Voting for new members of the Board of Directors is extended through 12 July 2024. ACASA members in good standing (with active memberships) are eligible to vote. Election results will be communicated via membership email.

Vote Here: https://www.acasaonline.org/member/page/BoardElection

Five elected candidates will serve for an approximately 3-year term as Members-at-Large (ending Triennial 2027). The Election will be presided over by President Mark DeLancey, with election nominating committee members Ashley Stewart, Endy Ezeluomba and Karen von Veh. The current board will additionally appoint a President–Elect/VP from the elected candidates (to be ratified electronically by the membership) who will succeed Paul Basu as President at the end of his term of office (ASA 2025). For more information regarding the structure and duties of the board, please consult the by-laws.

ACASA Board Candidates 2024-2027

Olayemi Tosin Ajayi

It is an honor to be considered for this position, and I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the Council’s mission and goals. As a seasoned academic and media consultant with a strong background in art, design, and publishing, I am confident that my skills and experience make me an ideal candidate for this role. My extensive experience in writing, editing, and reviewing scholarly articles, as well as my expertise in graphic design and visual communication, will enable me to effectively review and enhance the quality of the ACASA newsletter. Moreover, my passion for African studies and my commitment to promoting academic excellence and cultural understanding align with the Council’s objectives. I am eager to bring my expertise and enthusiasm to the Board and work collaboratively with other members to advance the Council’s mission. Thank you for considering my nomination. I look forward to the opportunity to serve ACASA and contribute to its continued success.

Short Biography:

Yemi Ajayi is a lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, and imparts his expertise in Graphics, Robotics, Digital Art, and general art-related courses. He holds various leadership roles, including Departmental Examination Officer, Special Adviser to the Head of Department, Teaching Staff Secretary, and Patron to the National Association of Art and Design Students. Ajayi’s influence extends internationally as a vital member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards for the International Journal of Arts and Humanities in the United Kingdom, where he actively participates in decision-making and scholarly contributions. Ajayi is a natural leader, teacher, and counselor and has given numerous seminars, workshops, and conferences as a keynote and guest speaker. His commitment to academic progress is evident through his role as a research reviewer for international conferences. Ajayi is a published author and poet and has contributed to international and national journals, book chapters, and evocative poetry.

Link to four-page CV

Mathias Fubah Alubafi

I am writing to express my interest in the position of vice president of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA). Reading about the work of ACASA and participating in some of their activities over the years, have convinced me that I have the professional experience and academic qualifications that will enable me to make a strong contribution to ACASA’s efforts in strengthening the study and dissemination of information on the Arts of Africa. As a board member of ACASA, I would be particularly interested in engaging with the work of the current board members on production and dissemination of research findings on topical issues on art and museums in Africa to a wider audience, especially the less privilege on the African continent who do not have access to the wonderful work the association is doing. I am enthusiastic about taking the work of ACASA to these areas and other parts of the continent that are unaware of ACASA and its work on African art. I would be excited to create awareness about ACASA and its work to researchers and scholars living and working in Africa and to encourage them to join the association. I will also work closely with the other board members to lobby for funding that will allow us to continue to invite and sponsor less privileged researchers, artists, leaders of African art institutions and museums to ACASA events, such as the Triennial. It is my belief that my work speaks to the work of ACASA. I will also work closely with the board to grow ACASA membership beyond the current figures.

Short Biography:

Mathias Fubah Alubafi is presently a senior research specialist (for humanities) at the Human Sciences Research Council in Pretoria, South Africa, a position they have held since 2014. Alubafi has been working as coordinator of humanities-related projects at the HSRC since 2017. They were one of the HSRC-Africa focus committee members from 2017 to 2020 and worked closely with committee members and African partners in facilitating the signing of MoUs for the HSRC and various African institutions. Alubafi is also a Research Ethic Committee member at the HSRC, and their role is to review funding applications that have been approved and provide advice about the interests of participants before the projects are implemented. Alubafi is an editorial Board member for the African Historical Review and is responsible for reviewing submissions on African History, art, museums, and cultural heritage and providing advice on critical issues to ensure the Journal meets its objectives. Alubafi has contributed to major exhibitions such as Object Biographies (March – October 2015) at the Berlin Ethnological Museum, and the Cameroon Grassfields Exhibition at the Humboldt Forum. Back in Cameroon, Alubafi sits on the Advisory Committee Board for palace museums in the Bamenda Grassfields.

