Just got this in the mail:
Call for Abstracts
International Conference on:
Youth and Democratization in Africa:
Lessons Learned and Comparative Experiences
Jointly Organized by the
Governance and Public Administration Division (GPAD) of the UNECA and International IDEA,
Addis Ababa Office
Date: 12th – 13th September 2012
Venue: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The full call is here (.doc).
The APN promotes independent African research and analysis on peacebuilding in or near countries and regions affected by violent conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa.
A core component of the APN, the Research Grants program is a vehicle for enhancing the quality and visibility of African peacebuilding research regionally and globally and for making such knowledge accessible to key policymakers and research centers of excellence in Africa and around the world.
Substantial support is available for research and analysis on issues such as:
Grants are awarded on a competitive, peer-reviewed basis and are intended to support six to seven months of research. Up to fifteen grants of a maximum of $15,000 will be awarded.
All grantees are required to participate in two Africa-based workshops that will provide opportunities to refine research focus and methodologies, present findings, explore ways to make work accessible to multiple peacebuilding constituencies, and develop constructive working relationships with other grantees, senior academics, and practitioner facilitators.
The APN is interested in innovative projects that demonstrate strong potential for producing high-quality research and analysis that can lead to practical action on peacebuilding and/or facilitate inter-regional collaboration and networking among African researchers and practitioners.
Proposals should clearly describe research objectives and significance (with a clear alignment between research design/method and research questions and goals), demonstrate knowledge of the research subject and relevant literature, and address the feasibility of proposed research activities, including a time frame for project completion. Applicants should also discuss the likely relevance of the proposed research to existing knowledge on peacebuilding practice and policy. Individual and joint proposals are welcome.
Applicants must be African citizens currently residing in a Sub-Saharan African country.
Academics must hold a faculty or research position at an African university or research organization and have either a PhD or a master’s and at least two years of research experience.
Policy analysts and practitioners must be based in Africa at a regional or sub-regional institution, a government agency, or a non-governmental, media, or civil society organization and have a master’s with at least two years of work experience.
Available on the APN website: http://www.ssrc.org/programs/apn/. The APN strongly prefers that applications be uploaded through our online portal. Alternately, completed applications can be e-mailed or delivered by post or courier service.
Applications are due by 9 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2012.
If you have further questions, please contact APN program staff by telephone at (212) 377-2000 or by e-mail at apn@ssrc.org.
“Call for Applications”
(ICD Conferences, January – March 2012)
Dear Sir/ Madam,
On behalf of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, I am writing to bring to your attention the following major programs (outlined below) hosted by us in partnership with other leading organizations. The Programs will bring together governmental and diplomatic officials, civil society practitioners, private sector representatives, journalists, young professionals, students and scholars, and other interested stakeholders from across the world for a program of lectures, workshops, panel and group discussions and social and cultural activities featuring leading figures from the fields of politics, academia, civil society, media, and business.
The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is currently accepting applications for the events outlined below, all of which will take place from January 2012 – March 2012. .
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The European African Alliance Conference 2012
Development Initiatives, Trade Relations and Interregional Cultural Exchange in the European African Alliance (Berlin, January 10th – 13th, 2012)
www.experience-africa.org
The “European African Alliance Conference 2012” is the first of several conferences relating to Africa. This conference will focus on the relationship between Europe and Africa in the context of development, trade, security and cultural exchange with the view to explore and evaluate Africa’s and Europe’s role in the field of Cultural Diplomacy.
Africa’s relationship with Europe and European Institutions has developed significantly over the last decade making the European African Alliance an interesting and relevant topic for discussion today. The program will consist of lectures, seminars, debates and panel discussions that will feature leading figures from international politics & diplomacy, academia, civil society, and the private sector.
This conference will focus on and analyze economic issues such as migration and employment, political issues such as the use and affect of institutions, democracy and international relations and security and trade issues.
To Apply please visit:
http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_eaac-2012_application-form
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Cultural Diplomacy in Africa: A Forum for Young Leaders
Development Initiatives, Trade Relations and Interregional Cultural Exchange in the European African Alliance (Weeklong Seminar, Berlin, January 9th – 15th, 2012)
www.icd-africa.org
**Participants of the forthcoming CDA weeklong seminar will take part in the International Conference “The European African Alliance Conference 2012 (Berlin, January 10th – 13th, 2012)
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The International Conference on the African Union & Cultural Diplomacy
Cultural Diplomacy as a Vehicle of Global Governance: The Role of Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power in the Future of the African Union (London, February 7th-10th, 2012)
The African Union and Cultural Diplomacy Conference is the second of a series of our international conferences dedicated to enhancing awareness and understanding of governing institutions. The conference is organized by the ICD and other leading organizations.
