2016
Call for Papers: AASR at the 2016 AAR Annual Meeting
The Call for Papers for AASR sponsored panels at the 2016 American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting is now available online: CALL FOR PAPERS
Themes include:
• Debility and Personhood in African Religions
• Eschatology and African Religions
• Religion, Sexuality and Identity in Africa
• The Good Life and Social Justice in Africa: Ethical and Religious Responses to Exclusion
The 2016 Annual Meeting will take place in San Antonio, TX, USA from 19-22 November. All proposals must be submitted through the AAR website.
Many thanks to the Chairs and Steering Committee for their hard work:
Chairs
- Althea Spencer Miller
- Esther Acolatse
Steering Committee
2016
Conference: Africa Since Independence
Africa Since Independence: Promise, Pugnacity, and Failure in the Post-Colonial Contexts. An International Conference in Honour of Prof. Akanmu G. Adebayo
3-5 August 2016, Ibadan, Nigeria
Call for Papers
The Global-Africa Development Network welcomes panel, paper, and poster presentations that will contribute to a better understanding of the African experience since independence.
The post-independence period has been one of the most crucial phases of African history. The French writer, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, once remarked, “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” (“the more things change, the more they stay the same”). How much has really changed in Africa since independence? Independence, which some have characterized as mere political independence, was a welcome development and the euphoria this brought had much to do with the promise represented by these new states and their leaders. But less than a decade after independence and several years thereafter, the states, which had held so much promise initially, had dissolved into all manners of crises. Since that period, historians, development experts and policy makers have pored endlessly over the African conundrum. From Senegal to Somalia, and from the Cape to Cairo, it had been stories of horror, terror, and stunted growth. But there were those who have continued to also argue that these were some of the pains of development and that Africa had actually recorded great progress.
This international conference in Honour of Prof. Akanmu G. Adebayo, a foremost scholar of African history and Conflict Studies, whose works have over the years reflected the increasingly important need to understand the African experience in its interlocking dimensions, provides a forum for discussion and networking for leading and younger scholars, researchers, development experts, professionals, policy makers, postgraduate students, and others interested in the past, present and future of Africa.
Themes and subthemes of interest for submission include, but are not limited to:
- Environment: Sustainable Development and Rural Livelihoods; Desertification; Sanitation, Waste Management and Hygiene; Climate Change; Urbanization and Urban Livelihoods; Water Resources and Clean Water Projects; Alien Plants
- Economic Promise and Failure: Africa and the Global Economy; Agriculture and Pastoralism; Minerals and Extractive Industry; Poverty and Affluence; Land Resources Management and Food Security; Private Sector Development; International Finance, Structural Adjustment and Post-Adjustment Issues; Multinational Corporations; Global, International, and Cross-border Trade Networks
- Women and Youths: Women in Politics; Children and Complex Emergencies; Youths in Conflict and Development; Youth Unemployment; Entrepreneurship; Civil Society
- Infrastructure Development: Power and Alternative Energy; Transport and Aviation; Information and Communication Technology (ICT); Health and Wellness; Old and New Infectious Diseases
- Conflict and Security: Natural Resource Conflict; Ethnic and Religious Conflict; Insurgency and Counter-Insurgency; Conflict Resolution; Small Arms and Light Weapons; State and Non-state Actors; the Police and Private Security Organizations; Military, Paramilitary, and Private Military Organizations; Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); Humanitarian Crisis and Action; Crime, Criminality and Punishment
- Regional Cooperation and Integration: From Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to the African Union (AU); Regional Economic Communities; Pan-Africanism
- Political Change: Military Rule and Democratization; Constitutionalism; Elections and Post-Election Disputes; Election Management Bodies; Parliament, Legislature, and the Judiciary
- Foreign Policy and Diplomacy: Intra-African Relations; African countries’ relations with the United States, the European Union, Russia and China
- Culture and Society: Religions; New Religious Movements; the Press; Social Media; Art and Music; Nollywood; Drug and Human Trafficking; the Fashion Industry; Education, Higher Education, and the Future
- Migration and the Diaspora: African Diaspora in Europe and America; African Diaspora in the Middle East and China
- Other Related Themes
Papers presented at the conference will be peer-reviewed, and those assessed to be of high quality will be included in an edited book. Interested persons should send a 250-word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution. The deadline for submission of abstracts is Thursday 31st March 2016. You will be notified of the abstracts review panel’s decision by Friday 15th April 2016. If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 3rd June 2016. Abstracts should be submitted with the following information and in this order: (a) author(s), (b) affiliation, (c) email address, (d) phone numbers, (e) title of paper or presentation, (f) abstract of maximum 250 words, and (g) up to 5 keywords.