Link to four-page CV

Michelle Apotsos

I am very interested in the possibility of serving on the board of the Arts Council of African Studies Association. As an organization, ACASA plays an important role in facilitating dialogue between makers and scholars both on and off the continent. Thus, in my theoretical capacity of a member of ACASA’s board, I hope to support the continuity of these productive discourses as ACASA moves into the future. I feel that my administrative experience in conjunction with the professional networks I have fostered over the years through my scholarly foci both illustrate and support this claim. Further, I would like to register my interest in participating in new and/or ongoing conversations as they relate to ensuring robust representation of both continent-based scholars as well as emerging scholars and artists in the context of publications, conference participation, and/or organizational administrative structures supporting the mission of ACASA. I would also like to begin organizational discussions with regards to what it means to be an ethical scholar in the contemporary period and the types of “best practices” that we can encourage towards ensuring that scholarship undertaken within the context of non-US and non-European spaces is non-extractive and mutually beneficial to all stakeholders involved.

Short Biography:

Michelle Apotsos is currently serving my final year as both chair of the Art History Department at Williams College and treasurer of the Islam in Africa Studies Group (IASG). Apotsos has served on collegiate committees ranging from the Committee on Educational Affairs to the Campus Environmental Advocacy Committee, and is currently an evaluative panelist for the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Program. In addition to participating in various symposia and conferences over the years, Apotsos has been a research fellow at the University of the Free State (Bloemfontein, South Africa) as well as a research associate in the Department of Art History and Discourse of Fine Arts at the University of Cape Town (Cape Town, South Africa). Apotsos conducted fieldwork in Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Senegal.

Link to four-page CV

David T. Doris

I’m honored and grateful to be nominated to ACASA’s Board, for which—if I may—I would like to be considered especially for the role of either Social Media Manager or Newsletter Editor. Those venues are intriguing sites of connection for all of us, wherever we are on the planet. In the daily flow of social media and in the less frequently published newsletters, ACASA members represent themselves to each other and to the world, together creating an organizational Identity that is at once unified and extraordinarily diverse, and always surprising. In the name of transparency, I must admit: my own strengths tend toward the creative rather than the administrative. Before delving into a full-time academic career, I was a musician, and spent some years in the advertising business, where I worked as a creative copywriter rather than, say, an account executive. Such remains my inclination to this day. So, regarding any role I might play as an ACASA Board member, I would be most excited to participate in generating programs that embrace novel possibilities for enhanced communication and

creative growth. In the first century CE, author Pliny the Elder wrote in his Historia Naturalis, “Something new is always coming out of Africa.” Today, more than two millennia later, it’s still true; we in ACASA have the privilege to commit ourselves daily to fostering and translating all that newness for new audiences in each new historical moment. Communication is key. If I can help in some small way, I would like that very much.

Short Biography:

David T. Doris (PhD Yale 2002) is Associate Professor of African Art and Visual Culture at the University of Michigan. His scholarly interests include theories of cross-cultural interpretation, conceptions of an “anti-aesthetic” in African contexts, the phenomenology of “power objects,” the representation of Africa and its peoples in world’s fairs, theme parks, and other commodity spectacles. He maintains a special focus on the art and culture of the Yorùbá people, both in southwestern Nigeria and in the Diaspora. His PhD dissertation, written under the mentorship of Robert Farris Thompson, received ACASA’s 2004 Roy Sieber Memorial Award for Outstanding Dissertation in African Art History; currently, he serves as Chair of ACASA’s Sieber Dissertation Award Committee. He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Nigeria; an Ittleson Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts; a Smithsonian Post-Doctoral Fellow at the National Museum of African Art; a Residential Fellow at the Getty Research Institute, and has curated two exhibitions of African Art. His book, Vigilant Things: On Thieves, Yoruba Anti-Aesthetics, and the Strange Fates of Ordinary Objects in Nigeria(University of Washington Press, 2011), addresses the moral, ethical, and aesthetic roles of assemblages of “useless” and discarded objects in contemporary Yorùbá culture. In 2012, Vigilant Things received the African Studies Association’s Melville J. Herskovits Award (now known as the ASA Best Book Prize), presented for “the most important scholarly work in African studies published in English during the preceding year.” His current book project is provisionally titled, A Natural History of Immortality: on the Art & Obscurities of the Ancient & Venerable Ògbóni Society of Honored Elders. He considers his work a sort of object-focused pataphysical ethnography.

Link to four-page CV

Djibril Drame

As an independent scholar, I have been documenting graffiti in Senegal for the last 20 years, as a visual artist I have been practicing for the last 15 years and curating art for the last 10 years. I do believe that I will be à good fit to bring more diversity and inclusion. I do believe in freedom, peace, love, all races and gender are equals.

Short Biography:

Djibril Drame has been creating visuals for over 20 years. He has worked in the Senegalese Government, been a freelancer in the United States, and is an acting producer, art director, communicator, and art curator. Drame is currently the director of Sabali, Inc. in Dakar.