Since the Cold War, the global power axis has shifted significantly, from a bipolar world order into multiple of poles of influence, rapid market liberalization and a considerable synergy of global interdependence. This shift in power relations has not been unproblematic, especially for those countries that have been sidelined from the international decision-making process. The African Union is therefore a prominent example of the necessity of collaboration in order to protect and promote individual interests in the current international setting.
This conference will emphasize how cultural diplomacy can be used as an increasingly useful tool for building cooperation both regionally and globally, and explores avenues through which this new form of diplomacy can be used as a driving force to foster good governance, development and the promotion of human rights though the AU.
To apply please visit:
http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?en_aucdc-2011_application-form
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The Power of Africa
Africa as a Stronger Actor on the International Stage (Paris, March 13th-16th, 2012)
http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/experienceafrica/index.php?the-power-of-africa
The Power of Africa is the third Africa related conference that is being hosted in the beginning of 2012. It will focus on the possibilities and barriers that the African countries are facing in terms of economic and political bargaining power as well as the prospect of speaking with one voice on the international stage.
The conference will in particular address the expectations and opinions that the outside world holds of African development and how this often diverges with what might be more realistic and customized solutions on the ground. One aim of the conference is thus to debate whether alternative forms of institutional rule and economic models can be deemed more effective in Africa than the established forms of Western governance. The conference will look at global as well as local perceptions of African leadership and development, and the bilateral trade relationships that Africa has with China and India. Furthermore we will explore the role of the African Union as well as civil societies in enhancing interregional relations within Africa and what prospects this holds for its future international image and bargaining power.
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The Institute for Cultural Diplomacy is an international, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization with headquarters in Berlin, Germany. The goal of the ICD is to promote global peace and stability by strengthening and supporting intercultural relations at all levels. Over the past decade the ICD has grown to become one of Europe’s largest independent cultural exchange organizations, hosting programs that facilitate interaction among individuals of all cultural, academic, and professional backgrounds, from across the world.
Previous Events
Previous events held by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy include the International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy (Berlin, May 11th-15th 2011 – www.icd-internationalsymposium.org), which hosted The Hon. Lucinda Creighton – Minister of European Affairs of Ireland; The Hon. Michael Chertoff – Former United States Secretary of Homeland Security; The Hon. Rexhep Meidani – Former President of Albania; The Hon. Senator Tim Hutchinson – Former United States Senator from Arkansas; The Hon. Judge Theodor Meron - Former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; The Hon. Yasar Yakis – Former Foreign Minister of Turkey
In March 2011 the ICD hosted the Berlin International Economics Congress 2011 (Berlin, March 9th – 12th 2011 – www.biec.de ), which hosted The Hon. Nahas Angula – Prime minister of Namibia; The Hon. Jean-Paul Adam – Foreign Minister of the Republic of Seychelles; The Hon. Alberto Jose Guevara Obregon – Minister of Finance of Nicaragua; The Hon. Al Imam Al Sadig Al Mahdi - Former Prime minister of Sudan; The Hon. Akua Sena Dansua – Minister for Tourism of Ghana; and The Hon. Edmund Bartlett – Minister of Tourism of Jamaica.
Please address any additional queries to info@culturaldiplomacy.org or toubbe@culturaldiplomacy.org
We look forward to hear from you soon
With warmest regards
The broad field of African research is divided across the different languages in and through which empirical realities are represented in African studies. These include French, English, other European languages such as German, Dutch, Portuguese as well as African languages. Issues to do with Western languages in African studies do not exhaust the diversity of conceptual, methodological and practical problems pertaining to language differences in researching Africa but they are useful a lens through which to start apprehending language/power connections in configuring patterns of knowledge production in and on Africa. We seek papers that tackle language as an ‘ontological thing’ in and of itself, as well as a social and political process through which epistemic communities are constructed and reproduced, as they organise understandings of the realities we seek to explain.