The abstract should be submitted to the Local Organising Committee at: use.history3@gmail.com
Local Organising Committee:
1. Prof. Olutayo C. Adesina, Department of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria: olutayo27@gmail.com
2. Dr. Monsuru O. Muritala, Department of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria: murimonsour@gmail.com
3. Joseph Kingsley ADJEI, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Coast
Email: kwadwo2014@yahoo.com
Please note that The Global-Africa Development Network is not in a position to assist with participants’ conference travel or subsistence.
2016
New Executive Committee for the ASRSA
The Association for the Study of Religion in Southern Africa (ASRSA) has announced a new executive committee. The committee includes the following members:
President: Prof Abdulkader Tayob
Vice President: Prof Farid Esack
Secretary: Dr Maria Frahm-Arp
Treasurer: Ms Beverly Vencatsamy
Journal Editor: Prof Jannie Smit
For more information about each member, see: The New ASRSA Executive
2015
Global Africa Symposium on Africa’s Indigenous Religions: August 8-13, 2016
_________________________________________________________________________
GLOBAL AFRICA SYMPOSIUM
ON
AFRICA’S INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS
THEME
Africa’s Indigenous Religions: Critical Approaches to its Philosophies, Doctrine, Scholarship, Documentation and Survival through Oral and Written Traditions from Theoretical and Historical Perspectives.
The Keynote Speaker is Professor Molefi Kete Asante
SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZERS/HOSTS:
Osun State Government; PanAfrican Strategic and Policy Research Group (PANAFSTRAG), Departments of Philosophy, Religious Studies, History, and Sociology and Anthropology, Obafemi Awolowo University; Department of Language, Linguistics and Philosophy, University of the West Indies, Mona Campus; Centre for Institute of African Studies, University of Georgia, Athens, USA; and Collegium Ovirium, Argentina.
DATE: August 8-13, 2016
VENUE: Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
BACKGROUND:
Indigenous African Religions face the critical crises of existential proportion and with the crises arises a fundamental challenge to the humanity of Africans globally. Many indigenous African religions have become extinct, succumbing to the centuries of concerted efforts from both east, west and within to destroy them. Every single indigenous African religion is under sever assault and is endangered and to be complacent is to actively encourage theperilous disaster waiting to happen to global African Religions. There is no doubt that African Traditional Religions are fundamental elements in terms of Africans having a positive cultural identity and hence has been a primary target for destruction in order to dehumanize and derogate the identity of African peoples globally. Forces from the East and West were in full understanding of the direct relationship between the people and their religions and with the way the people felt about, saw and related with themselves. Iconoclasm and epistemicide have been the most effective tools used throughout Africa to dispossess Africans of their religious heritage, indigenous knowledge systems, scientific heritage, cultural identity and value systems. It is clear that what is at stake is the preservation of the indigenous religions of Africa and the cultures they encapsulate, thereby making an Afrocentric connection to the natural world in a sustainable way possible.
The symposium proposes, among other things, to examine if, within ‘African Indigenous Religions’, as primarily conveyors of oral and written religious traditions of Africa, there can be identified various core groups of ideas, liturgies, cosmologies, etc., in these religions, which, in a similar way to other “World Religions”, can be synthesized and transformed into written “Holy Book(s)”, Codex, Scripture(s) or Sacred Document(s), which can operate as (a) legitimate reference documents for African Traditional Religions, and thereby constitute (a) source book(s) for further development, be the subject for academic study, interpretation, be the bearers of the world views of Africans and be the foundation for African Philosophy, Ethics, African Customary Laws, Governance, and provide insights into various aspects of existence.
To achieve this aim, the Symposium will bring together practising African Traditional Religions’ leaders and peoples, scholars, and thinkers who will critically appraise the term ‘indigenous’ while at the same time subjecting the widespread use of ‘world’ religions to theoretical and historical scrutiny. The symposium will feature thematic papers exploring approaches to the study of Africa’s Indigenous Religions from different regions, with an emphasis on Africa and its Diaspora. It will also consider the challenges of studying religions that originally were based primarily on oral, but also written, sources but which through history have been transformed into traditions with written scriptures.
