Month: August 2014

Conference in Sally (nr. Dakar), Senegal – 1-4 October 2014

The Research Priority Programme (SPP 1448) “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa: Technologies and Significations in the Production of Order and Disorder”, which is funded by the German Research Society (DFG), is organising its second biannual conference. After a first meeting in Maputo in October 2012, the second out of a total of three biannual conferences will be held in Sally/Dakar (Senegal) on 1-4 October 2014.

On short notice we are able to offer 10 junior researchers from Africa grants for participation in this conference.

Successful applicants will be offered transport and full board for up to six days. No conference fees apply. Successful applicants will have to take care of their own visa arrangements.

Applications should add to their letter of application in English (1) a CV, (2) a description of their PhD or post-doc research of 3,000 Words, and in English or French (3) a chapter from their PhD dissertation or a current writing project, and in English (4) an explication on how their own research connects to the research agenda of the SPP program (see below).

Applications shall be addressed to the programme’s coordinator: Ms Lena Heinze (lena.heinze@uni-leipzig.de). The deadline for applications is 15 September 2014.

The SPP research programme in Sally/Dakar

The African continent and its role in the world are changing again. Political and economic liberalisation, changing state-society relations, new local and translocal dynamics as well as accelerated processes of globalisation are posing wide-ranging challenges. Africa is witnessing one of the most precarious periods in its post-colonial time: new distributions of sovereignty and forms of ordering are negotiated at various levels. The capacities of African societies to navigate these changes are crucial, yet the determinants of these capacities are heavily under-researched. The DFG Priority Programme 1448 addresses the key question of how actors in post-colonial Africa deal with the multiple challenges they are facing by mobilising and transforming their institutional capacities of adaptation and creativity. Particular attention is being paid to the role of technologies and systems of signification in the production of order and disorder (for more details see also www.spp1448.de).

The SPP examines the sites, dimensions and conditions of creativity in practices of adaptation on the African continent. It is particularly interested in practices of adaptation implying technologies and significations in the making of order (and hence also of disorder). Ordering as an on-going and never completed process is conceived as “investment in forms” (following Thèvenot 1984). This process presupposes existing classification, forms, conventions and significations (semantic grammars), which change while they are enacted in ordering practices. During the first two phases the researchers of the twelve different SPP sub-projects have established empirical and theoretical foundations that centre around three dimensions important for the analysis of ordering practices: technology, narrative, space.

Before the start of the empirical work it was assumed that technologies and significations are important dimensions of ordering practices. After some years of research we can now show and proof how meanings or significations are inscribed in technologies, how new meanings are induced by technologies, and we can identify moments of creativity in adapting technologies to particular material, semantic and normative orders. Our empirical work motivated us to replace the very general notion of signification as the main operation of semantic ordering practices with a more specific version of it: narrating. All projects of the SPP encountered in their empirical work important narrations that are related in illuminating ways to material and social technologies. Before the start of the empirical work we also knew that ordering practises necessarily do have a spatial dimension. We can now show and proof that it is mainly the deployment of material and social technologies that has an impact on the making of spaces and that this again is accompanied by sense-making narratives. We can also demonstrate how this relates to the formation of collective identities, notions of sovereignty and political citizenship.

These three core dimensions of the primary leading question of the SPP will guide the work of all researchers during the third and last phase of the programme (2015-2016). In practical terms we have formed three thematic clusters that regularly work together and prepare edited volumes on the three dimensions. The second biannual conference will also be structured by these three thematic clusters.

The biannual conferences are held on African soil in order to enhance our dialogue with African colleagues and to showcase current state of the art in African Studies in Germany abroad (apart from fostering cooperation between different sites of African Studies in Germany and developing a common vocabulary between the various participating disciplines, these two points have in fact been the core strategic aims of the SPP right from the start in 2011).

We are expecting some 70 participants in Sally/Dakar, among them 20 African colleagues – some of them are partners in the various sub-projects, some are local partners from the Université Cheikh Anta Diop, and other are coming from CODESRIA (the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa).

The DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy invites applications into its 2015 Master’s and Doctoral Degrees Programme. Successful candidates will join an exciting research team working on the theme of “Rethinking Social Policy: in search of inclusive development”.

The research sub-themes include:

1. Rethinking Poverty:
2. Comparative Social Policy:
3. ‘Non-Formal’ Social Policy:

Candidates interested in other thematic areas of Social Policy are encouraged to apply.

In addition to the online application, M&D applicants should forward a set of their application documents by post or e-mail. The documents should include a two to three-page Concept Note on their areas of interest for the post-doctoral or postgraduate research projects, updated curriculum vitae, academic records (academic transcripts and certificates), and evidence of previous scholarly works. The latter may include a dissertation/thesis or published scholarly works.

By Post: “M&D Application, SARChI Chair in Social Policy, Archie Mafeje Research institute, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria 0003, South Africa.”

By Email: The Administrative Coordinator (sarchisp@unisa.ac.za). Please insert “2015 M&D Application, SARChI Chair in Social Policy” in the e-mail subject line.

