International Conference on Decolonising the Humanities in the African Academy

International Conference on Decolonising the Humanities in the African Academy

(Onsite and Virtual)

August 7-10, 2022

Faculty of Arts

Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Confirmed Speakers

Prof. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni

University of Bayreuth, Germany

Prof. Kwesi Prah,

Centre for Advanced Study of African Societies, Cape Town/

University of Zululand, South Africa

Prof. Oyeronke Oyewumi

Sony Brook University, New York

The theme of ‘decolonisation’ has returned with renewed vigour since Biodun Jeyifo pronounced “arrested decolonization” from the exhaustion and implosion of nationalism, buoyed, until the mid-1980s, by radical independence struggles across Africa. Decolonisation in Africa was political liberation followed by economic liberalisation and, consequently, dependency. Whereas the humanistic disciplines were established to decolonise the mind, à la Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the focus on transnationalism and the globalisation of knowledge continues to relegate and disqualify indigenous methods. Ironically, the present state of affairs strongly indicates the complicity of the humanities with colonisation. The global designs of knowledge production that Walter Mignolo argues constitute the basis of coloniality alongside the repressive regimes of power in Latin America have resonance in the African context.

More recently, Achille Mbembe has regenerated excitement around the discourse of decolonisation through his latest book, Out of the Dark Night: Essays on Decolonization. Central to his project is the unrelenting questioning of the Eurocentric academic models that have remained dominant despite regular curriculum review in many African academic institutions. This condition necessitates painstaking and self-conscious efforts to imagine a new mission and identity for African academes that transcend reactionary monadism. It is not surprising that Mbembe echoes the Senghorian concept of the civilisation of the universal in which African humanism, yet again, is to provide “the message of joy in a great universal future equitably open to all peoples.” The political project of decolonisation is thus inseparable from the freedom to be, think, and act based on basic human convictions in Africa.

By decolonisation, we are not advocating an uncritical return to indigeneity but epistemic sovereignty defined by what Chen Kuan-hsing in Asia as Method calls deimperialisation of production, culture, and thought—a pluriversal epistemic practice. Along these lines, we seek comprehensive engagement with the history of the humanities in Africa, the history of ideas, and the history of the university. We view the humanities as a primary site for thinking about the institutions of knowledge, the practice of thought and its social impact, the development of culture, and the techniques of research and rigorous reflections about human life and relations in Africa.

This conference will explore multiple pathways to decolonising the humanities in African academy. We welcome comparative decoloniality that brings humanistic decolonisation in Latin America and Asia in conversation with Africa.

The subthemes for the conference include but are not limited to the following:

• Histories of the Humanities Disciplines in Africa
• The Place of the Humanities in the University and the Society
• The Humanities and the African Idea of History
• Deprovincialising Epistemic Traditions
• Exploring Alternatives to Eurocentric Academic Models
• Rethinking Tradition and Modernity
• Decolonising Colonial and National Archives
• Decolonising African Literature
• Decolonising Theories in the Humanities
• Decolonising Gender Studies in Africa
• Afrofuturism and African Futures
• African Humanism
• African Feminism
• The Impact of African Philosophical Thought
• Language and Human Development in Africa
• Language and Identity in Africa
• Language Ideology and Glocalisation
• Education and Knowledge Systems
• Popular Art Forms
• Indigenous Knowledge, Technologies and Production Capacity
• Judicial Practices and Justice Systems
• Liberation Humanities
• From Liberation Struggles to the Arab Spring
• Neoliberalism and Neocolonialism
• The Limits of Postcolonial Theory in Africa
• The Economy of Literary Awards and Prizes
• Failed States, Infrastructural Crisis, and Knowledge Capital
• Social Instability, Institutional Constraints, and Knowledge Production
• Public Protests and Discursive Contestations
• Youth Movements and Culture
• Technological Transformations and the Humanities
• The Human as Category and Status
• Music, Circulation, and Identity
• Ethnicity, Ethnology, and Conflict
• Climate Change and the Environment
• What is Africa, Today?
• Migration and Displacement
• The New Imperialism in Africa
• Decolonising the Study of Religions in Africa: Promise and Pitfalls
• Religious Discourse and Practice and the Legitimation of Empire
• Privileging African Lives: Religious Studies as Political Theology/Political Philosophy

We invite scholars and graduate students to submit abstracts for individual paper presentations, panels or round tables. Panel and round table abstracts of not more than 350 words are due April 30, 2022 while individual abstracts of not more than 250 words are due May 31, 2022.

To propose a paper, panel or roundtable for the conference, kindly fill out the electronic form below:

                             https://forms.gle/xZZxnt9PUjKAcaav5

 The organisers will notify participants whose abstracts are accepted on or before June 30, 2022.

We encourage such participants to register and take advantage of our early bird options.

Conference Registration Fees:

Participants from Nigeria – N20,000.00 (Early bird) / N25,000.00 (On-site)

Graduate students from Nigeria – N10,000.00 (Early bird) / N15,000.00 (On-site)

Participants from Africa – $75.00 (Early bird) / $80.00 (On-site)

International participants - $100.00 (Early bird) / $120.00 (On-site)

Deadline for early bird registration: July 15, 2022.

For enquiries, contact: artsconference@oauife.edu.ng