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OpportunityCall for PapersDans cette section, nous nous penchons sur l’émergence du cyberactivisme auprès des collectifs africains et afrodescendants en France et en Espagne. Les deux pays partent de contextes différents, notamment en termes de politique mémorielle par rapport à la colonisation en Afrique d’une part et eu égard à la tradition des mouvements noirs sur le sol européen d’autre part – pensons, p.ex., à la Négritude au début du XXe siècle ou au vif débat autour de l’afropéanité en France. Pour autant, nous assistons, tant en France qu’en Espagne, au boom sans précédent d’une production littéraire et activiste afro au cours des dernières années, dû en partie à une visibilité propice au sein des espaces culturels aussi bien physiques que virtuels, sous la coordination des communautés afrodescendantes et africaines menant de front un activisme à l’intersection, entre autres, de l’antiracisme, du panafricanisme et de l’afroféminisme. De même, consécutivement nous observons l’émergence de nouvelles figures africaines, afrodescendantes et afroeuropéennes assumant leurs identités transversales, politisant ainsi via la littérature, l’art, le digital, etc., les problématiques qui les traversent. C’est le cas, entres autres, de Léonora Miano, Mame-Fatou Niang, Aïssa Maïga, Franklin Nyamsi, Kiyémis et Isabelle Boni-Claverie en France et de Desirée Bela-Lobedde, Lucía Asué Mbomío Rubio, Asaari Bibang, Lamine Thior, Thimbo Samb, Antoinette Torres Soler et Jeffrey Abé Pans en Espagne. Au-delà des outils traditionnels comme le livre, la presse « classique » ou la télé, les productions qui découlent de l’#afrocyberactivisme puisent aux sources de plusieurs canaux de diffusion parmi lesquels principalement les plateformes numériques, mettant en lumière des épistémologies naguère méconnues. Grâce à l’émergence du « web 2.0 », les consommateur.ices deviennent elleux-aussi des producteur.rices de contenu, participant à la création, production et circulation des savoirs en ligne. En effet, la dimension participative et interactive qu’offre le cybermonde permet aux « groupes minorés » de faire émerger leurs savoirs, discours et modèles culturels grâce à une praxis trop souvent ignorée dans les sphères mainstream. À contre-courant du récit officiel, les différent.e.s acteur.rices proposent des auto-narrations sous des formes aussi bien artistiques, politiques que littéraires. Celles-ci se caractérisent le plus souvent par de mécanismes d’auto-légitimation, notamment la diffusion de grilles de lecture alternatives relevant de façons « autres » de produire de la connaissance et même de faire science à partir d’outils endogènes, affranchis de l’hégémonie de tutelles institutionnelles. On note par conséquent une nouvelle dynamique dans les espaces numériques qui se manifeste par l’émergence exponentielle de blogs/vlogs (p.ex. Desirée Bela, Mrs Roots), de magazines en ligne (Negrxs Magazine, Les pulpeuses magazine), de podcasts (No hay negros en el Tibet, Afrotopiques), de profils et de contenus d’activistes sur différentes plateformes digitales comme YouTube, Facebook, TikTok et Instagram. L’intérêt scientifique de notre section réside précisément dans l’enjeu épistémique qu’elle soulève : placer les collectifs afroeuropéens au cœur de la réflexion en faisant du cyberespace un cadre d’agentivité. En s’inscrivant dans l’innovation de la recherche académique, nous mettons en lumière les débats autour des nouvelles subjectivités concernant l’afro(euro)péanité, un lieu de négociation qui ravive les tensions à rebours des héritages en vigueur du « passé colonial ». Suivant une perspective décoloniale, la section souhaite accueillir des propositions portant sur des voix « rebelles », dissonantes ou discordantes, en ligne, qui sont symboles d’une résistance, à même de faire émerger des auto-récits afroeuropéens au cœur du cyberactivisme. Nous nous intéresserons notamment à la création de nouvelles stratégies (auto)narratives par lesquelles les acteurs.trices rendent compte de leurs expériences et récits. Par conséquent, la section entend étudier les discours et épistémologies, les subjectivités et corporalités, les routes et réseaux, les imaginaires et esthétiques, les positionnalités et connectivités, etc. qui se manifestent dans les articulations littéraires, artistiques, culturelles, activistes dans l’espace digital et ses intersections avec le monde non-numérique. Les propositions (en français ou en espagnol) exploreront le phénomène actuel de l’#afrocyberactivisme en France et en Espagne du point de vue épistémique, en discutant des possibilités et des défis de l’espace digital en tant que moyen de décolonisation des savoirs tout en tenant compte des biais algorithmiques. De