Mobility, Migration and Flows Baltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore, MD November 21-24, 2013
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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. The intention of refugee camps and detention facilities is to wall one population from another. Not only physical but also economic, social and cultural spaces within Africa are segregated. There are steep challenges in navigating cultural and social impediments to mobility in many African countries based on the identities mentioned above. We invite proposals to the 56th ASA Annual Meeting to reflect on how we as researchers study a continent with multiple layers of mobility as well as evident obstruction. The conversation around these issues needs to ask questions about fluidity and obstruction as concepts in African society and culture that are rooted in historical contexts. Then we can begin to unpack the areas of movement and blockages of people, place, and power that are growing so prominent in African Studies. This situation calls for thinking that is itself mobile, and that can engage and transform existing categories. The 2012 ASA Program Co-Chairs Jamie Monson and Dianna Shandy 2 PROGRAM COMMITTEE 1) Music, Performance, and Visual Culture: Ryan Skinner, University of Ohio 2) Agriculture and Environment: Bill Moseley, Macalester College 3) Education: Cati Coe, Rutgers University 4) Economics and Political Economy: Michael Kevane, Santa Clara University 5) Producing Knowledge: Methodologies and Pedagogies: Cawo Abdi, University of Minnesota 6) Health and Healing: Greg Maddox, Texas Southern University 7) Human Rights and Transitional Justice: Jean-Pierre Karegeye, Macalester College 8) Legality/Illegality: Eric Allina, University of Ottawa 9) Gender, Women, and Sexualities: Ashley Currier, University of Cincinnati 10) Policy and Evaluation: Tania Bernath, Bernath Consulting International 11) Religion and Spirituality: Derek Peterson, University of Michigan 12) Youth and Urban Spaces: Anna Jacobsen, Gustavus Adolphus College 13) History: Abdullahi Idrissu, St. Olaf College 14) Science and Technology: Nancy Jacobs, Brown University 15) Peace and Security: Scott Straus, University of Wisconsin, Madison 16) Politics and Governance: Amy Poteete, Concordia University 17) Literature and Film: Alexie Tcheuyap, University of Toronto 18) Special Topics: Jamie Monson, Macalester College and Dianna Shandy, Macalester College 3 FEATURED EVENTS ASA Business Meeting Thursday, November 21, 12:30 pm-1:30 pm The President, Executive Director, and Treasurer will present reports on the state of the Association. Association leaders will recognize and thank retiring members of the Board of Directors and welcome the new Vice President (the President-elect) along with new members of the Board. They will announce the slate for the 2014 Board of Directors election. ASA Coordinate Organizations will also report on their activities and announce their awards and prizes. Roundtable on Interdisciplinary Studies in African Studies and African Studies Journals Thursday, November 21, 2:30 pm-4:15 pm Sponsored by the Editorial Board of African Studies Review Welcome Reception Thursday, November 21, 7:30 pm-9:30 pm The Welcome Reception is open to all Annual Meeting registrants. All are encouraged to attend. ASA Board Sponsored Current Issues Event, Genomic Research Flows and Health in Africa Co-Sponsored with Health and Medicine Friday, November 22, 10:00 am-11:45 am Presidential Lecture Friday, November 22, 12:00 pm-1:00 pm Each year, the President of the African Studies Association gives a lecture on the state of African studies and the Association. This year, President Abdi Samatar will deliver the lecture, “Scholarship, Politics, and the Fate of the Somali People.” President Samatar is Professor of Geography at the University of Minnesota and Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria. Samatar served as Chair of the Department of Geography at the University of Minnesota. He is the author of An African Miracle, which was a finalist for the Herskovits Award, and three other books. He is also the author of over sixty articles, chapters, and essays. His research spans two African Regions: East and South. African Studies Review Distinguished Lecture Friday, November 22, 1:15 pm-2:15 pm The African Studies Review together with the ASA Board launched a distinguished lecture in 2011 featuring state of the art research in African Studies. This year, Iris Berger will be delivering the African Studies Review Distinguished Lecture on “One Big Gender Fight? Women and Social Movements in Twentieth-Century Africa.” Iris Berger, Vincent O’Leary Professor of History at the University at Albany, State University of New York, received her Ph.D. in African history from the University of Wisconsin- Madison. Her numerous publications include the award-winning Religion and Resistance: East African Kingdoms in the Precolonial Period; Women and Class in Africa, ed. with Claire Robertson; Threads of Solidarity: Women in South African Industry, 1900-1980; Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Restoring Women to History, with E. Frances White; and South Africa in World History. She has served as President 4 of the African Studies Association, as Vice President for Research of the American Historical Association and as an editor of the Journal of African History. She has also been a Board Member of the Social Science Research Council and the ASA delegate to the American Council of Learned Societies. She has also served as the Director of the Institute for Research on Women and Chair of the History Department at the University at Albany. She has received research funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, and the Rockefeller Foundation and was a recipient of the Distinguished Africanist Award from the New York African Studies Association. Mentoring Forum: Dissertation Project Workshop Friday, November 22, 4:45 pm-6:30 pm Organizer: Gregory Maddox, Texas Southern University, [email protected] Purpose: The ASA Mentoring Workshop is designed to help graduate students strengthen their dissertation projects and improve their chances of funding, as well as to facilitate interdisciplinary networking among graduate students and faculty in African Studies. The Workshop will provide mentoring to graduate students at all stages whose doctoral projects are related to Africa. There will be opportunities for discussion and feedback with faculty mentors and fellow graduate students from a range of institutions and disciplines, and drawing on various regional and thematic interests and expertise. The Workshop aims to facilitate research and create support networks across the disciplines in African Studies. To Reserve Your Spot: Please send an email to the organizer with: (1) a 250-500 word abstract of your research interests and plans; and the following information: (2) your stage in the thesis/dissertation process; (3) your contact information, department, and institution; and (4) any particular issues you would like the Workshop to address. Participation in the Workshop is free with your ASA conference registration. Workshop Registration Deadline: August 15, 2013 Eligibility: The Workshop is open to graduate students at all stages. Projects linking the African continent and diasporas, and comparative projects with a significant African component are welcome. Students at institutions that do not have African Studies Programs are strongly encouraged to participate. Past ASA Board Presidents’ Dinner Friday, November 22, 8:00 pm Past ASA Board presidents will be invited to a dinner held in their honor. Health and Medicine Workshop: Grant Writing Saturday, November 23, 8:00 am-11:45 am Health and Medicine Workshop: New Research Directions Saturday, November 23, 2:45 pm-6:30 pm We are pleased to announce a workshop to assist younger generations in developing critical research approaches