Link to CV

Amanda M. Maples

I bring to the nomination three years of service to ACASA as the Social Media Editor on its Board of Directors, and nineteen years of experience working with African arts, primarily in university and museum settings. In addition, I have taught at the university level, supervised and mentored students and interns, developed and managed conferences and databases, directed and managed a major internationally traveling exhibition, worked with living African artists as well as historic materials, and have delivered numerous scholarly and public lectures. I am committed to academic research and writing for both scholarly and general audiences. I also strongly believe in making African arts research widely available and accessible, not only to academic audiences, but to the general public. My recent work advocates for ethical museum practices, particularly in regards to provenance and field research, collaborative projects, and the equitable circulation of objects globally. My ability to multi-task, write for multiple audiences, and serve in other capacities as an editor and a secretary make me an ideal candidate to continue my service on ACASA’s Board of Directors.

Short Biography:

Amanda M. Maples is Françoise Billion Richardson Curator of African Art at the New Orleans Museum of Art. She has taught university courses in African arts and served in curatorial and scholarly capacities at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Stanford University’s Cantor Arts Center, the Yale University Art Gallery, the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, the High Desert Museum, and UC Berkeley’s Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Maples has served as the Dialogues editor for the journal African Arts since 2020, and has curated a range of exhibitions on historical and contemporary African arts. Her scholarship explores urban and contemporary masquerade, decoloniality, jewelry and self-fashioning, museum policies, collecting practices, and restitutions. Maples holds a Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Link to four-page CV

Allison Martino

I am eager to become more involved with ACASA during the next three years and am honored to have been nominated to serve on the ACASA Board of Directors. Collaboration is central to my curatorial work with academic art museums and I would bring that collaborative spirit to my involvement with the ACASA board. I am happy to serve in any of the board positions that will become open; I am most interested in contributing as secretary or newsletter editor. I am also keen to pursue opportunities to strengthen ACASA’s professional development programming, particularly ones related to current curatorial issues as well as mentorship and training for young scholars entering the field.

Short Biography:

Allison Martino been working as the Laura and Raymond Wielgus Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and Indigenous Art of the Americas at the Eskenazi Museum of Art, located at Indiana University in Bloomington, since 2020. At the Eskenazi Museum, Martino initiated and developed a provenance research project for the collection that they oversee. This project has become a priority for Martino’s work and signals their commitment to ethical stewardship. Martino designed this provenance project to include graduate student researchers, as Martino prioritizes student training in critical issues facing the field today. Previously, Martino held curatorial appointments at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and Bowdoin College Museum of Art, and also taught courses on African art and visual culture at both Michigan and Bowdoin.

Link to four-page CV

David Mbuthia

I am interested in serving as a member of the ACASA board because I believe in and would like to contribute to ACASA’s mission of “promot[ing] greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its many forms, and encourage[ing] contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.” In so doing, I will be able to promote the well fare and appreciation of African material and immaterial culture in different aspects. Given a chance in the board, I will do my best to promote the understanding of African Art and heritage in general. I will do my best in whatever role the board allocates me.

Short Biography:

David Mbuthia has worked in the heritage field for the last 24 years having worked at the National Museums of Kenya for 21 years and two years at the National Heroes Council. Mbuthia holds a PhD in Heritage Management, an Msc. in Applied Ecology and Conservation, a postgraduate certificate in Museum Public Programming, and a Bsc. (Hons) in Environmental Studies. Mbuthia’s experience in heritage management includes policy, researching, monitoring, interpretation, exhibitions, and programming for different audiences, including school groups, youth groups, community groups, special needs groups, and vulnerable groups. Mbuthia is innovative with strong skills in leadership, teamwork, developing partnerships, fundraising and report writing. Mbuthia highly appreciates socio-cultural as well as perspective diversity and inclusivity. Mbuthia has worked with African cultural materials and expressions at local national and international level. He has participated in many national and international exhibitions and public programmes dealing with African Arts. Mbuthia has several publications in the field of heritage management with some dealing with the topic of African Art and the search for relevance by museums in Africa.

Link to four-page CV

John W. Monroe

In my opinion the great virtue of ACASA, and of African art studies more generally, is its interdisciplinarity. The groundbreaking work that scholars and curators in this field produce is unique in its creative openness, not only to a wide variety of methodological approaches, but also to an ongoing questioning of foundational assumptions: the difference between the “universal” and the “particular,” “tradition” and “modernity,” “art” and “craft” – indeed, the very nature of “art” itself.

The two Triennials I’ve attended, in 2012 and 2017, have been among the most engaging, intellectually rich conferences I have ever taken part in; they have also been by a substantial margin the most welcoming.  One of the pleasures of doing research in this field is the opportunity it provides to enjoy the company of so many generous, enthusiastic colleagues.

For that reason, I’m honored and humbled to be nominated to stand for election to the ACASA board.  If I were to be elected, I would look forward to contributing to the next Triennial, to committees the board chooses to organize, and to the ongoing development of the field.  My current service on the Rubin Award Committee and the MNAA subcommittee of the CCRBP have given me a clear sense of both the intellectual dynamism of the field and the strong ethical commitment ACASA members bring to their work.  It would be my pleasure to be able to support these endeavors further from a position on the board.

