Africa-Asia, A New Axis of Knowledge Conference-Festival 3

Building on the multiple encounters, interactions and dialogues initiated at the first Africa-Asia Conference (Accra, Ghana, 2015) and the second Africa-Asia Conference (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 2018), this third edition of the ‘Africa-Asia, A New Axis of Knowledge’ event seeks to deepen the explorations of new realities and long histories connecting Africa and Asia.  
 

The collaborative mission of Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD, Dakar, Senegal),  Collective Africa-Southeast Asia Platform (CASAP, Bangkok, Thailand) and the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS, Leiden, The Netherlands) aims to stimulate inquiry into the rich resources offered by the city of Dakar and its surroundings. In this way, the city itself enables the materialisation of an experiential Conference-Festival (ConFest) that celebrates diversity within academia, but that also extends beyond academia into civil society and the arts.  

The ConFest aims to solidify an infrastructure of engagement, bringing together participants from a broad array of disciplinary backgrounds and regional specialisations including scholars, artists, intellectuals and educators based in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere around the world. Over the course of four days in Dakar, participants will be encouraged to think both comparatively and holistically about the challenges and possibilities of cross-continental and trans-regional encounters. 

Your proposal

When submitting a proposal, you will be asked to select the theme that best suits your interest. The goal is to facilitate transdisciplinary conversations among participants. Each ‘thematic cluster’ corresponds to academic trends within the global context. We constructed these clusters in broad terms to make them as inclusive as possible without losing their discursive coherence. 

Thematic clusters are meant to be general starting points for your intervention. Your submission may touch on only some, or even one, aspect of the theme, since your paper will enrich other contributions and be enriched by them. You may also find your topic relevant to more than one cluster or format, but we still ask you to select a single thematic cluster for your presentation.

As part of our goal to develop an  Africa-Asia ‘axis of knowledge’, we encourage proposals that directly depict Africa-Asia interactions. Participants working in either Asian or African contexts who seek to draw comparisons and connections between the two continents are also welcome to submit proposals.  Proposals that demonstrate a commitment to diversity are strongly encouraged.

The notes on local context included in the description of the clusters situate each theme in the local and regional environment of the Conference-Festival: Dakar, Senegal, West Africa and beyond, crossing the Atlantic. Your proposal need not specifically connect to these local realities, since a variety of conference activities will help to stimulate transregional conversations and also to ground global concerns in the local environments of Dakar/Senegal/West Africa/the Atlantic.

Topics can be explored through various formats, including papers, panels, roundtables, posters, as well as audio-visual and other media. We welcome new formats and suggestions for activities, workshops and exhibitions that will enrich the exchange of knowledge and experiences.
 

Clusters

  1. Human-Nature-Technology: Interactions and Responses
  2. Geo-political-economic Hegemonies: Cartographies and Historiographies
  3. Economic Globalisation: Prosperity or Pain?
  4. The Role of Local Communities: Society against States and Corporations?
  5. Knowledge-making: Institutions, Objects, Cultural Ownership
  6. Arts, (Digital) Media and Culture: Creativities, Contestations and Collaborations
  7. Multiple Ontologies: Religions, Religiosities, Philosophies and Languages  
  8. Negotiating Margins: Power, Agencies, Representations, Resistances 
  9. Foodscapes: Cultivation, Livelihood, Gastronomy, Agrico-Cultural Exchanges, Appropriations
  10. Well-being, Sport (football!), Medicine, Well-dying 
  11. ‘Pan-Africanism’, ‘Bandung Spirit’, ‘Global South’ Futures and the New World Order
  12. ‘AfricAsia’ in an Entangled World: Migrations, Diasporas, Creolities 

Visit our website for a description of each cluster.
 

Deadline

Proposals should be in English, French or Portuguese, and be submitted online by 1 October 2024.

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