Call for Papers: 2014 Confrerence of the Panafrican Anthropological Association
Deadlines:
First call for papers: December 15th 2013
Second call for papers: March 15th 2014
Introduction
The Pan African Anthropological Association (PAAA) was founded in 1989 in Yaoundé, Cameroon as a national and international organisation of academics and practitioners. As an institution that looks to applied anthropology the PAAA has emphasised the distinction between teaching and training in anthropology. Its objectives focus on fostering interactions among teachers and research in the subfields of anthropology. It also works to promote research in related disciplines, and to stimulate and coordinate regional and interdisciplinary research.
Description
In the first forum since the beginning of the process of decolonisation, at a congress of African scholars which held in Algiers, Algeria in 1973 a call was made that anthropology be excised from among university cursii on the continent of Africa. In the thinking of some the very birth of anthropology itself and aid it is purported to have given to colonialists in their conquest and domination of colonial lands was good reason in itself for the discipline to be buried with the advent of independence for African peoples. Algiers as the venue for that congress was perhaps part of the reason for this call: independent Algeria was of the progressive camp among African countries. Some African scholars thought that if anthropology was encouraged it would continue to serve the purpose it served the colonialists, namely, the use of inner knowledge of groups by the new rulers [actually minions of the former colonial powers] to manipulate and continue the subjugation of their peoples in the interest of those who put and maintained them in power.
In 1988 a group of 15 African anthropologists met in Zagreb, present-day Croatia during the International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (ICAES) to reflect on the preparation of Africans at the Congress of the 1200 participants only 15 were from Africa even though Africanists were actively present. The decision to organise an anthropological conference to audit the teaching and practice of anthropology would be taken and in August 1989, the first conference of the Pan African Anthropological Association (PAAA) was held in Yaounde. It assembled representatives of 34 African universities representing 25 countries. Since then, the PAAA has organised conferences in Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Benin, Gabon, and such other places..
These conferences have offered a unique opportunity to anthropologists and other scholars in the social sciences to discuss critical issues affecting the practice of the discipline and its evolution over the past 60 years following the decolonisation process. Over the past several meetings discussions have centred around questions such as: Is anthropology in Africa active in the Ivory Tower Project? Is anthropology part of the Schizoid Agenda on the African continent? Is Anthropology’s activism merely an affront on the intellectual and academic inputs?
This announced conference opens the doors to all social sciences giving them an opportunity to dialogue on the crucial issues facing the continent. Although the conference is organised under the auspices of the Pan African Anthropological Association, its ultimate goal is to engage all social and human science disciplines in an intellectual and academic conversation.
CODESRIA’s contribution to the development and promotion of research in the social and human sciences, has motivated the organisers to create a special theme on CODESRIA hoping that those who have been to its summer training courses will have the opportunity to write papers on their experiences.
The general theme of the conference is: HUMAN SCIENCES (ANTHROPOLOGY) 60 YEARS OF POST-COLONIALITY. The sub-themes being proposed for possible papers include the following.
A number of panels will be organised around the following themes
Theme One: Anthropology and Medicine
Theme Two: Changing social and cultural systems
Theme Three: Theory and Practice in the Social and Human Sciences
Theme Four: Training; The voice from within; Students Conversation
Theme Five: CODESRIA AND ANTHROPOLOGY IN AFRICA
Deadlines
Submission of abstracts
First call for papers.
December 15th 2013. Once the abstracts are received, the scientific commission will review them and notify the individuals of acceptance or rejection.
Second call for papers
March 15th 2014. Papers based on the original abstracts must reach the scientific committee on or before May 30th 2014. The articles will be thoroughly peer-reviewed and any comments for revision will be submitted to the scholars in question.
Venue: Catholic University of Cameroon
Host: Department of Anthropology
Address: P.O. Box. 782 Bamenda
City: Bamenda
Country: Cameroon
Contact : PAAA Conference Secretariat
P. O. 782 Bamenda
Email address: nkwi70@yahoo.com
ppanafricananthropologicalasso@yahoo.com