In this sense we want to problematise the compartmentalisation of, and relations between different historical-linguistic communities, the ways which they arise as disparate and more or less permeable clusters of research, and the implications for representation politics in African studies. As such, particular emphasis is laid on historical dynamics of decolonisation and post-coloniality as well as the assessment of the contemporary relevance of these dynamics. The linguistic divide allows us, in particular, to examine reflexively research and publication networks as particular epistemological niches, and more crucially to map out the power dynamics that dictate choice and trend in African Studies.
We are particularly interested in papers that situate the language divide at the conceptual level, on the assumption that language, as an analytical anchor point, underscores a variety of material and theoretical issues pertaining to the opportunities and constraints for research in and on Africa on the one hand, and the resilience of conceptual entrenchments and power hierarchies within African research on the other. Crucially, addressing the language divide is also about addressing the displacement of categories of thought and the ghettoisation prevalent within African studies as much as it is about addressing the decolonisation of African Studies as an urgent task. How much of a historical and epistemological continuity do these linguistic communities still denote? How might they still represent different ways of “imagining” Africa and Africans (in Ranger’s understanding) in different discourses and narrative conventions? In other words, to what extent are these linguistic communities the products of particular colonial legacies, and how does cross-fertilisation across linguistic divides provides the basis for creative research and collaboration?
Papers may explore the following topics:
- Language, epistemic communities and the objectivation of African realities
- knowledge production and language-based ghettoisation in African studies
- Postcolonial perspectives on African academia – European language divides, and research innovation
- The prominence of English and conceptual diversity in African Studies
- The contribution and limits of language based organisation (e.g. OIF) in African research
- Problem-framing, research funding and publishing across linguistic communities
- The role of language in Euro-African research cooperation and marginalisation
Procedures for submission of article abstracts: Abstracts should not be over 500 words and should be sent to the Guest Editors of this Special Issue (Amy Niang: Amy.Niang@wits.ac.za, Muriel Cote: m.cote@sms.ed.ac.uk) by the 30th September 2011. By October 15th, authors will be notified whether they should submit a full version of their article for peer review. The due date for completed drafts of articles is 15th February 2012. Papers should be between 5000 and 8000 words excluding the bibliography. Please do not hesitate to contact the Guest Editors if you have any questions.
With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, a new era seemed to have opened up: a world without borders and thus – potentially – a world with less conflict and more freedom. Today, more than 20 years later, we can observe that some border systems have softened while others have been consolidated, and many more border-based regulations have been created on national and supra-national levels. The nation-state has not disappeared and neither have its borders. However, borders and borderlands cannot be reduced to spaces of division and conflict but they also exist as spaces of social, ethnic, cultural and economic blending – territories of their own. In the tradition of previous Berlin Roundtables held on urban development, transnational risks, human rights, and cultural diversity the 15th Berlin Roundtables on Transnationality will focus on borders and borderlands as contested spaces.
For further details please see the background paper.
Conference Format
The 15th Berlin Roundtables will be held at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) from March 28 – 31, 2012. Based on an international essay competition, approximately 45 applicants will be invited to discuss their research, concerns and agendas with peers and prominent scholars in Berlin. The Irmgard Coninx Foundation will cover travel to and accommodation in Berlin.
Discussions will take place in three workshops:
“The Social Life of Borders and Borderlands” chaired by Julie Y. Chu (Anthropology, University of Chicago) and Tatiana Zhurzhenko (Political Science, University of Vienna),
“The Politics of Borders: Security and Control” chaired by Mattias Kumm (Law, Humboldt-Universität Berlin, WZB and New York University) and Eric Tagliacozzo (History, Cornell University),
“Natural Resources and the Environment along Borders and Borderlands: Conflicts and Solutions” chaired by Michael Redclift (Geography, King’s College London) and Maria Tysiachniuk (Environmental Unit, Center for Independent Research St. Petersburg).
The conference will be accompanied by evening lectures. Guest speakers will be announced soon.
Eligibility and Application Procedure
The call for papers extends to scholars (max. up to 5 years after Ph.D.) and practitioners (e.g. workers in governmental or urban services, NGOs, journalists). Please submit your paper (maximum 3500 words including footnotes and bibliography), an abstract (max. 300 words), a narrative biography and a CV using the online submission form and the style sheets for your abstract and essay.Submission deadline is November 30, 2011. Please note that co-authorship and already published papers will not be accepted. All participants are expected to actively participate during all days of this workshop.
