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Call for Papers: Africa and (the Other) Europe: Imageries – Discourses – Exchanges
12th VIVA AFRICA Conference, 16–17 September 2021, Charles University Prague, CZ
The Czech Association for African Studies 12th VIVA AFRICA conference invites participants to engage in a discussion of mutual encounters, inventions, constructions and relations of all kinds taking place between Africa and Europe, in the past, present and future. Especially – although by no means exclusively – we invite scholars studying the exchanges and entanglements between African countries and those parts of Europe that are not conventionally associated with colonialism (e. g. most of Central and Eastern Europe), but which have nonetheless participated in global economic and cultural transfers, benefited from them and developed their own colonial imageries and discourses, and which have, by the virtue of their lack of an official colonial history, only recently been drawn into the discussions on postcoloniality and decolonization. One of the aims is to give more nuance to the postcolonial debate that tends to use reified notions of ‘Europe’ as simply part of the ‘West’ or the ‘global North’, forgetting about ongoing, if more subtle, developments between European countries ‘without colonies’ and the African continent.
The conference seeks to shed light on the nature of the exchange of ideas, knowledge, goods, cultural artifacts and people under various political and economic circumstances and regimes of imagination and knowledge production between Africa and Europe. This interdisciplinary conference welcomes submissions on current as well as historical topics from diverse academic as well as regional and cultural perspectives. Comparative approaches are especially appreciated.
Submissions to viva.africa.conference@cluttergmail.com before Wednesday 31 March 2021
Proposal categories
● Individual papers (20 minutes maximum, with 10 minutes for discussion)
● Panel sessions (three or four papers, each of 20 minutes maximum, followed by a general discussion)
● Roundtable discussions (up to 5 participants, each giving a short position paper, followed by a general discussion, total running time of 90 minutes)
Proposal guidelines
● For individual papers: 250-word (maximum) abstract
● For panel sessions: 250-word (maximum) summary and up to 250 words for each session participant
● For roundtable discussions: 250-word (maximum) summary and up to 150 words for each panel participant
Conference format
The conference is planned as a physical event. Due to the unpredictability of the pandemic situation complicating international travel and meeting in the real world, active (as well as passive) participants will most likely be allowed to take part virtually (information will be given well in advance). In case of an unfavourable pandemic situation, the conference will be held completely virtually (by registering for the conference the participants agree to have their presentations streamed).
Conference fee, Travel, Accommodation
There is no conference fee, whatever the format will be. The participants are expected to cover their accommodation and travel expenses in full. The organizers will provide information about suitable lodging, its reservation, optimal travel routing and general local conditions. In the event of the conference being in a virtual format, the participants will be given due information well in advance.