Short Biography:

John Warne Monroe is a Professor of History at Iowa State University.  He is author of two books, both published by the Cornell University Press.  The second, Metropolitan Fetish: African Sculpture and the Imperial French Invention of Primitive Art, received the Arnold Rubin Outstanding Publication Award at the 2021 Triennial.  It was also one of five finalists for the CAA’s 2021 Charles Rufus Morey award.  Research for the book, which took him to both France and Senegal, was funded with major grants from the George A. and Eliza Gardner Howard Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

John was originally trained as a cultural historian with a focus on nineteenth and twentieth-century France.  His professional engagement with African art studies began in the mid-2000s, when an encounter with the Stanley Collection at the University of Iowa Museum of Art inspired him to turn his love of historical African art into the basis for a new research project.  During the 2005-2006 academic year, John held a Curatorial Fellowship at the museum, working closely with the late Chris Roy.  Since then, John has immersed himself in the scholarly literature on African art and material culture, beginning a research journey that continues today. In his position at Iowa State, where he has been employed since receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2002, John has been active in professional and institutional service.  He has served two three-year terms on the Executive Council of the Western Society for French History, where he was on prize and conference programming committees; has done stints on three journal or book-series editorial boards; and regularly peer-reviews manuscripts for journals and university presses.

Link to four-page CV

Kgomotso Moshugi

My desire to serve on the ACASA board stems from a deep-rooted conviction in the value of the arts. While I am a recent member to ACASA, I firmly believe that the organization is pivotal in preserving, promoting, and protecting the arts of Africa and the diasporas, broadly conceived. It is clear that the organization serves as a crucial network for advocacy and advancing arts discourses and practices, giving a necessary voice and presence to African ideas and ideals embodied in various works. The board’s focus on Africa acknowledges the profound and rich art heritage of the continent and its potential to continuously yield meaningful insights that enrich art knowledge and experiences. I am eager and ready to dedicate myself to contributing to this work. I am excited to share my unique experiences pertaining to the cultural value chain and creativity as a system of artistic, cultural, and socio- economic activities to further the ACASA board deliberations and the organization as a whole.

Short Biography:

Kgomotso Moshugi is a musician who has more recently also become a university scholar of the arts with a journey in the art world spanning over twenty years. Moshugi has worn multiple hats during this period, whether as a team member, team leader, practitioner, creator, or administrator. This diverse blend of roles, at times born out of necessity and at others out of moments of passion, has shaped their understanding of art ecologies. Moshugi has seen that for the arts and study of the arts to thrive, creation and dissemination often require mediated interventions. Since 2013, Moshugi has expanded their research horizons through pursuing a PhD and appointment to the teaching faculty at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Moshugi combines conventional qualitative tools with creative and artistic approaches. Their current research and teaching focus on cultural policy and management, with attention to factors that influence the contexts in which creators practice the art, as well as the sustainability of those contexts.

Link to four-page CV

Ruth Sacks

I am honoured to be nominated as a board member for ACASA and eager to serve as webmaster or newsletter editor. As a practising artist and published academic in African Studies, I bring experience in implementing and running interdisciplinary activities between contemporary art and academic activity (which can involve managing the project website). If elected, I would encourage ACASA to strengthen mentorship and support for emerging African artists and curators, alongside academics, to develop their Africa-based projects into scholarly publications. I came to academia from a career as a South African visual artist who had participated in major international exhibitions dealing with the representation of Africa (such as the 2007 African Pavilion at the Venice Biennale). This experience led me to probe African positions from a theoretical point of view, as is evident in my scholarly publications, including my recent monograph dealing with Congolese visual culture and the city of Kinshasa. My research on the Congo and in my hometown of Johannesburg also led to a body of artworks, parts of which have been exhibited in Europe as well as the African continent. While lecturing in the Visual Art Department at the University of Johannesburg, where I hold a senior position, I have developed strong collaborative connections to other African institutions, particularly in Kinshasa and Lagos (where my new research lies). I am an active member of the African Studies Association and the Lagos Studies Institute as well as ACASA and a Research Associate at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (University of the Witwatersrand).

