THE IAS-UNN 2024 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
CALL FOR PAPERS:
THE IAS-UNN 2024 INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
The Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in collaboration with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Conflict, University of Chicago, The Transatlantic Research Group, and the Whelan Research Academy for Religion, Culture and Society, Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria, invites scholars and graduate students to an international conference entitled Continuity and Change: Rethinking African European Encounters. The conference is scheduled for 18-20 July 2024, with a pre conference workshop on Research and Fieldwork Methodology for graduate students on 17 July 2024 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka Campus.
Continuity and Change: Rethinking African-European Encounters
Institute of African Studies
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
July 18-20, 2024
In recent decades, there have been intense debates on and around the role of European encounters in transforming African societies. Scholars of the African colonial experience agree that the historic arrival of Europeans in Africa, especially during the colonial period, produced an unprecedented change and transformation in African societies. What happened when Europeans encountered and mingled with African societies and people? What role did Europeans (Missionaries, Traders, Administrators, and Scholars) play in facilitating these encounters? In what ways did Africans respond and react to these encounters? In what specific ways have Africans improved (or discarded) the systems introduced (or imposed) by the Europeans? How is the current global power balance reflected in the unfolding continuity or change within Africa? How can one speak to the present by engaging with the history of these encounters? We will explore these questions at the Rethinking African-European Encounters Conference, a three day-long scholars meeting at the Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Sub-themes will include, but not limited to, the following:
Control, restriction, and colonial hegemony
Colonial ethnography and representation of Africa
Construction of identity and difference
Christianity, Islam and spirituality in Africa
Decolonial thinkers and critique of Eurocentrism
Colonial economic models and their aftermath
Indigenous forms of slavery
Neo-slavery and other forms of servitude
European languages and language ideologies
Labour and production relations
Reproducing colonial political economy
The nation-state and loss of indigenous autonomy
Texts, images, and colonial representation
Otherness and Othering in the colonial context
African resistance and colonial Institution
Modern bordering and migration encounters
Reinterpretations of cultural encounters
Intersections of race and gender biases
Women, motherhood and colonial ideology
Mapping gender in the colonial context
Pre-and post-colonial social organisations
Elections and liberal democracy in the post-colonial era
Art, education, literature, music, theatre, film and society in postcolonial Africa
Art and art markets as playgrounds of European fancy in Africa?
The arts as a platform/tool for the unbalanced Europe-Africa encounter
The conference honours the life and work of Professor Felix Ekechi (1934-2023), whose illustrious historic career as a teacher and scholar centred on Africa’s engagement with Europeans. Ekechi’s most influential works include Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857-1914 (nominated for the African Studies Association Herskovit’s Award); Tradition and Transformation in Eastern Nigeria: A Sociopolitical History of Owerri and Its Hinterland, 1902-1947; and Pioneer, Patriot, and Nigerian Nationalist: A Biography of the Reverend M.D. Opara, 1915-1965. These groundbreaking works show how European encounters with Africa shaped history, indigenous responses, and identities.
Abstracts of 200 words or less should be sent as attached Microsoft Word files to ias.conference@unn.edu.ng on or before 20 May 2024. The author’s name, institutional affiliation, email address, and contact phone number should be provided under the proposed paper title before the abstract. Successful abstracts will be announced by May 27, 2024. Completed papers are required no later than 30 June 2024.
THE CONFERENCE PRESENTATION FORMAT SHALL BE IN-PERSON AND VIRTUAL.
Conference Fees
Participants from outside Africa: $100
Africa-based scholars and researchers: N15,000
Africa-based student participants: N5,000
All inquiries regarding submissions should be directed to ias.conference@unn.edu.ng Prospective participants whose papers or panel proposals are accepted will receive further registration and payment details.
Contact Info:
Prof. Chima Korieh
Institute of African Studies
University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Contact Email: ias.conference@unn.edu.ng
Chief Host:
Professor Charles Arizechukwu Igwe
Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka
Host:
Professor Ozioma Onuzulike
Director, Institute of African Studies,
University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
Tel/Whatsapp: +234-8064566346
IG: @ozioma.onuzulike