafziger                                               Carol Anne SpreenRoozbeh Shirazi                                             Krystal StrongBecky Tarlau                                                   Alice Taylor
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    Technology and Material Culture in African History
    Technology and Material Culture in African History:Challenges and Potentials for Research and Teaching An international conference, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, January 4 – 8, 2023   Call for Papers and Roundtables   The conference seeks to consolidate and foster the further development of history of technology and material culture in Africa. By gathering scholars from Tanzania and across Africa, as well as colleagues from other continents, the conference will demonstrate the discipline’s high degree of relevance—to the research and teaching of history and adjacent fields, as well as to contemporary political agendas. The organizers wish to use this event to discuss how historians of technology and material culture may contribute to the writing of a “usable past” for further generations. The organizers invite historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, geographers, sociologists, and urban scholars to discuss the potentials of interdisciplinary and international collaboration around present intellectual, social, technological, and environmental challenges in Africa and globally. In the recent past, African countries have increased citizens’ access to up-to-date mobility and communication technologies—electric household items, mobile phones, and engine-driven vehicles. As the variety of terms indicates—daladala, matatu, tro tros, bodaboda, bajaji, and so on—artifacts are not just simply imported, but constantly modified to fit local circumstances and needs. By and large, however, a historical understanding of these processes of domestication and reinvention is still lacking. That present-day historians of technology do not limit themselves to the study of modern, Western machines and systems, but include broader aspects of (pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial) “material culture,” also means the discipline plays a central role both in research projects and teaching programs. There have been growing initiatives to integrate Africa into the global history of technology and material culture, but such efforts rarely focus on issues of teaching. Considering the ongoing curricular review at African universities, it is a pressing concern to discuss the potentials of including the history of technology and material culture in Bachelor and Masters programs. The organizers are convinced that the discipline of history needs to include an African perspective and showcase Africa’s contribution to global history of technology and material culture. Therefore, the conference focuses on policies, practices, and use to rethink the historiographic role played by material artifacts and systems. We believe there is a certain urgency in researching, writing, and teaching the history of technology and material culture from a truly African perspective. The organizers hope that the workshop will provide important additions to the nationalist and materialist views which have dominated African history research, writing, and teaching since independence. By giving participants an opportunity to discuss existing research projects and teaching programs, the organizers aim at laying the foundation for an international network of historians of technology and material culture in Africa. We thus ask interested teachers and researchers from Africa and beyond to contribute with standard workshop sessions and papers, roundtable discussions, and further innovative formats. Proposals may be on any thematic area in history of technology and material culture, for example: The place of technology and material culture in the teaching of African history The political “usefulness” of technological and material history Gender and material culture in African history Craft technologies (e.g., basketry, carpentry, weaving, pottery, metal working). Farming, fishing, and hunting technologies The adoption of material objects (e.g., cars, bicycles, electronic and domestic appliances) Infrastructure histories (e.g., transportation, water, power, sanitation) Repair and maintenance cultures Archaeological evidence Please submit 300-word proposals and one-page CVs to:Emanuel L. Mchome at emanuellukio@yahoo.com orFrank Edward at f38edward@yahoo.co.uk no later than August 31, 2022. This unique event will be organized by the History Department at University of Dar es Salaam in collaboration with the ERC-funded research project “A Global History of Technology, 1850-2000” at the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany, the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), and the Foundation for the History of Technology in the Netherlands. The event will take place on site in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Lodging and main meals are provided by the organizers; a one-day excursion is also included. Participants from Africa are invited to apply for travel grants. Selected applicants will be notified Sept. 15, 2022, and they will be requested to submit preliminary conference papers (min. 2,500 words) by Nov. 15, 2022. Representatives of leading scientific journals will be present at the event. Contact Info:  Professor Mikael Hård ERC Project “A Global History of Technology, 1850-2000” Institute of History Technical University of Darmstadt Schloss, Marktplatz 15 64283 Darmstadt Germany Contact Email:  hard@ifs.tu-darmstadt.de URL:  http://www.global-hot.eu
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS
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    Transforming Institutions Strategic Funding Proposals