Irmgard Coninx Research Grant
Conference participants are eligible to apply for one of up to three short-term fellowships to be used at the WZB in Berlin. For further information on the fellowship please visit our research grant site. Conference participants will receive all necessary details on the grant application shortly before the conference.
More than a decade and half ago, Donal Cruise-O’Brien (1996) had declared that the African youth were ‘a lost generation.’ This fatalistic summation of the fate of the African youth was perhaps for good reason. The enormous socio-economic and cultural forces surrounding the lives of young people in Africa were [and still are] simply daunting. And at the very core of this seemingly insurmountable socio-economic atmosphere are the pervasive unjust protocols of postcolonial regimes under which most African youth live. Indeed, more recent scholarship suggests that there is no respite yet for the African youth as the hopeless situation has escalated (See Abbink, Jon and Ineke Van Kessel 2005 & Alcinda Honwana and Filip De Boeck 2005). On account of the inclement socio-economic and political circumstances surrounding young people in Africa, what we are now witnessing across the entire continent is what Mamodou Douf (2003) describes as the ‘dramatic irruption of young people in both the domestic and public spheres,’ putting young people at the very heart of the continent’s socio-economic and political imagination (Durham 2006). But the challenges facing African youth are not peculiar to them.
All over the world, the new sociology of youth points to a growing concern about the ramifications of globalization, late modernity and general global social and economic restructuring for the lives and futures of young people. But amidst the lingering fears of the future of the young, scholars have also called for a deep reflection and rethinking of young people’s own resilience and agency in the midst of these turbulent times. This special issue of African Identities, tentatively entitled Late Modernity and Agency: Youth Cultures in Africa, seeks to reflect on the varied contours of youth responses to social change in Sub-Saharan Africa. While young people in Africa continue to face extraordinary social challenges in their everyday lives, what are the unique ways in which they have reinvented their circumstances to keep afloat in the midst of seismic global social changes? Papers are solicited on a wide range of topics on the African youth that may unravel young people not only as victims but also as active social actors in the face of a shifting global modernity. The themes may include amongst others,
- African Youth and Globalization
- Late Modernity and Social Change
- Youth and Media-Film, Television, Video, Internet, etc
- Hip-hop, Club Cultures and other forms of Popular culture
- Mobility and Social Media
- Gender and New Economies of Youth
- Democracy, Power and Youth Activism
- Youth and Conflict in Africa
- New Subjectivities and Agency
- Neo-Pentecostalism as Subculture
- The Informal Economy and Invented Pathways
- Lifestyles and Identity Constructions
- New Spatial Politics in Public and Domestic Spaces
Abstracts of not more than 500 words (including name, position, institutional affiliation, and email contact) may be sent to P.UGor@bham.ac.uk no later than September 30th, 2011. This special issue of African Identities will be published in the summer of 2012.
The three doctoral candidates will work on the following research subjects:
1. Historical relations between demography and land use in West Africa
2. Decision‐making within rural households in West Africa
3. The politics of adaptation to climate change in West Africa
Expectation:
The candidate will be expected to participate in the interdisciplinary and disciplinary
courses of the ZEF Doctoral Studies Program from 1st October 2011 ‐ February 2012.
He/she will develop an individual research proposal until February 2012. For data
collection, 10‐12 months of field research in West Africa will be required. During the
writing‐up period of the dissertation, the candidate will be based at ZEF in Bonn.
Duration of the doctoral studies:
Three years starting from August 2011 under conditional acceptance of the confirmation
by the funding agency. A scholarship awarded will cover living, research as well as travel
cost.
Requirements for the applicants:
• very good degree (Diploma, Master or Magister) in social anthropology, social
geography, political sciences or development sociology
• very good writing skills in English are required for the dissertation
• very good knowledge of French are required for research in a francophone
country
• good knowledge of field research methods is required
• experience in research is of advantage
• work experience in West Africa is of advantage
African candidates are highly encouraged to apply.
Applications:
The eligible candidates are invited to send their application including
• a letter of motivation
• a concept note that addresses the research topic, problem statement, research
objectives and question, suggested methodology (2‐3 pages)
• Curriculum Vitae
• copies of academic certificates
• a letter of reference.
