Now available – Issue 7 of IAS Nokoko Journal!

Nokoko is an open-access journal promoting dialogue, discourse and debate on PanAfricanism, Africa, and Africana. ‘Nokoko’ is a Ga word that means something that is new,
novel, surprising and interesting.

The latest volume of the IAS Journal – Nokoko  focuses on Elections and Electoral Politics in Africa: Movements Forward, Backwards or Nowhere?

View new issue here Nokoko Volume 7. and previous issues can be accessed using this link –  Previous Issues

Upcoming Events

CFP | Reflections on being an “Africanist” scholar in the 21st Century: A Tribute to Pius Adesanmi

Deadline for submission of abstracts is May 30, 2019.

Pius Adesanmi was extremely dexterous in his productions and interventions, using all forms of writing and speaking, and thus we welcome a range of genres of writing to explore one or more of these topics – be they academic, social activist, or artistic.

Nokoko is calling for submissions of original manuscripts that critically reflect on what it means or what it should mean to be an “Africanist” scholar in the twenty-first century. This special issue of Nokoko is dedicated to our friend, colleague, editorial board member, and Director of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, Professor Pius Adesanmi, who tragically died in the Ethiopian Airlines crash on March 10, 2019.  Given his varied academic and public intellectual dispositions and practices – his multiple interests, commitments and contributions as an academic scholar, regular columnist in Nigerian (on-line) papers, strong mentorship activities in Africa and North America, his artistic productions, an immensely busy schedule of public talks in Africa, Europe and North America, and his social media posts engaged with by tens of thousands of followers – we ask contributors to use Pius Adesanmi’s organic intellectual activism as a catalyst for thinking about the role of an institutional builder and public intellectual and an “Africanist” scholar in this century.

All abstracts should be sent to Nokoko@carleton.ca.

See more information here.

CFP | Historical and Contemporary Expressions of Populism in Africa and Beyond, Ann Arbor

November 17-20, 2019, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

University of Michigan African Studies Center (ASC) & the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER) at the University of the Witwatersrand hereby invites faculty and post-graduate students — especially, but not exclusively, from the Universities of Michigan and the Witwatersrand and other African universities —  to submit proposals outlining a contribution that they hope to make to the conference.

Populism has re-emerged across the globe, displaying multiple, left and right leaning variants  and provoking complex engagements with the limits of liberal democracy. There is a new generation of populists on the African stage, offering contradictory and often disturbing visions regarding  Africa’s future. These movements all share an explicit invocation of the people as the source of political authority and radical change, which, it is important to acknowledge, has a long and distinguished political history everywhere on the continent.

Several panels will be organized around the conference theme. Papers for these panels will be composed in advance and circulated.  

Proposals should:

1.  Lay out the major themes of the author’s contribution in a paragraph, and  

2.  Describe, in a few sentences, the author’s biography.  

Funding for this conference comes from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. All travel and subsistence costs will be covered by the organisers.

The closing date for sending proposals is May 31st 2019.

See more information here.

Call for Application | PhD scholarship by the Centre for African Studies Basel

The Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel calls for applications for a doctoral position covering a period of three years funded by the Humer Foundation for Academic Talent.

The scholarship allows you to develop your research question and methodological framework, conduct research, analyse your data and write your thesis within the framework of the Basel Graduate Network African Studies. You will be in a position to concentrate fully on your research project over a period of three years.

Requirements:

• Applicants hold an excellent Master degree or equivalent qualification in one of the disciplines represented by the members of the Centre for African Studies Basel eligible for the supervision of PhD candidates;
• present an original idea for a research project;
• have very good research and writing skills;
• commit themselves fully to their PhD project during the funding period and aim at completing their project within the said period;
• meet the requirements for admission to PhD studies at the University of Basel.

The closing date for sending applications is June 2nd, 2019.

See more information here.

Call For Papers | Urbanism at the Margins – Centering African Border Towns and Cities

September 16 – 18, 2019 Université de Lomé , Togo 

Since 2007, ABORNE has hosted an annual workshop or conference on a theme relating to borders and borderlands in Africa. In 2019, the theme will be “Urbanism at the Margins: Centering African Border Towns and Cities”, which is a curiously neglected topic.

In the past decade, there has been a significant uptake in studies of the African city, informed in large part by the realities of demographic expansion and projections for the future of Africa’s urbanization. 