même, elles se consacreront à de cas concrets –en se focalisant sur un espace culturel ou en adoptant un point de vue comparatif– pour étudier comment ces acteur.rices se racontent elleux-mêmes afin d’explorer leurs stratégies poétiques et esthétiques. Il s’agira de se questionner sur les manières dont les corps racialisés sont racontés, rendus visibles et décolonisés sur les plateformes digitales à travers une « auto-déstéréotypisation » du sujet racialisé. Les participant.e.s analyseront les manières alternatives dont les expériences des personnes africaines, afrodescendantes et afroeuropéennes sont articulées en marge ou hors des filtres du marché littéraire traditionnel en étudiant les nouveaux espaces culturels digitaux et les récits non hégémoniques qui y circulent, ainsi que les poétiques alternatives et les intertextes afro qui sont utilisés pour traduire les imaginaires des communautés marginalisées par le prisme eurocentrique. Des propositions portant sur des questions similaires en Afrique, dans les Caraïbes et les Amériques francophones et hispanophones ainsi que la circulation transnationale des savoirs sont également les bienvenues. Sans prétendre à l’exhaustivité, les propositions de communication pourront prendre en compte les axes de réflexion indicatifs suivants : Cyberactivisme, co-productions, décolonisation et désacadémisation des savoirs Récits contre-hégémoniques et auto-narrations via les plateformes digitales (entre autres, les retentissements des épistèmes antiracistes, panafricanistes, afroféministes etc.) Stratégies de résistance, esthétiques subversives et justice épistémique articulées aux textes littéraires, artistiques, culturels, activistes en ligne Afrocyberidentités : afroespagnolité, afrofrancité, afropéanité et récits de soi Hashtag viral, emoticones, buzz, corps-politique, collectifs afro et cybermétadiscours dans les régions respectives Littérarisation de l’espace numérique et nouvelles poétiques et stratégies de narration de soiBy: Jayden HewittTuesday, Sep 24, 2024EDUCATION
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OpportunityJournal of Festive Studies Issue 8 Call for PapersIn addition to our guest-edited section described below, we always welcome submissions on a rolling basis, with no deadline for consideration. Please do think of us if your research or professional background touches on festive practices! You can also view this announcement as a PDF. International borders affect you every day. They play a role in determining whether you are a birthright citizen or an unauthorized migrant. They showcase a nation’s ability or inability to guarantee your wellbeing. They factor into immigration, asylum, and national security debates. Media and political analysts often portray borders as places where pathos, illegality, and poverty thrive innately. Yet, they are also places where ordinary citizens make historical claims, or defend, criticize, and even parody immigration and security policy. While many of those border enactments are rightly serious or even melancholy in tone, some recurring rituals like border festivals foreground whimsical or celebratory narratives. This issue seeks submissions that critically engage with border festivals—recurring ritual enactments performed at, across, or in close proximity to an international boundary line that foster cross-border communication, create opportunities for practical governance, or occasion the memorialization of shared histories. It also provides a platform for scholarly and creative submissions that critically engage how borders and boundaries can be invoked metaphorically through music, literature, performance art, and/or the built environment. Situated at the crossroads of de-centering the state and embracing the everyday-ness of borders, geographer Chris Rumford’s appeal to “vernacularize” border studies using concepts such as “borderwork” and “seeing like a border” provides an excellent starting point for this invitation to take the study of festive borders and boundaries seriously. His concept of “borderwork” emphasizes “bottom-up” activity and specifically the everyday meaning-making labor, or the bordering practices, of citizens and non-citizens (Rumford 2006, 2008, and 2013). “Seeing like a border” is premised on the idea that borders should be understood as the business of everyone, not just the business of the state. While considerations of state practices are still (and should remain) vital to the study of border festivals, it is safe to say that dominant, static, top-down approaches are incomplete. Reflecting on anthropological theories that link festive practices to “expected” moments of life transitions (Van Gennep 1960; Turner 1987), David Picard draws attention to the ways in which festivals can also