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Accepted Paper:
African Studies in the Czech Republic: reflections on early-career researchers
Alžběta Šváblová (Unversität Bayreuth)
Paper long abstract:
Despite the fact that African Studies in the Czech Republic were constituted a few decades ago, the trajectory of the discipline has been interrupted several times and it is only slowly finding its place among other established academic fields. Currently, Czech African Studies face multiple challenges at different levels: limited funding for research at the national level, heavy teaching and administrative loads at universities, external challenges of the discipline's relevance, and internal struggles within, to name just a few of them. Any attempt for change would have to address the situation in its complexity.
The proposed paper argues that one of the avenues for improvement would be to focus the attention on the generation of early career researchers. In the current context of a generational exchange, where the founding mothers and fathers of the discipline are leaving the scene, doctoral and post-doctoral researchers can support Czech African studies in multiple ways. The paper analyses the situation of the early career researchers in African studies in the Czech Republic including the structural conditions shaping their professional choices. It offers suggestions that could inform the scholarly paths of young researchers within the current context and, by implication, the prospects of the whole discipline.
Challenges of African Studies in Central and Eastern Europe [initiated by CAAS, Czech Republic]
Session 1