CFP: New Approaches to Postwar Empires in Africa

Call for Papers: 

New Approaches to Postwar Empires in Africa

April 10-11th, 2014

University of Wisconsin Madison African Studies Program 2014 Spring Symposium

Neil Kodesh, Director

Terrence Peterson, Conference Organizer

 

In recent years, scholars have begun to re-think the postwar era in Africa not as a direct and inevitable march towards decolonization, but as a period of transition with a range of ‘past futures’.  Renewed study of the period can reveal a range of efforts to re-imagine Empires for a changed postwar global context, yielding alternative visions of decolonization and the transition to independence.  Comparisons within and across European empires in Africa from all perspectives – European, African, international – can do crucial work towards reconstructing an important era of global political realignment.

 

This symposium aims to examine the nature of post-1945 European empires across the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. What structural changes to empire took place? How did metropolitan, colonial, and autochthonous actors attempt to re-imagine colonialism or the relationship between Africa and Europe, or Africa and the world more broadly? How was imperial citizenship rewritten, recast, or challenged?  What impact did new systems for the flow of information – mass media, Cold War networks, the ‘Americanization’ of aid and development projects, etc – have on the ideologies and practices (or counter-ideologies and counter-practices) of empire?  And what legacies did these efforts to reconfigure colonial rule in an era of ‘human rights’ leave for the postwar period?

 

Recent and in-progress scholarly works also highlight some very productive parallels or connections between the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in the postwar period. This symposium aims to draw the two geographic areas into the same analytic framework, to draw comparisons across the Sahara, and to reveal some broader conclusions about postwar European Empires and the process of decolonization.

 

The symposium, which will take place in Madison, Wisconsin, intends to engage the work of junior faculty and graduate students, and encourages the participation of established scholars to foster an intellectually productive discussion.  We are particularly interesting in drawing scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and geographic concentrations (African, European, and Middle East studies; history, literature, sociology, political science, etc.) to better understand the genealogies, experiences, and afterlives of the postwar colonial period.

 

Presenters will be provided lodging, and some funding may be available for travel.  Proposals of 300-500 words should be submitted through the event’s website by March 1st, 2014.  Participants will be notified of their selection by March 7th.  For this and for more information on the workshop, please visit our website at: http://africa.wisc.edu/empire/

French Paleography Workshop

French paleography workshop at the Meeter Center, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, June 16-27, 2014.

Taught by Dr. Thomas Lambert (expert paleographer and key member of the editorial team for the Genevan Consistory minutes project), and co-sponsored by the Meeter Center and the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, this two-week workshop is aimed primarily at graduate students and faculty with a strong reading knowledge of modern French. Each selected participant will receive a $500 bursary to help defray travel and accommodation costs.

For more information and an application form, go towww.calvin.edu/meeter/paleography.

The deadline for receipt of applications, including a letter of recommendation, is March 14, 2014.

Graduate Introduction to Archival Research Workshop

Workshop for graduate students interested in how to do archival research. Join David Dressing and Julie Tanaka for a 75-minute workshop about finding archival materials, using archives, and other essential information for conducting archival research in the United States and abroad.

 

WHEN:
Coming Soon
Tentatively Scheduled for a Wednesday, 3:00-4:15 p.m. in March.

Tim Roemer Lecture

timothy_j._roemerTim Roemer, Former Ambassador to India and U.S. Congressman

“Twitter, Buffett, and Darwin: India and the United States Relationship”
November 13, 2013, 4-5pm
Jordan Auditorium, Mendoza College of Business
University of Notre Dame
Former Ambassador to India and U.S. Congressman Tim Roemer will be speaking at Notre Dame on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, 4-5pm in Jordan Auditorium as part of the Liu Institute’s Distinguished Speaker Series. This event is co-sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, with support from the College of Arts & Letters, Mendoza College of Business, Notre Dame International, and the departments of Economics, History, and Political Science.

For more information, click here.

Register for Dissertation and Senior Thesis Camps

The Fall 2013 Graduate Dissertation and Senior Thesis Camps run Monday-Friday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm during Fall break (October 21-25). The camps will provide quiet spaces reserved solely for participants to write and will offer a variety of optional workshops, such as citation management. The camp is co-sponsored by the Hesburgh Libraries, the University Writing Center and the Graduate School.

Dissertation Camp Fall 2013

October 21-25, 2013, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm in  Hesburgh Library
Register here

Senior Thesis Camp Fall 2013

October 21-25, 2013, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm in  Hesburgh Library
Register here