Mobility, Migration and Flows Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, MD November 21-24, 2013
Preliminary Program 56th Annual Meeting Mobility, Migration and Flows Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, MD November 21-24, 2013 Program Committee Chairs: Jamie Monson, Macalester College Dianna Shandy, Macalester College Local Arrangements Committee Chairs: Paul Landau, University of Maryland Pier Larson, Johns Hopkins University 1 Program Theme The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting is Mobility, Migration and Flows. The theme statement read as follows: On a geographically diverse continent, Africanists examine the multi-directional movement of people, things, capital, and ideas at many levels. We study not only the movements of people within the Global South and between the Global South and the Global North, but also the borders and the institutions created to police them, in relation to war, environmental change, and outside influence. We look at the transport of materials from one space to another by train, plane, and vehicle across mountains, deserts, lakes, and oceans. Increasingly we are discussing the fluid crossings of boundaries of identity in Africa, be they of religion, ethnicity, gender, language, or sexuality. In our era of social media and technology, we are examining the influence of mass media on the mobility of ideas, symbols, and material objects as well as their commoditization – both within Africa and between Africa and other continents. We look at the ways in which movement can create, sustain and reconfigure human relationships. Recent changes in governments prompt us to think about movement of power and privilege within and outside of state institutions. All of this fluidity and movement comes with its antagonist obstruction. We see many impediments to physical movement of persons in the form of immigration and border control.
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