Short Biography:

Ruth Sacks is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Johannesburg (Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture), where she has held a position in History and Theory of Art (Visual Art Department) since 2021. Sacks obtained a PhD through the interdisciplinary African centre WiSER (the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research) in 2017, where she was a doctoral fellow. Her first academic monograph, Congo Style: From Belgian Art Nouveau to African Independence, was published by Michigan University Press in 2023 and other publications include a chapter in the edited volume Planetary Hinterlands: Extraction, Abandonment and Care (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). Sacks has recently been invited to give guest seminars at the Africa Institute in Sharjah (May 2024); MESAAS (Middle Eastern South Asian and African Studies Institute), Columbia University, in New York (December 2023); and CIVA Museum & Archive in Brussels (September 2023). Sacks has exhibited widely as an artist and recent exhibitions include Style Congo: Heritage and Heresy at CIVA Museum & Archive (Brussels, 2023), whose curators include Congolese artist Sammy Baloji, and Overwhelmed at the UJ Gallery (Johannesburg, 2023). She was a co-director of the large-scale community arts project Response-ability in inner city Johannesburg (2020-1) and has organised international conferences such as Médiation passée, présente et future at the Kinshasa Academy of Arts (2016).

Link to four-page CV

Majula Swareh

I am grateful to have been nominated to serve on the Board of Directors of the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. As an up and coming scholar in the field of African Studies, I am deeply interested in the work of ACASA and the possibility of engaging with interdisciplinary African Art scholars, where “scholar” is defined beyond western academic categorizations. My extensive background in African cultural studies, combined with my professional experience in museums and cultural institutions, makes me well-suited for these roles and will be helpful in supporting ACASA’s mission to facilitate interdisciplinary exchange and promote the diversity of African arts. As a member of the ACASA Board of Directors, I am eager to contribute to ACASA’s goals, enhance its visibility and access, and expand its reach.

Short Biography:

Majula Swareh is the Special Assistant to the Director at the National Museum of African Art, and has actively contributed to interdisciplinary storytelling and the development of dynamic programs that nurture visionary engagements within the public space. Swareh’s academic foundation, with a master’s degree in African Cultural Studies, complements their practical experience in project management, program development, and community outreach, both on the African continent and internationally. Additionally, Swareh’s contributions to the Mellon Foundation-funded African Museology Project, particularly in restitution and regenerative knowledge production, highlights their commitment to ethical practices in cultural heritage. Swareh’s professional experience also includes managing initiatives focused on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Represented Collective, where Swareh successfully created a professional development curriculum. This role, along with their work at the National Center for Arts and Culture in The Gambia, has equipped them with skills in project management, grant writing, and team coordination, all of which are essential for effective board service. These experiences have deepened Swareh’s understanding of the complexities and richness of African artistic expressions. Swareh will also be presenting on African Literature, Film and sites of memory in the ICMEHMORI Conference in Kigali, Rwanda in July.

Link to four-page CV

Tukufu Zuberi

Short Biography:

Dr. Tukufu Zuberi is the Lasry Family Professor of Race Relations, and Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Lead Curator of the Africa Galleries at the Penn Museum. His administrative responsibilities have included being chair of graduate programs and departments, directing several difference centers, and working with senior administrators to enhance the excellence of the student body and faculty. He was the founding Director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He curated several exhibitions and filmed in many of the major museums in the US on the hit series PBS History Detectives, and has visited the major museums in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. Zuberi has curated myriad exhibitions and published numerous books and over 100 articles and reviews.

Link to four-page CV

All Nominations Due May 20, 2024

The ACASA Board of Directors has five open Member-at-Large positions:

Vice President/President-Elect, Secretary, Newsletter Editor, Social Media Editor, and Treasurer

Term Length: ACASA Triennial 2024 – Triennial 2027

All nominees must be members in good standing of ACASA (must have an active membership). In addition to their assigned position, each Board member serves on committees during their 3-year term and participates in regular board meetings. Please note that nominees do not apply to a specific board position. Following the general election, the Board will hold an internal election to designate one new member as Vice President/Future President, as indicated in the bylaws, and assign the remaining board positions accordingly. All elected nominees must be willing and ready to serve as ACASA Vice President/President-Elect.

All nominations are due May 20, 2024. Submit your nominations here

The ACASA Board Elections Committee will email all nominees once the nomination portal is closed. Those who accept their nomination must submit a short statement of intent and a 4-page (max) CV by June 3, 2024.

Members may nominate another ACASA member or themself for one of these positions.

If you have any questions, please email Caroline Bastian Retcher, ACASA Admin, at bastian@acasaonline.org

Thank you for voting. The current ACASA bylaws are now available for viewing.

Please reach out to Caroline Bastian Retcher at bastian@acasaonline.org if you have any questions or issues.

We invite proposals for individual papers for open panels and roundtables at this time (January 19, 2024- March 1, 2024). Please see the list of open panels and roundtables at the bottom of this page. The full list of accepted panel proposals can be viewed here.