STRUCTURE:
The symposium is methodological in nature. Selected experts and practitioners in the field will be invited to present lead papers on the topics related to the general theme of the symposium. In addition, the symposium will be open to participants from the selected academic community relevant to the overall aims of the Symposium, but it is also open to all interested members of the various groups of the Africa’s Traditional Religions. The number of those attending, including the speakers, will be limited to ensure that the critical purpose of creating the foundation for Africa’s Traditional/Indigenous Religions’ future sustainability is not compromised.
OUTCOME:
The following are the immediate, medium and long term projected outcomes of the Symposium
a) The papers will be edited and offered for publication.
b) Programme and Plan for the production of a synthesized African Traditional Religion Scripture, Holy Text will be commissioned with timeline and budget will be produced and circulated for funding
c) Programme and Plan for the establishment of autonomous Institute for the Study of ATR
d) Determining Research Project, and planning Annual Symposium
e) Programme and Plan for the Documentation and Archival Resources on African Traditional Religions within the Centre
f) Developing Programme and Plan for training African Traditional Religions Leaders, Administrators and Scholars
g) Developing Undergraduate and Graduate Programmes, Research, Publication in ATR
CALL FOR PAPERS
This is a Symposium dedicated to African Traditional Religions, with Africa construed globally as understood in the African Union of Six Regions. Lead Presentations will be commissioned on selected aspects of the theme (Doctrine, Literature and Scholarship) of the symposium. Experts, researchers, students and the practitioners of African Traditional Religions are invited to submit a 300 word abstract on one of (or related to) the following sub-themes of the Symposium by March 15, 2016:
Origins, Needs and Use of Religion in Africa
Gnosis and Ontology in African Traditional Religions
The Universes and their relationships in African Traditional Religions
Being, Identity and Society in African Traditional Religions
Aesthetics and Religion in African Traditional Religions
Gender, Sex and Ageing in African Traditional Religions
Morality and Society in African Traditional Religions
Governance, Business and Development in African Traditional Religions
Life and Death
End of life decisions
Prophets, Prophesy, Divinations and Future
Management of African Traditional Religions Knowledge and Assets
Codification, Documentation and Transmission in ATR
Scriptural Syntheses – Doctrinal Codex
Training the Priests and Priestesses in ATR
Liturgy, Traditions, Ceremonies, Communions and Festivals in ATR
The Public and the Private – the Holy and the Profane in ATR
Continuity and Generations in ATR – the Old, the Adult, the Youth and the Unborn
Nature in ATR – Use, Abuse and Preservation
ATR in the face of Modernity
ATR and migrant alien Religions
ATR and the Media
ATR and Atheism
Panel Discussions are encouraged, to brainstorm on various aspects of the task of ensuring the survival and propagation of ATR globally. Persons interested in organizing panels are encouraged to provide a summary of the panel, panellists, relevance to the Symposium, and overall contribution to the development of ATR globally.
FINAL PAPER:
Completed paper presentations are expected to reach the Symposium Secretariat by March 31, 2016. This will ensure that such papers are uploaded to the Symposium Website by April 30, 2016.
Submissions from the Six Regions are to be made as follows:
Tunde Bewaji (tunde.bewaji@gmail.com) North America and the Caribbean
Obadiah Otitigbe (otitigbe@oviri.com.ar) Latin America
Mogobe Ramose (ramosmb@unisa.ac.za) South Africa
Godfrey Tangwa (gbtangwa@yahoo.com) Central and East Africa
David Ogungbile (dogungbile1@yahoo.com) West Africa
NB: All submissions should be copied to Professors Tunde Bewaji (tunde.bewaji@gmail.com) Yunusa Salami (yunusasalami@gmail.com) and panafstraginternational@yahoo.com.
General Information Requests should be directed to the Symposium Secretariat at PANAFSTRAG Offices, Lagos, Nigeria (panafstraginternational@yahoo.com).
SYMPOSIUM FEES (Covers Symposium Materials and Refreshments):
Participants from Africa $100
Participants from outside Africa $150
Retirees and Graduate Students from outside Africa $100
Participants from Nigeria N20,000.00
Retirees and Graduate Students from Nigeria N10,000.00
TOURS:
All participants are encouraged to register for the Tours to Historic Religious and Cultural Sites (Ile-Ife, Ibadan, Oshogbo, Oyo, Benin, Arochukwu, etc) in Nigeria by end of January, 2016.
ACCOMMODATION:
Symposium Hotels and Guest Houses will be negotiated at group rates for the duration of the Symposium. This will be communicated to participants by January, 2016, so that bookings, mentioning the Symposium, can be made online or through the Symposium Secretariat.
2015