    The Alliance for African Partnership is now accepting proposals for the Transforming Institutions Strategic Funding Program. Successful applicants will receive up to $20,000 in seed funding to develop international strategic partnerships with universities, institutions of higher education and research, and/or organizations in the public or NGO sectors.   The application deadline is August 29th, 2022.   Alliance for African Partnership seeks proposals from AAP consortium members and their partners for activities which directly address AAP's pillar to transform institutions to be better able to participate in sustainable, equitable, and research-driven partnerships that make a broader impact on transforming lives. Travel can include any of the following—within Africa, to Africa from external locations, to the US, or to other locations outside of Africa. Virtual engagement is highly encouraged as it can be cost effective.   Exploratory Projects to support initial-stage partnership development. This funding is meant for new partnerships that have not previously worked together  Proposal Development Projects to support partners to develop a proposal in response to a specific funding opportunity   Pilot Workshop Projects to support short-term training activities or workshops   Proposed partnerships should focus specifically on institutional strengthening and capacity development. This could include projects that aim to build institutional strengths; to contribute to individuals’ capacity development which will lead to institutional strengthening; to plan for new units or institution-wide initiatives; and/or to pilot new approaches to research support, teaching or outreach that can eventually be scaled up across the institution(s).   Proposals that address the following areas will also receive priority in review:  1) building grant proposal development and/or improving grant management,    2)innovative models of joint teaching or degree programs (e.g., COIL courses), or     3) innovative models of research communication and engagement (e.g., building capacity of researchers to engage/communicate with policy makers, communities, etc.)   To learn more about the program, including how to apply, visit: https://aap.isp.msu.edu/funding/transforming-institutions-call-proposals/
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    International Conference Child Protection and the Rights of the Child: Transnational Perspectives
    Historically, children have been seen as serving diverse strategic and emotional interests, both those held by individual families and by states. Views about children and their welfare have changed over time and across cultures. Children’s changing roles and questions about their agency are significant sites of historical study today. But at this political moment, the role of the state and other institutions in overseeing children’s issues is increasingly under debate across varying national contexts.   At the turn of the twentieth century in the west, the protection of children deemed unsafe or in crisis was framed in terms of saving children from various social, economic, moral, or religious dangers. Interventions in the “best interests” of children were both private and public, with religious organizations and state institutions playing key roles. In many colonial contexts, child welfare practices intersected closely with race, Indigeneity, and imperial socio-economic agendas. While some children were positioned as symbols of the health or vitality of the nation, other children of different races, classes, or nationalities were targeted as sites of danger. Protecting specific children safeguarded a specific version of the nation and its future.   By the mid-twentieth century, child protection discourses (often imagined through intervention from the state and/or religious organizations) existed alongside an emergent international human rights discourse that increasingly centred the child as a capable actor. There is also an important critique of the human rights framework as too individualistic and too western in focus. Nevertheless, the adoption of the Geneva Declaration on the Rights of the Child by the League of Nations in 1924 started to shift international discussions about child protection toward a framework of rights, entitlements, and transnational obligations. Although far from perfect, this rights framework has since been affirmed in several international instruments including the 1959 UN Declaration on the Rights of the Child, the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the 1993 Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, as well as several child labour regulations of the International Labour Organization. The main objective of this conference is to map global patterns in discourses, politics, policies, and practices in child saving, child protection, and the rights of children. We are interested in exploring the ways that changes and (dis)continuities in the relationship and transition from child saving to rights entitlements have been framed and whether these changes indicate linear progress or something far less straightforward or far more limited in scope or applicability. We are also interested in the intersections between local approaches and transnational trends in child welfare, protection, and children’s rights. How have shifts in social attitudes, politics, and discourse shaped child welfare policies? What are the impacts of these changes on the wellbeing of children and, indeed, conceptions of childhood and youth?   We invite historians and scholars from related disciplines at all career stages who are interested in addressing these questions in diverse geographic spaces to submit proposals for this conference. We recognize that the language of saving children is rooted in particular countries and in the period from the late nineteenth century onwards. Nevertheless, we are also interested in submissions that consider efforts to support or protect children in different time periods and places as well as within different conceptions of childhood. We are seeking proposals that explore the following subtopics from local, national, regional, and transnational perspectives:   Themes: • Colonial and Imperial Child Welfare Policies and Practices • Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Children • Children, the State, and Religion • Transnational Organizations and Declarations of Child Rights • Alternatives to the children’s rights framework • Child Ability and Disability • Child Labour • Maturity and Age of Consent • Children and the Law • Race, Ethnicity, and Poverty in Child Protection and Child Removal • Childism as a Lens to Interrogate Child Protection and Children’s Rights   Dates/format/funding: January 27-29, 2023 Abstracts and brief cv’s are due June 30, 2022. The conference will be hybrid, with the option of switching to a fully virtual format if needed. We are in the process of applying for funding. We cannot guarantee that travel funding will be available. We anticipate funding for graduate students’ registration.   