play a role in mediating unanticipated crises such as “the shock of migration” and “environmental disaster”—two global challenges that shape the contemporary study of borders. Indeed, existing studies of border festivals, traditions, commemorations, and enactments elaborate this point on a much larger scale. Methodologically diverse and ranging from festival traditions in the Senegambia and the trans-Volta (Ghana/Togo) that emphasize the “centrality of the margins” (Nugent 2019), to the meticulously choreographed Wagah ceremony that transpires at the India/Pakistan border (Menon 2013), to cultural performances that delineate the Kashmir conflict (Aggarwal 2004), to the long-standing celebration of George Washington’s Birthday on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border (Peña 2020), to the religiously-inflected and festive revival of historical social groupings between China, Mongolia, and Russia (Billé and Humphrey 2021)—they have underlined how a range of actors make national and ethnic affiliation identity claims public, stage historical memory, recover from natural disasters, and even shape practical governance through stylized acts of crossing and gathering. Moreover, borders may also be critically invoked in the design and production of “borderless” or “borderlands” celebrations (e.g., No Border Fest, Borderland Music Festival). What stands out across these theorizations (and what makes them the key to study of border festivals) is their inbuilt foundation in performance theory and especially performativity. This special issue invites us to think creatively about the idea that borders are always in the making both at and beyond international boundary lines. In both contexts, they are actualized festively through embodiment and stylized rituals that ffect change in the social world. As the first of its kind, this issue aims to create a generative space for the future study of border festivals. We are looking for a variety of submissions ranging from previously unpublished methodological reflections, artist statements, illustrations, documentaries and interactive media to research reports and evidence-based papers that engage festive border commemorations of any kind. Some possible themes for exploration include: conceptualizing borders and boundaries as festive intangible heritage and cultural memory across borderlands organization, logistics, and finance cross-border cooperation and practical governance global challenges: climate change, mass displacement, public health participation, reception, conflict, and political efficacy festive landscapes and built environments embodiment, choreography, and evolving repertoires pleasure through collaboration In line with the interdisciplinary nature of the Journal of Festive Studies, we welcome submissions of original research and analysis rooted in a variety of fields including (but not limited to): social and cultural history, anthropology, archaeology, cultural geography, architecture, technology, musicology, museum studies, literary studies and performance studies. In addition to traditional academic essays, we invite short essays and creative contributions that incorporate digital media such as timelines and maps, photographic essays, digital exhibitions, interactive media, documentaries, illustrations, creative audio, and interviews that engage with festivity. We invite you to submit an abstract and short bio by January 15, 2025. The submission deadline for completed article manuscripts is August 1, 2025. Please make sure to consult the journal submission guidelines. If you have any further questions, please contact Elaine A. Peña at penae@wustl.edu. H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online, the publisher of the Journal of Festive Studies, is committed to open access. All H-Net content, including journals, monographs, and reviews, are freely available to both authors and readers. There are no charges to submit or publish in the Journal of Festive Studies.By: Jayden HewittTuesday, Sep 24, 2024EDUCATION
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OpportunityCFP: Africana Annual: A Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies [Announcement]Africana Annual: A Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies The Department of African & African American Studies at the University of Kansas and the 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 is August 31, 2024By: Jayden HewittTuesday, Aug 27, 2024EDUCATION
