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Call for Papers Theme: Africanity Type: 7th Toyin Falola Annual International Conference on Africa and the African Diaspora (TOFAC) Institution: Redeemer's University Location: Ede, Osun State (Nigeria) Date: 4.–6.7.2016 Deadline: 15.4.2016 __________________________________________________ Africanity connotes a sense of recognition of the Africanness of the African, the essence of being an African, and an awareness of mental decolonization. The concept of Africanity arose as a response to various attempts on the part of the West to deny the contributions of Africa to world civilization, and to demean its great institutions. African identity has been the severely and exceptionally assaulted, maligned, denied, and manipulated by external forces, including by colonizing and neocolonizing epistemologies. The porousness and emptiness of such denials, betraying breathtaking distortions of historicity in their argumentation were, to say the least, racist. As such,Africanityis an imperative in the search for the reaffirmation, rediscovery and renaissance of Africa and indigenous knowledge systems. There is yet another need to counter universal knowledge that privileges Western-centered or derivative framework. For centuries, the Euro-American world has sought to homogenize global knowledge as a means of establishing domination and control. For example, their idea of universalism is subjectively constructed to mean that history and modernity start at a so-calledcenter of civilization. While promoting their version of “developed knowledge,” and tenaciously pursuing their hegemonic hold by means of global imperial power, they have continued to deny or undermine other forms of knowledge. It is in the context of the deliberate usurpation and denigration of African subjectivity that Africanity occupies a central position as an indispensable tool for a redemptive epistemological rebellion, resistance and negation. Archie Mafeje, who popularized this concept, notes that ‘Africanity, if properly understood, has profound political, ideological, cosmological and intellectual implication’. Given the deep-seated racist and sexist ontology that it is out to correct, Africanity must of necessity be ontologically combative and exclusive of the Eurocentric narratives that had dismissed the referential subjectivity of its base. The idea of Africanity must, for instance, also be conceptually juxtaposed to what has been referred to as “nativist” thinking, à la négritude,Afrocentrism, etc., which the poststructuralists consider as diminishing the possibility of “Africa” as text rather than context. The 2016 TOFAC International is centered on the universe of Africanity as an epistemic and ontological tool of analysis. The conference will provide a platform for intellectual debates around the historical and anthropological evidence about what constitutes Africanity in its multidimensional and multiple meanings, its contestations, its applications, and its limitations. While the list is not exhaustive, papers are invited on the following wide-ranging aspects of Africanity: - Africa and the Globe - Africa and the African Diaspora - Pan Africanism - African Cultures and Civilization - African History - African philosophies and ideologies (e.g., Yoruba concept of "Omoluwabi") - Africa and Ethiopianism - African religions - African art - Africa's encounter with the Arabs and the West (trade, commerce/industries, religion and politics, etc.) - Africa and Christianity (resistance, growth and Africanization) - Africa and Pentecostalism - Africa and Islam (including Islamic movements) - Indigenous Africanmedicine (preventive and curative) - African literature (Oral and Written) - African Drama & Theater - Domestication of Non-African drama/theater - Indigenous and contemporary African music - Africa and the indigenous mass communication - Africa and the multimedia (including, Films/Home videos) - African knowledge systems - Poststructuralism, African Studies and Africa - Preserving indigenous (African) knowledge - Indigenous knowledge and methodology - Accessing and Sharing indigenous (African) knowledge - Digitizing African indigenous knowledge - Institutionalizing indigenous knowledge systems in formal education systems - Education: knowledge impartation and (cultural) internalization - Indigenous sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics - Form and structure of African indigenous societies: governance in African indigenous setting; policing and concepts of justice in indigenous African societies - Innovations in African technologies, architecture, agriculture (animal husbandry, fishery, etc.), music, transportation, healthcare delivery system, etc. - Political institutions from pre-colonial to postcolonial - African economic systems - Education systems in Africa - Institution of the family - Sexualities - Gender Roles - Issues of gender and sexuality - Migration Participants will be drawn from different parts of the world. Graduate students are encouraged to attend and present papers. The conference will provide time for scholars from various disciplines and geographical locations to interact, exchange ideas, and receive feedback. Submitted papers will be assigned to particular panels according to similarities in theme, topic, discipline, or geographical location. Additionally, selected papers will be published by Pan-African University Books in either book or journal form. The deadline for submitting abstracts/proposals of not more than 250 words, is April 15, 2016. It should include the title, as well as the author's name, address, telephone number, email address, and institutional affiliation. Please submit all abstracts electronically to: runtofac2...@run.edu.ng Contact: Dr Olumide Ekanade, Chairman and Convener Department of History and International Studies College of Humanities Redeemer's University Ede, Osun State Nigeria Email: ekana...@run.edu.ng Dr Aito Ofure, Conference Administrator Department of English Studies College of Humanities Redeemer's University Ede, Osun State Nigeria Email: runtofac2...@run.edu.ng Web: http://www.ibadanculturalstudiesgroup.org/toyinfalolaconference __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