Recently the field of African arts has shifted from object-centered approaches to ones that are human-, community-, and artist-centered. Who is speaking? How can we listen to each other and invite more diverse and globally-entangled voices? Some strategies for human-centered approaches include collaboration, wellness, healing, pluralities of knowledge, the sustaining and building of relationships, fostering new generations, thinking generously and inclusively and active listening in lieu of, or in addition to, object-centered approaches. We welcome contributions on themes such as: 

• Diversifying the field of African arts
• Tangible and intangible knowledges and scholarly approaches
• Networking and broadening voices
• Community and artist-centered approaches
• Artist, museum, and/or community approaches or responses to wellness and healing
• Pluralizing knowledges, expertise, and the production of knowledges and expertise
• Developing and sustaining individual, museum, and institutional relationships and partnerships, especially international ones
• Fostering the next generation of artists, scholars, and communities
• Personhood and people-centered approaches and/or their relationship to tangible artworks
• Empathy, radical listening, thinking generously and inclusively
• Mentorship, exchanges, collaborations
• Transparency in museum and institutional practices
• Decoloniality and decolonial approaches to the arts of Africa

Regular panels will be 120 minutes long with either a) four 20-minute papers and a discussant or b) five 20-minute papers. 90-minute roundtables or alternative discussion-based formats (such as lightning talks or poster presentations) are welcome–creativity encouraged.

Participants may only present one paper but may serve as a discussant on another panel or as a presenter on a roundtable.

Individual paper proposals must include the following:

• Title of Paper
• Name, Professional Title, Affiliation of Proposer
• A proposal not to exceed 500 words describing the theme and scope
• Contact information, including phone and e-mail (this information is for internal use only and will not be publicized)
• Please include the title of the panel/roundtable so the application can be shared with the correct chair. 

The submission deadline for paper proposals is March 1, 2024.

Please submit via the submission portal here 

Proposals may be submitted by anyone, but an active ACASA membership is required to take part in the symposium. Visit https://www.acasaonline.org/join-acasa/ to find information on ACASA membership and to join. 

For any questions or concerns, please email Caroline Bastian Retcher, ACASA Admin, at bastian@acasaonline.org.

 

Open Panels & Roundtables:

Decolonization of African Art in Museums, Covid-19, and Curating Art in Digital Space

Towards a dynamic and distributed future: interdisciplinary methods of engaging with African Art & Cultural Heritage Materials

Reimagining Creative Ways of Speaking Truth to Power in a Time of Heightened Repression

Knowledge Creation and Co-Curation in Museums and Public Spaces: Contestations and Advances

Public Art, African Histories: Asserting and Subverting Colonial Power

Photographic Transversals: Mobility, Intermediality, and Temporality in African Photography

Sea Matters: New Art Histories from Africa’s Islands and Archipelagos

“The Art that Guides Our Students: Southern University at New Orleans and the Traditional African Art Collections”

Towards a dynamic and distributed future: interdisciplinary methods of engaging with African Art & Cultural Heritage Materials

New Directions in Provenance Research

“Beautiful Space Others Make” On Care, Justice, & Creative Imagination

RE-ENGAGING THE GEARS OF CONSERVATION IN THE TRANSMISSION OF CULTURE IN MODERN BENIN

Jamaican Textile and the Stories of Decolonization

Audacious Art Histories: Intimacies and Interventions

Around the Object: New Directions in Museum and Curatorial Education in Africa

Ìyá: Our Mothers Who Art In Exile

Decolonization of African Art in Museums, Covid-19, and Curating Art in Digital Space

Online Visual Imaginations of the Nation

(De)Constructing Authenticity: New Methods and Case Studies

Periodizing the 1990s

THE CHALLENGES OF VISUAL ARTS ENTERPRISE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

From Belief to Heritage: Rethinking the museum.

Women & Non-Binary South African Artists: Revisioning Histories

African continuities and change in the Caribbean, through contemporary Caribbean art

Traditions and practices of profanation at Western Museums

Raising Voices: Climate Change and Environmental Degradation

Museums in Africa and their Search for Relevance as Source and Agent of Social Wellness

Fight of the Century: The Rumble in the Jungle 50 years on

Queer Hybrids in Contemporary African Art

“Collaborating Across Continents: Developing a Contemporary Masquerade Exhibition for North American and African Audiences”

For what is Just: Social Practice Art, Solidarity and Civic Imagination in Africa

Interventions in the Colonial Photographic Archive

Nigerian Contemporary Ceramic in Retrospective View

Power: remaking selves, archives, environments

‘women’s work as creative practice’ – 4 contemporary South African artist-women/artist-mothers

The Promise and the Peril of Placing African artists in Global Narratives

#JustAndEquitableNow: Reimagining Arts and Humanities in Our Universities

Gender and Artistic Production from the Maghrib

OBJECTS REFUSE TO BE CANCELLED (#babybathwater)

The Modern in an Expanded Field?

No Comment! Explorations along the borderline of seeing, talking, and thought.

