I just got this in the mail.

Four interrelated crises are mutually reinforcing each other: climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis and the financial and economic crisis. But of these, the consequence of the global financial meltdown presents significant challenges for African countries, reversing the gains in economic performance and management made since the beginning of the new millennium. Although the crisis, progeny of the US mortgage industry came up gradually since Summer 2007, it went through a new phase of acceleration and development in early Fall 2008. This crisis has since spread beyond the US and the developed countries to Africa, a continent pervasive with weak institutions of governance and uncoordinated policy responses to the crisis.

The call for concept papers for an edited Book Project hopes to address the implication of globalisation of the financial crisis to Africa. It also seeks to identify divergent policy responses from African countries, regional organisations and international institutions in ensuring that the crisis does not develop into a humanitarian crisis. Although African countries have reactive identities regarding impact and policy responses to the crisis, the continent is far from being monolithic.

Sub- Themes

Proposals are welcomed from the following sub-themes:

i. The globalisation of economic and financial crisis in Africa
ii. The synergy between climate change, food crisis, energy crisis and the financial and economic crisis
iii. The role of institutions in stemming the tide of the financial and economic crisis in Africa
iv. Financial and economic crisis and peace and security challenges in Africa v. Income re-distribution and pro-poor policies during financial and economic crisis
vi. Diasporas, remittances, brain drain or brain gain during the financial and economic crisis
vii. Images, media presentation and representation of the economic and financial crisis viii. Gender and the economic and financial crisis
ix. The role of Asian drivers in mitigating the financial and economic crisis in Africa
x. Impact and responses from rentier states, enclave economies, mono-crop economies and diversified economies
xi. Financial and economic crisis and African borders
xii. Country case studies on the global and economic financial meltdown

Proposals should include the contributor’s name, affiliation, and contact details (including email address) as well as book sub-theme, abstract and paper title (maximum 500 words). Proposals should be sent to: taconceptpapers2@gmail.com

Deadlines and timetable
28th September 2010 – Deadline for submitting the book proposal
31st October 2010 – Notification about acceptance/decline of the proposal
31st November 2010 – Deadline for submitting the papers
15th January 2010 – Deadline for submitting revised papers
4th March 2011 – Publishing of selected papers in an edited volume

For further information, email:

Terhemba Ambe-Uva
Lecturer/Coordinator, Department of International Studies, National Open University of Nigeria PMB 80067 Victoria Island, Lagos.
mneuter@gmail.com

The first in a series of posts on the financial crisis by economic anthrologist Keith Hart, at the ASA Globalog. The series will engage:

long-run historical questions like what this crisis is, with the news as it unfolds in real time and with issues that matter practically to people who don’t have to be reminded that “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Read it in full here.

1. The financial crisis, a view from a Brazilian barrio

2. The British Social Science Research Council‘s African Argument’s blog has a Citizenship Debate series

3. Shitting on Hope: Obama and the Peace Controversy

4. A really interesting episode of This American Life, in which the producers try to understand the healthcare debate and the relationship between doctors and patients. You might also subscribe to the podcast

5. Diagnosis: What Doctors Are Missing (Jerome E. Groopman at the New York Review of Books)

6. Deutsche Welle asks whether Ghana can shake off the oil curse

7. A tribute to someone who did so much for the development of paediatrics in Nigeria

8. Cocoa links on NigeriansTalk

9. Working in the UK

on the American Anthropological Association (AAA) website. From the AAA blog:

The economic crisis issue includes:

• Gillian Tett: Icebergs and Ideologies: How Information Flows Fuelled the Financial Crisis
• Aaron Pitluck: Ethnography Meets Econometrics: Exploring Daily Work Practices that Lead to Financial Crises
• Tara Schwegler: The Global Crisis of Economic Meaning
• Edward F Fischer: Capitalism in Context: Seeing Beyond the “Free” Market
• Richard Robbins: Anthropologizing Economics: Lessons from the Latest Crisis
• Sarah Tobin: Islamic Banking in the Global Financial Crisis: The Value of “Banking Rightly”
• Laura Nelson: Foreshadowing Global Bankruptcy: South Korea’s Credit Card Debacle
• Emma Gilberthorpe & Paul Sillitoe: A Failure of Social Capital: Lessons from Papua New Guinea in the Current Economic Crisis
• Kathi Kitner & Renee Kuriyan: The Moral Minority: Cultural Politics of Consumption in a Global Downturn
• Jane Guyer: Confusion and Silence: Public Rhetoric in Monetarist Crises, from Nigeria to the US

All the articles are available here.

Maybe a fallout of the current global crisis is a kindler, gentler IMF. The Fund just published a staff position note titled Fiscal Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa in Response to the Impact of the Global Crisis

The executive summary:

The global financial crisis poses significant challenges to fiscal policies in Sub-Saharan African countries. Growth will weaken considerably as export prices and volumes, remittances, tourism, and capital flows decline. The fiscal effects of the crisis are likely to be large and to operate mainly via revenue losses, with commodity-related revenues particularly hard hit.

Countries will need to weigh their options for fiscal policy responses. Countries with output gaps and sustainable debt and financing options have scope to implement expansionary policies, by letting automatic stabilizers work, accommodating declines in commodity-related revenues, and in some cases implementing discretionary fiscal stimulus. The main focus of fiscal stimulus should be on the expenditure side, particularly infrastructure and social spending given pressing needs, as reducing tax rates may be inequitable and the scope for doing so is limited given low revenue ratios. Other countries will have to adjust, in a way that will not affect critical spending. Additional donor support would reduce the need for adjustment. In all cases, countries should give priority to expanding social safety nets as needed to cushion the impact of the crisis on the poor.

Hat-Tip to Dani Rodrik. His comments on the policy note are here.