Scholarships are available for successful applicants pursuing full-time studies. South African (citizens and permanent residents) women and black applicants are encouraged to apply. The selection process may include formal interviews of shortlisted applicants.

For further details, please contact Bridgette Ngobeni (+27 12 337 6114 or sarchisp@unisa.ac.za) or Professor Jimi Adesina (adesij@unisa.ac.za).

Deadline: 30 November 2014

DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy

University of South Africa

The DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Social Policy invites applications into its Postdoctoral Research Fellowship programme. Successful candidates will join an exciting research team working on the theme of “Rethinking Social Policy: in search of inclusive development”. The research sub-themes include:

1. Rethinking Poverty:
2. Comparative Social Policy:
3. ‘Non-Formal’ Social Policy:

Applicants should have at least one publication in a journal or conference proceedings. All applications for the postdoctoral fellowship should be sent directly to the SARChI Chair.

Applications documents should include:
• A research plan,
• Current curriculum vitae,
• Full academic records (transcripts and certificates),
• A copy each of published work(s), and
• A completed UNISA Postdoctoral Fellowship (RD PDF 001) form.

Please contact Ms Ngobeni (details below) for an e-copy of the form. Applications may be sent by post or e-mail:

By Post: “Post-doctoral Application, SARChI Chair in Social Policy, Archie Mafeje Research institute, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria 0003, South Africa.”

By Email: Bridgette Ngobeni (sarchisp@unisa.ac.za). Please insert “Post-doctoral Application, SARChI Chair in Social Policy” in the e-mail subject line.

South African (citizens and permanent residents) women, and black candidates are encouraged to apply. Candidates with strong competencies in quantitative research and data analysis are encouraged to apply.

The selection process will include formal interviews of the shortlisted applicants.

UNISA offers highly competitive and generous rates for successful post-doctoral applicants.

For further details, please contact Bridgette Ngobeni (+27 12 337 6114 or sarchisp@unisa.ac.za) or Professor Jimi Adesina (adesij@unisa.ac.za).

Interested candidates are encouraged to apply before 30 November 2014.

Organised by CROP, SANORD, UiB Global (UiB) and School of Government (UWC)

 

Cape Town, February 9-11, 2015

Call for papers

The ‘developmental state’ generally refers to the model many of the East Asian and Latin American nations pursued after the Second World War to rapidly modernise their economies, ensure economic growth and promote structural change. Its zenith occurred in a political context marked by (i) undemocratic, authoritarian governments, (ii) poverty and inequality; and (iii) one of the largest economic transformations of the modern era.

National and international drives toward democracy in a world threatened by poverty, inequality, recurrent economic crises, rapid globalisation, and environmental degradation reinvigorated the search for structures of governance capable to deal with all these challenges at the same time. Therefore, the democratic developmental state (DDS) arises as an alternative to current governance challenges both in the South and in the North.

The notion of DDS is based on the premise that democracy and development (in its traditional view) are complementary. This premise had been questioned, empirically and theoretically, during the second part of 20th century and the debate is increasingly relevant in times where the post-2015 development agenda is being re-discussed.

The aim of the workshop is to encourage genuine academic discussion based on empirical findings, case studies, cross national comparisons, in addition to theoretical discussion as to what a democratic developmental state model could mean in different cultural, economic and political contexts.

The seminar will focus on, but not be limited to, these issues and questions like:
– What are the socio-political conditions for the emergence and consolidation of a DDS? How can we currently conceive and implement a model capable of “governing” the markets (“market guidance”) and implementing long lasting plan towards a sustainable and inclusive development? What are the required roles of the state, local government, civil societies, and international actors for the DDS to effectively address, at the same time, all the challenges mentioned above?

 Sustainable and inclusive development could be conceived as the key to legitimize democratic governance. Are existing political national and international regimes conducive towards the achievement of this kind of legitimized development? Why?

 What are the levels of poverty, inequality, and environmental threat that current states and democracies can afford? How is this theoretically and empirically related to the DDS? What historical experiences in the South and in the Nordic countries can be useful to a fruitful debate of structures of governance in the 21st Century?

 What is the role of universities and research based knowledge for DDS?

A number of selected papers will be discussed, peer-reviewed, published and widely disseminated across SANORD and CROP/International Social Science Council (ISSC) networks. The call is open to researchers around the world. Chosen participants will participate actively in presentations and discussions of all papers throughout the workshop.

DEADLINE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS: September 11TH, 2014

The abstract must be in English and not exceed 500 words (one page) and must include: the title of the proposed paper, the presentation of the subject, the central argument, the research question and/or hypothesis and the main bibliography. In addition, a CV no longer than one page must be submitted clearly indicating the name, title, nationality and contact information as well as a list of recent publications.

The abstract and the CV must be submitted by email to the following address: crop@uib.no . Any submission exceeding two pages will not be considered. The Academic Committee will notify accepted participants of their selection and about guidelines and format of the final paper, which must be submitted by January 1st, 2015.