Unveiling African Arts: Reclaiming Narratives, Fostering Dialogue, and Embracing Healing

Photography in the First-Person: The Interview as Source

Critical Inquiry in Design, Media and Material Culture of Sub-Saharan Africa

Collaboration, Collections, and Restitution Best Practices for North American Museums Holding African Objects

Questions of Objecthood and Value

Ghana 1957: Collaborative Curation

The creation and development of museums in Senegal: origin, evolution and perspectives.

Restitutions and feedback

What is a Map? A Question Investigated through African and African Diasporic Arts and Architecture

Local museums and international collaborations: The “other side” of the story

New Dimensions of Contemporary Art Studies and Practice in Nigeria and Ghana Since 2020

Artist-Centered Approaches to African Restitution

EXPLORING VISUAL CULTURE: PLURALIZING KNOWLEDGES, EXPERTISE, AND THE PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGES AND EXPERTISE

Art-Making as Rituals and Rites: Exploring the Transformative Power of Creative Expression

Gender and Human Centeredness in Southern African art

Spiritual Repair: Post-Secular Black Atlantic Arts

Past/Predecessors: Modern and Contemporary African Art Between Generations

Making and Representing West African Textiles and Fashions

A Ghanaian-United States Nexus in Art Pedagogy and Practice

Reimagining Public Art: Community Engagement, Sustainability, and Urban Transformation

African Art: Traditions, Transitions and Decolonisation

VISUAL LITERACY AGAINST OPPRESSION

Digitalization, Youth Economy, and the Future of Popular Arts in Africa

Pivoting with African Art: Alt-Academic Careers Roundtable

 

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!

For the first month of registration (January 5 – February 5), we are offering a discounted bundle package of $15.

This bundle is for active ACASA members only.

Join ACASA today!

REGISTER HERE!

Triennial Registration Rates and Information

ACASA Triennial Symposium Registration is outlined below. Please note that each Triennial event requires separate registration (unless purchasing the bundle package). These rates are for all Triennial attendees, both in-person and virtual. Visit our website for more information about the Triennial.

Registration rates will increase on May 1.

Please Note: Membership is not required for attendee registration, however the cost of membership + registration is lower than the cost of non-member registration to all Triennial events. All presenters must be ACASA members. We encourage everyone to become an ACASA member. Join today!

Early Bird Registration (January 5 – April 30, 2024)

Member: Non-Member:
Conference: $200 / $250
Awards Ceremony & Dinner: $60 / $80
Museum Day: $40 / $60

Regular Registration: (May 1 – August 5, 2024)

Member: Non-Member:
Conference: $225 / $275
Awards Ceremony & Dinner: $60 / $80
Museum Day: $40 / $60

To Register: Registration Link

Visit: https://acasatriennial2024.sched.com
Create a Sched account by email, Google, or Facebook.
Select the events you would like to attend.
Purchase through the secure link and receive email confirmation via Sched.
Follow the steps listed in the confirmation email to create a Sched profile.

Discounted Hotel Rates have been Negotiated for ACASA 2024 Attendees at both Hotel Options.

Participants in ACASA’s Triennial are encouraged to stay at the recommended hotels listed below to have the greatest flexibility and engagement with other attendees, but attendees are welcome to stay in whatever accommodations suit them best.

Visit our website for more information!

Please, contact Caroline Bastian, ACASA Project Manager, for any questions or comments at bastian@acasaonline.org

3 November 2023 – 17 EAT/10 EDT/7 PDT

Registration is now open! Through 2 November

This webinar is exclusive to ACASA members and will be held virtually over Zoom. Use the button at the bottom of this email to join or renew your membership. You must log in to your member account to register.

Register for the Webinar

Understanding Museum Audiences and African Arts Provenance

Highlighting provenance—the ownership history of a work of art or other object—has been growing in museums as part of important conversations about collecting and exhibiting African cultural heritage. But how much do museum visitors understand about provenance, and what is their interest in it? Do museums present provenance in a way that is engaging and easy to understand? The Department of Research and Evaluation of the Cleveland Museum of Art has undertaken audience evaluations in 2021 and 2023 that seek to answer these questions. These digital and in-person evaluation projects center on the museum’s African arts gallery, and a September 2020 reinstallation of eight works from the Benin Kingdom that include full provenance on their gallery labels in addition to on the museum’s website. As one of the few museums with an R&E department, this research represents a unique perspective on visitor viewpoints about provenance and an important tool for enhancing communication.

In this webinar, CMA’s Hannah Ridenour LaFrance (Research Manager, Department of Research & Evaluation) and Courage Kusena (Past Undergraduate Intern, Department of Research and Evaluation) will discuss the goals, methods, and findings of these evaluation projects. Facilitating the conversation, Kristen Windmuller-Luna (Curator of African Arts) will discuss the history of sharing provenance information at CMA, and consider how insight gained from evaluations of museum visitors’ engagement with and understanding of provenance can be implemented in future exhibitions.