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OpportunityIRELAND: SFI Sustainable Development Challenge (Over €1,000,000 Grant) 2025Grant size: 1 million Euros Donor: The Science Foundation Ireland The SDG Challenge seeks to support diverse, transdisciplinary teams to develop transformative, sustainable solutions that will contribute to addressing development challenges under the UN SDGs in countries where Irish Aid works. SFI and Irish Aid are seeking solutions that contribute to SDG 2: Zero Hunger, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture”. The SDG Challenge supports highly motivated, transdisciplinary teams developing transformative, sustainable solutions for UN SDGs in Irish Aid’s partner countries. Furthermore, interested applicants should take note of the following criteria: Teams must be transdisciplinary and focused on developing sustainable solutions for UN SDGs in Irish Aid’s partner countries. Teams should combine technical and non-technical skills and represent collaborative partnerships between researchers in Ireland and the partner country. Expertise in a STEM research area is necessary ,along with knowledge or experience in complementary fields like international development, economics, or behavioral science. Two academic researchers must be in the core team, with at least one from a relevant STEM discipline. Funding should reflect the contributions of all team members. https://www.afterschoolafrica.com/87048/science-foundation-ireland-sfi-2024-sustainable-development-challenge-over-e1000000-grant/By: Tony MilanziTuesday, Aug 27, 2024AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS+5
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OpportunityThe Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity Agribusiness Challenge FundGrant size: $500,000 - $2,500,000 Donor: Mastercard Foundation The Agribusiness Challenge Fund will provide SMEs with innovative and commercially viable agribusinesses across 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa the opportunity to receive support to upscale their businesses in a bid to create sustainable employment opportunities for young people, with particular focus on young women. Selected SMEs will receive support from the Fund, including grants ranging from US$ 500,000 to US$ 2,500,000, disbursed over a 3-year period, based on the applicants’ development stage, scalability and business model, in accordance with agreed periodic milestone targets. The funding structure will be determined on a case-by-case basis after evaluating proposals and organizations. Additional support to successful applicants will include tailored technical assistance in alignment with FRP objectives over the 3-year period. https://mastercardfdn.org/all/the-mastercard-foundation-fund-for-resilience-and-prosperity-launches-agribusiness-challenge-fund/By: Tony MilanziTuesday, Aug 27, 2024AGRI-FOOD SYSTEMS+2
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OpportunityAfDB Japan Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) Program 2024/2025 for young Africans to study in Japan (FGrant Size: Fellowship Donor: AfDB/Government of Japan Applications are now open for the AfDB Japan Africa Dream Scholarship (JADS) Program. This scholarship is open to applicants from African Development Bank member countries with relevant professional experience and a history of supporting their countries’ development efforts who are applying to a graduate degree program in energy development and related disciplines. https://www.opportunitiesforafricans.com/afdb-japan-africa-dream-scholarship-jads-program-2024-2025/By: Tony MilanziTuesday, Aug 27, 2024WATER, ENERGY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT
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OpportunityAREF Research Development Fellowship Programme (Africa)Deadline: 4th October 2024 Grant size: Fellowship Donor: AREF Research Development The Africa Research Excellence Fund is pleased to launch the call for the 2024/25 AREF Research Development Fellowship Programme. Programme Overview Aim. To support researchers in Africa who are emerging leaders and working on important challenges for human health, to develop their skills as a researcher. What we offer. A three to nine-month placement at a leading research institution in the UK, Europe or Africa, with additional support at your home institution before and after the placement. Up to £47,000 available Who is eligible? Early career researchers. These are research active post-doctoral scientists and clinicians with higher qualifications who are nationals of and employed in Africa (see detailed eligibility criteria). How to apply. Read the guidance documents carefully before developing your proposal and starting your application. Complete the application form via the portal at https://programmes.aref-africa.org.uk/ https://africaresearchexcellencefund.org.uk/funding-calls/open-funding-research-development-fellowship-2024-25/By: Tony MilanziTuesday, Aug 27, 2024CULTURE AND SOCIETY+4
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