What do African Studies look like from different location-based perspectives? Given the historical anchoring of African Studies disciplines in the Global North, this stream provides a platform to discuss interlinked perspectives on African Studies with a focus on their African situatedness. Do African Studies provide “distinct perspectives” in different local contexts, for example in German speaking countries?
This stream invites contributions on global processes defined as crises such as migration; health and pandemics; climate change; war; terrorism; land-rights; debt; disinformation campaigns and their effects on social cohesion; race-, class-, gender- and sexuality-based persecution; budget cuts in education; attacks on constitutional integrity and the ways they are relevant for African Studies. Who are the experts defining crises and how does their expertise influence how crises are dealt with?
2024 marks the final year of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. The conveners invite research dealing with the self-understanding of different individuals and groups in Africa and its diaspora and their (historical and recent) interrelations and mutual perceptions. This includes what it means and has meant to be ‘other’ in African contexts, as informed by (but not limited to) queer and intersectional studies.
Recurrent increases of debt, the post-colonial scramble for Africa’s rare earths and green hydrogen (also in the quest for energy transition) render the analysis of African economies and their relation to global capitalism ever more urgent. This stream invites empirical and conceptual panels that explore lingering and new dependencies, as well as African responses to these.
The digital sphere provides new avenues for communicating in and about Africa. Scholars, artists, and activists are increasingly taking advantage of the digital to collaborate, collect information, and to combine, visualise and archive different forms of content. This stream seeks to provide a forum for discussing case studies, future opportunities, and constraints as they relate to digitization processes.
Recent cultural productions from Africa are enjoying an unprecedented level of attention across the globe. Literature, music, dance, and the fine arts in physical and digital forms are appreciated everywhere from Seoul to Bayreuth. This stream invites studies on art worlds reflecting these new developments.
Planetary consciousness is considered a relevant continuation and enhancement of globalisation studies that surpasses narrow national frameworks. This stream invites proposals on the more-than-human and relationships between organisms and their environment. What social, political, spiritual, and economic implications do these wider perspectives have for questions such as food scarcity, pollution, population growth, and related technological interventions?