Please, send the hard copy of the application to:
Center for Development Research
Dr. Irit Eguavoen (ZEFa)
Walter‐Flex‐Str. 3
D‐ 53113 Bonn
Germany
Closing date for the application is the 20th June 2011. Short–listed candidates will be
contacted for an interview.
The scholarships start in August 2011. The calls for application are published on the project websites:
Weiterführende Links:
www.wascal.org, www.zef.de
The Institute of African Studies is planning to publish two books on
Africa in 2011 as part of its efforts to expand the frontiers of knowledge
and knowledge production on the continent. The main rationale for
rethinking Africa, in this manner, is the mounting developmental crises in
the continent. Amongst many other things, the continent is the least
developed in the world and the burgeoning political, economic, health,
environmental, educational and ethical crises around it suggest that the
future of Africa is already compromised. The main issues in the
underdevelopment of the continent today include political corruption and
lack of altruism in the public sphere; other equally compelling features
are economic decline, diseases, environmental degradation, armed
conflicts, proliferation of small arms and light weapons, declining
educational standards, brain drain and poor leadership, among others. It
was once a welcome tradition to blame these African developmental crises
wholly on outsiders (most especially colonialism and international
conspiracy) but it must be noted that the African elite is equally
responsible for undermining the development of the continent. In other
words the task of reconstructing Africa must start from within and the
first step is to generate precise knowledge on what must be changed and
identify those responsible for bringing about this change.
The second stage is to dialectically audit the available resources for
bringing about the needed change. For instance, it is imperative to
interrogate how Africa could use its vast cultural, political, economic
and environmental resources for reclaiming its endangered position in the
comity of nations? What external resources are available for
reconstructing Africa and how well is the continent taking advantage of
these opportunities? How appropriate are these external resources? What
forms of collaboration are desirable between African and external actors
for developing Africa? Scholars are invited to provide assistance in
answering these and other relevant questions in the book Critical
Discourses in African Development to be co-edited by Prof. I.O. Albert,
Prof. Babatunde Agbaje Williams and Dr. Nathaniel Danjibo of the
University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The book welcomes contributions on the past
present and future of the African continent from the perspectives of
social sciences, humanities, and sciences. Submissions could be regional,
sub-regional, national or local so long as they have some lessons for
rebuilding Africa.
The twin publication titled Critical Discourses in African Studies will be
co-edited by Prof. I.O. Albert, Prof. Dele Layiwola, and Dr. Sola
Olorunyomi. The focus of the publication will be on how Africa is studied
by researchers and taught to students of African Studies worldwide. We are
also interested in the history of African Studies. African Studies in
this context is broadly defined to capture all academic and non-academic
programmes that concern themselves with the collection and dissemination
of information on Africa whether within or outside the African continent.
Is African Studies necessarily cultural studies? Is African studies
development-relevant? Who owns African studies? To what extent does
African Studies, as organized in Africa, accommodate Diaspora studies? Is
African Studies poised to learning from the rest of the world? What are
the themes preferred by those studying or teaching Africa and why this
emphasis? What are the critical issues in African development that
researchers are actually not studying or teaching? Why are these issues
ignored and what are the implications? How easily available are the
resources for studying Africa? What are the competing methods for
researching and teaching Africa? In other words, this second publication
will focus on epistemological, methodological, philosophical and
theoretical/praxis issues in African studies. We also welcome case
studies.
Contributors to this book project should send a 250 word abstract of their
papers latest by June 15, 2011 indicating the particular publication they
want. It is possible to contribute to the two publications. The main
papers are expected in on August 15, 2011. They should be double spaced,
not more than 20 pages and accompanied by a 100 word biodata of the
author. Electronically generated footnotes should be used throughout the
papers. The final draft should be sent to the under-listed:
Prof. I.O. Albert ioalbert2004@yahoo.com
Professor I.O. Albert, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan,
Nigeria
+2348033834639
Contact: ioalbert2004@yahoo.com
For an anthropological research project on roads, transport and traffic in Africa, we offer a position for a doctoral student, funded initially for two years (E13/2), for conducting fieldwork in Northern Sudan and for dissertation writing.
Applicants – preferably with knowledge of Arabic – should send their applications or inquiries to Prof. Dr. Kurt Beck, Ethnologie[at]uni-bayreuth.de
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