The workshop will consider the full spectrum of urbanism from border towns to full-blown cities, with a view to shedding light on:

(a) the ways in which the border setting shapes urban forms, livelihoods and aesthetics and

(b) the manner in which urban connectivity shapes the borderlands as lived spaces.

 The following is an indicative list of topics, but should not be considered prescriptive:
– The changing urban demography of African borderlands
– Representations of the border town/city in literature and film
– Trade, markets and livelihoods in border towns/cities
– Transport, infrastructure and mobility in border towns/cities
– Urban cross-border communication in the era of social media
– Urban cross-border competition and cooperation from below
– Commuting and citizenship in border towns/cities
– Language and border urbanism

Deadlines
The deadline for submission of abstracts is Friday 7th June 2019
Please send a MS Word document in English or French containing: author’s name, affiliation, e-mail address, a paper title, and a clear and concise abstract of max. 250 words to: paul.nugent@ed.ac.uk, wolfgang.zeller@ed.ac.uk, and hugh.lamarque@ed.ac.uk

The scientific committee will select those contributions which best fit the theme of the call for papers and selected participants will be notified by 14th June 2019.

The deadline for sending full papers is 2nd September 2019

An optional excursion across the Togo-Ghana border is planned for 18th September.

Participants are expected to make their own visa arrangements for entry to Togo (and Ghana if they wish to participate in the excursion). Flight and hotel bookings should also be made by participants.

For any other questions, please contact: Paul.Nugent@ed.ac.uk and azamgod@gmail.com

See more information here.

Call for Application | PhD position in social sciences or humanities or related fields

The Institut des mondes africains (IMAF) is an interdiscliplinary research unit (medieval and modern history, anthropology, political science, archeology) working all over the Africas. It was created on January 1st, 2014, from the Centre d’études des mondes africains (CEMAf), the Centre d’études africaines (CEAf) and the Centre d’histoire sociale de l’islam méditerranéen (CHSIM).

The PhD will focus on the study of self-accomplishment in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Burundi, and Mozambique may also be considered) as defined in the SALMEA project (see the summary below). 
Possible research topics are therefore varied and may cover a wide range of issues related to violence, kinship (including family formation and identity), religion, and wealth (including land ownership) in Eastern Africa.

The candidate must have obtained, or be close to obtaining, an MA or an equivalent degree in a relevant field (demography, history, geography, anthropology, political science etc.). 
The candidate is expected to demonstrate sufficient skills in both French and English so as to adapt quickly to the working and research environment in Aix and in East Africa. 

The closing date for sending applications is June 12th 2019.

See more information here.

Call for Application | PhD scholarship in Development Studies, Public Policy or Public Administration

The Centre for Development Research offers generous three year DAAD merit scholarships for PhD students in Development Studies, Public Policy or Public Administration at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town.

Preference is given to PhD applicants who intend to do research on one of the following topics:

• Poverty and inequality
• Rural and urban livelihoods
• Food security
• Governance in Africa, at different levels
• Social movements
• Citizenship and democracy
• Capabilities and human development
• Different social policy applications

 The online application form can only be submitted ONCE, so please make sure that your application is complete before submitting it!!!

Successful applicants will study at the UWC but will also have the option to take part in courses at the IEE, the Institute for Development Research and Development Policy at the Ruhr-University, Bochum in Germany, the academic partner of UWC.

The Call for Scholarship Applications for the 2020 intake is open from 18 April until 30 June 2019.

Access the online application form here!

The closing date for sending applications is June 30, 2019.

See more information here.

Call for Application | Postdoctoral Research Fellow

The Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD) is seeking to fill the position of postdoctoral research fellow with experience and strong interest in the area of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Africa. The postdoctoral research fellow will work with the Joep Lange Chair holder Catherine Kyobutungi to establish a research program on chronic disease management as a concept in primary health care to strengthen the responsiveness of the health system to the management of both infectious and non-infectious diseases in low and middle income countries (LMICs). This will entail conducting research in various aspects of chronic disease management.

The Joep Lange Chair & Fellows Program was established in 2015 in memory of HIV activist, doctor and scientist Prof. Joep Lange. The Chair and Fellows program brings together the brightest minds from all over the world in the field of global health.

For more information contact Dr. Gershim Asiki (gasiki@aphrc.org) or Prof. Dr Constance Schultsz (c.schultsz@aighd.org).

Please send your application (including CV and letter of motivation) to HR at AIGHD by using the Apply button.

The closing date for sending applications is July 6th 2019.

See more information here.

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