Contact Info: Send abstracts and brief cv’s to - childrights2023@gmail.com by June 30, 2022   CONVENERS: Dr. Juanita De Barros, Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice / Department of History, McMaster University Dr. Karen Balcom, Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice / Department of History/ Gender & Social Justice, McMaster University Carly Ciufo, Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice / Department of History, McMaster University   ORGANIZERS: Centre for Human Rights and Restorative Justice (CHRRJ), McMaster University Wilson Institute for Canadian History, McMaster University Department of History, McMaster University Faculty of Humanities, McMaster University McMaster Children & Youth University, McMaster University
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY

    New open access book: Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development (UCL Press)
    UCL Press is delighted to announce the publication of a new open access book that may be of interest to list subscribers. Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development, by Sophia Labadi.   The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the UN in 2015 have influenced the actions of international and intergovernmental organisations and governments around the world, and have dictated priorities for international aid spending. Culture, including heritage, is often presented as fundamental to addressing the SDGs: since 2010, the United Nations has adopted no fewer than five major policy recommendations that assert its importance as a driver and enabler of development. Yet, heritage is marginalized from the Sustainable Development Goals.   Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development constitutes a substantial and original assessment of whether and how heritage has contributed to three key dimensions of sustainable development (namely poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental sustainability) within the context of its marginalisation from the Sustainable Development Goals and from previous international development agendas.   Sophia Labadi adopts a novel, inclusive, large-scale and systematic approach, providing the first comprehensive history of the international approaches on culture (including heritage) for development, from 1970 to the present day. This book is also the first to assess the negative and positive impacts of all the international projects implemented in sub-Saharan Africa by a consortium of UN organisations that aimed to provide evidence for the contribution of heritage for development in time for the negotiation of the SDGs. The book’s conclusions provide recommendations for rethinking heritage for development, while reflecting on the major shortcomings of the selected projects.   Free download: https://bit.ly/3m10NRK
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY
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    Virtual Conference: Religion and Democracy on the African Continent
    Virtual Conference: Religion and Democracy on the African Continent: Colonial Legacies and Postcolonial Possibilities “A broad rethinking of political issues becomes possible when Western ideals and practices are examined from the vantage point of Africa.”—Pankaj Mishra, New York Review of Books Join us Saturday, May 7–Sunday, May 8, for a virtual conference, featuring scholars of Africana Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology, History, Sociology, Law, and Politics, who will share their expertise on religion and democracy on the African continent. The event will feature a keynote address by Mahmood Mamdani, the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University and author of the book, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, (Harvard University Press, 2020). The conference presentations will result in the publication of an edited volume to be made freely available next year.  Registration The conference will be hosted on Zoom; attendees must register separately for each session. Click on the linked session titles below to register and to learn more about the sessions and speakers. All sessions will be recorded and made available on the Religion, Race & Democracy Lab’s Vimeo channel. Schedule of Events Saturday, May 7: Looking Back 9–11 AM EST Historical Formations of Religion and Democracy   11:30 AM–1:30 PM EST African Religious Movements & Democracies   2–4 PM EST Keynote Lecture: Mahmood Mamdani, Neither Settler Nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities    Sunday, May 8: Looking Forward 10 am–12 PM EST Contemporary Conflicts, the State, and Religion in Africa   1–4 pm EST New Theories and the Future of Religion and Democracy in Africa (followed by Closing Remarks)   Co-sponsored by the University of Virginia Democracy Initiative's Religion, Race & Democracy Lab, the Page-Barbour Funds, the Institute of the Humanities & Global Culture, the Carter G. Woodson Institute, and the Virginia Center for the Study of Religion.
    By: Raquel Acosta
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  • CULTURE AND SOCIETY

    Displacement and Belonging: Lessons from the Indian Ocean and Beyond/ Circulations et appartenances
    Displacement and Belonging :Lessons from the Indian Ocean and BeyondIn Honor of Pier Larson Circulations et appartenances :leçons de l’océan Indien et au-delàEn l'honneur de Pier Larson Online international conference organized by:Klara Boyer-Rossol (CIRESC and BCDSS, Bonn University),Jennifer Cole (The University of Chicago),Tasha Rijke-Epstein (Vanderbilt University),Samuel Sanchez (Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne),Dominique Somda (Huma - University of Cape Town). Thursday 5 May 2022 & Friday 6 May 2022 PROGRAMMEAbstracts Register here
    By: Raquel Acosta
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