News: Panel submission closed
Please note that the slot for the submission of panel proposals closed
on 30 September 2016. 340 propositions were received and are now
undergoing the review process. The call for papers will be published mid
November 2016.
Urban
Africa - Urban Africans: New encounters of the rural and the urban
At 3.5% Africa has the highest urbanization rate in the whole world. The
potential effects of these staggering growth rates are relevant for all
Africans, both in the urban as well as in the rural areas. By 2040 the
continent’s cities are expected to have to accommodate 79 Million
additional inhabitants. Between 2040 and 2050 the figure will rise to a
staggering 84 Million. The latest UN-Habitat report forecasts that by
2025 Africa’s urban population will outstrip that of Europe and Latin
America together. No wonder that a growing number of researchers,
institutions and governments are paying more and more attention to
urbanization in Africa. This growing interest focuses on whether rapid
urbanization will overwhelm African governments and societies or whether
it reflects the increasing importance of the middle classes, a factor
which is held by many to account for Africa’s positive economic
performance of late.
African urbanization trends raise several issues that are of interest to
scholars. These range from politics (what does the growing importance of
city dwellers mean to the character of politics?), through economics
(will urbanization undermine or foster efforts at overcoming
inequalities?), all the way to social (e.g. are African social relations
changing in any significant way as a result of these trends? How do
Africans live their cities?) and cultural issues (e.g. will urban life
styles dominate the rural? How will the rural and the urban relate to
each other in the future?).
The key issue, however, is how urbanization processes in Africa
transform conventional objects of African Studies and how do scholars of
Africa gear up to face such changes? This is the question which the
Centre for African Studies at the University of Basel (CASB) in
Switzerland wishes to invite scholars of Africa to engage with in a more
conscious and systematic manner. While the urban will be prominent, the
proposed conference theme will also look into the entanglements of the
rural with the urban, especially with a view to addressing an implicit
assumption underlying the study of Africa and which concerns the
supposed rural ‘nature’ of the continent as well as the constitutive
nature of the tension between tradition and modernity.
While over the past few decades a self-critical attitude within many
disciplines has led to a weakening of these assumptions, the urban
continues arguably to be seen as the exception or, at any rate, as
analytically less consequential than the rural. ECAS 2017 “Urban Africa
– Urban Africans” will, therefore, be an occasion for rethinking African
Studies, but also for exploring and deepening research avenues that many
researchers working on urban and rural issues have taken up over recent
years. There is a critical mass to be harnessed in the effort to push
the frontiers of critical European knowledge production on Africa.
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Call for
papers
The Call for papers will circulate from mid November 2016.
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Conveners
The
Centre for
African Studies Basel is a coordinated research network at the
University of
Basel including further institutions such as the
Basler Afrika Bibliographien,
Mission 21
or the
Swiss Tropic
and Public Health Institute. It promotes Africa-related teaching
at the university and offers MA and PhD programmes in African Studies as
well as an advanced studies Certificate in African Affairs. With its
joint research theme
Living the City
the Centre has been at the forefront of research on urban Africa.
Research under this theme is promoted along five axes of research:
Public Health and Social Life; Media and Imagination; Knowledge
Production and Transfer; Governance and Civil Society; Environment and
Development. These axes also inform the teaching activities of the
Centre. The Centre today constitutes a solid framework within which
numerous post-doc researchers as well as doctoral and MA students have
been engaging with urban issues. This has led to the founding of a new
Masterprogramme for Critical Urbanism in cooperation with the University
of Cape Town.
The
Swiss
Society for African Studies (SSAS) aims at advancing research on
Africa, including the organization of conferences to discuss questions
of African lifestyles and other aspects of African societies and
cultures. Contributing to the circulation of relevant information, the
SSAS understands itself as platform for synergies and collaboration
between universities and research institutions. It strives to enhance
the visibility and the institutionalization of African Studies in
Switzerland. Founded in 1974, the SSAS is based on the model of Area
Studies. With this view it offers opportunities to connect researchers
and the interested public in a theme-oriented and multidisciplinary
exchange. Alternating with thematic conferences, the biannual „Swiss
Researching Africa Days” promote the exchange among researchers at
different stages of their careers. The SSAS is a member of the Swiss
Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.
The organising committee is led by
Till
Förster,
Elísio
Macamo and
Veit
Arlt of the Centre for African Studies Basel.
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Location
and venue
The town of Basel is centrally located and boasts very good
connections by air and rail.
Getting
there by air
The trinational Euroairport Basel-Mulhouse (BSL) has a convenient
size and offers short check-in times. A direct bus shuttle leaving
every ten minutes takes you in 20 minutes to the city centre. The
airport boasts more than 90 direct flights within Europe and beyond
and is one of the hubs of the low cost carrier EasyJet. It is well
connected to the large international hubs (Amsterdam, Brussels,
Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna). However, a direct rail
service (75 minutes travel time) leaving every hour connects Basel to
Switzerland's main international airport in Zurich (ZRH).
Getting there by train
Basel is an important railway hub and offers excellent connections to
many important European cities (including hi-speed and night trains).
The two stations are conveniently located in the heart of the city (10
minutes to the conference venue).
Venue
The Kollegienhaus built in 1939 is the main building of the
University of Basel and is situated in the heart of the town. It can
be reached within ten minutes from the train stations or within 25
minutes from the airport. Dozens of restaurants can be found in the
immediate vicinity.
Accommodation
An early booking arrangement will be provided via the Basel
Tourism Office.
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