This webinar is exclusive to ACASA members and will be held virtually over Zoom. Use the button at the bottom of this email to join or renew your membership.

Join or Renew your Membership

2024 ACASA Curatorial Excellence Award
Call for Submissions – Due February 15, 2024

The submission window is now open for the 2024 Awards for Curatorial Excellence. Submissions must be received by February 15, 2024. The awards will be presented at the 19^th ACASA Triennial, to be held in Chicago from August 7-11, 2024.

The Awards for Curatorial Excellence recognize the important contributions to the dissemination and understanding of African and African Diaspora Arts made through exhibitions. Exhibitions related to permanent collections, loan shows, commissioned works or community interventions organized by museums, galleries, cultural centers, and exhibition spaces of all sorts are eligible. Up to two awards for curatorial excellence will be given. Runners up may also be recognized.

Eligibility

The exhibition should have opened between Sept. 1, 2019 and Sept. 1, 2023.

Exhibition eligibility: Both nominator and nominee(s)—if different–must be ACASA members in good standing. Join ACASA

Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

Submission Process and Materials

Eligible exhibitions should be uploaded by the nominator to this form with the submission materials listed below. All submission materials must be received by February 15, 2024.

All submissions should include the following materials:

1. Cover page indicating title of exhibition, dates, venue(s), curator(s) names
2. Synopsis of exhibition (one-page)
3. Sample publication where applicable. This can include PDFs of take-away brochures, exhibition preview article or other means of documentation and distribution of project. If no publication was possible, please submit a bibliography of 5 key sources germane to the show’s thesis or points of departure.
4. Sample didactics (labels or other interpretive materials, such as on-line description, that demonstrate the exhibition’s intellectual content and curatorial vision. Not to exceed 3-pages)
5. Visual documentation: up to 5 still digital images, at least one of which must show installation, context or performance space; up to 2 videos or links, not to exceed 3 minutes in length to document performance or time-based projects.
6. Link to or documentation of innovative uses of technology or interactive engagement
7. Description of institution, organization or entity originating the exhibition (for example museum, independent art space, pop-up…, including mission, history, collection (if applicable), size, staff, budget, audience and other information pertinent to understanding the context in which the exhibition emerged.
8. Documentation of community response. Up to three (3) examples that demonstrate various perspectives. These might include emails, sample entries from audience response books, or social media postings and not just critical or press reviews.

Assessment Criteria

For consideration for this award, the awards committee will consider exhibitions that:

1. Generate new scholarship across the humanities or beyond
2. Open new perspectives on the field
3. Collaborate with and/or contribute to local or stakeholder communities
4. Demonstrate innovative approaches to exhibition design and presentation
5. Expand understandings or uses of technology

Please contact Caroline Bastian, ACASA Project Manager, for any questions or comments at bastian@acasaonline.org.

The Getty Research Institute is pleased to announce themes for residential grants and fellowships for pre-docs, post-docs, and scholars at the Getty Center and Villa for the 2024/25 academic year.

Applications will open on July 1, 2023. Applications are due by October 2, 2023.

AFRICAN AMERICAN ART HISTORY INITIATIVE GRANTS
The African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI) will support two fellows to generate new knowledge in the expanding field of African American art history. As part of the larger scholar year cohort, AAAHI Fellows have opportunities to present their research and receive feedback from an interdisciplinary group of peers. While proposals do not have to address the concurrent annual theme, they may highlight any salient intersections with it.

This residential program provides financial support and housing to scholars who are expanding critical inquiry of African American art and its frameworks. Projects that propose engagement with Getty’s growing collections of archival and primary source material related to African American art history—particularly post-World War II—are welcome. However, relevance to Getty holdings is not a project requirement. We invite applications from scholars who focus on African American art and visual culture in all time periods and media and in a broad range of theoretical and methodological traditions. Applicants should indicate how their project would align with AAAHI’s aim to make African American art history more visible to the public and accessible to the scholarly community worldwide.

EXTINCTION GRANTS

In this moment of extreme environmental decay and monumental epidemic loss, the Getty Scholars Program invites applications on the pressing topic of extinction and its bearing on the visual arts and cultural heritage. Scholars are asked to contemplate how representational practices are deployed to cope with the precarious survival of plants, animals, and humans; the ever-present specter of species-level extinction and resource exhaustion; and, at the most extreme pole, the brutality of mass atrocity. On another level, atrophy, decay, and obsolescence constitute the temporal dimensions of certain artistic practices, especially as creative approaches, technologies, media, formats, and ideals become outmoded or superseded. The finality of disappearance may also portend a certain amount of hope for rebirth, innovation, or recovery. We invite proposals on these topics from art historians and those from related to disciplines.

Please find the full call for applications and theme text on the Scholars Program webpage: gty.art/scholars