Conference Announcements & Call for Papers

Memories that Move: Pasts and Presents of Colonial Infrastructure

Remnants of colonial infrastructure are plainly visible all over Africa. Urban centres are marked by colonial architecture; old railway lines have become heritage sites and are now preserved in museums; schools and universities still bear the stamp of European education systems; and colonial borders continue to matter on the continent to this day. While legacies of colonial town planning, such as statues and residential segregation, are highly controversial, other aspects of colonial infrastructure are remembered with appreciation. Still others appear so mundane and quotidian that their pasts have hardly received any attention. Decades after independence, the memory of colonialism and its tangible and intangible manifestations remain deeply ambivalent and often reveal perplexing contradictions.
By addressing the politics and cultures of (dis)remembrance of colonial infrastructure, this panel seeks to explore the conscious and unconscious ‘memory work’ of individuals, groups and societies in contemporary Africa. How are the forms and pasts of colonial infrastructure preserved, remembered or forgotten? Who are the actors engaged in framing and contesting specific memories? How do (counter)memories of infrastructure shape knowledges and representations of the colonial past? Colonial infrastructures were the most recognisable features of colonial rule, originally designed to strengthen the grip over African territories. After independence, most countries furnished the inherited infrastructures with new meanings, often driven by a specific nation-building logic. The renewed boom in infrastructure spending across the continent in the last two decades have again had an impact on the ways in which colonial infrastructure is remembered. Their long lifespan allows for a longue-durée perspective on the changing practices, agendas, and challenges of memory work.
The contributions to this panel will be a follow-up to the recent dialogue between memory studies and postcolonial studies. While studies have so far focused primarily on violence, genocide, techniques of colonial rule, and slavery and slave trade (Jennifer Cole, Kenda Mutongi, Meera Venkatachalam), aspects like colonial infrastructure have not been adequately investigated and are deserving of further studies. As pivotal institutions of colonial rule, infrastructures and their respective memories promise new insights into how the colonial past and its legacies have been negotiated, remembered and contested to this day. Proposals are invited from all fields and may cover any period, topic or region. Special consideration will be given to papers taking a comparative, transnational or interdisciplinary perspective. Please send an abstract of no more than 250 words along with a short CV to Norman Aselmeyer (norman.aselmeyer@eui.eu) by 12 May 2019.Contact Info: 

Norman Aselmeyer, European University InstituteContact Email: norman.aselmeyer@eui.euURL: https://www.as-aa.org/index.php/asaa-2019-conference/call-for-papers-posters-and-panels

ACASA sponsors one session at CAA’s annual meeting.

We invite proposals for sessions in all areas of the study of the arts of Africa, and we welcome submissions from professionals and scholars at allstages of their careers. The Annual Conference Committee looks for session that cover the breadth of current thought and research in art, art and architectural history, theory and criticism, pedagogical issues, museum and curatorial practice, conservation, and developments in technology.

All sessions will be 90 minutes in length.

To submit a proposal to be considered as ACASA-sponsored, individuals do not need to be current CAA members. However, membership to CAA will be needed to finalize the submission through the CAA portal.  Eventually, please note that all session participants and leaders will need to be CAA members and to register for the conference.  Online registration for the CAA 108th Annual Conference will begin on October, 2020.

SUBMISSION FOR ACASA CONSIDERATION

ACASA will sponsor either one Complete Session proposal (90 minutes in length) pre-formed with participants and papers/projects chosen in advance or one Session Soliciting Contributors proposal (90 minutes in length) to be included in the CFP which opens early July. 

Session Soliciting Contributors
The Session Soliciting Contributors option allows a submission for a full session (90 minutes in length) with yet-to-be identified speakers and papers/projects. If selected by ACASA, such sessions will be included in the call for participation (CFP) which opens early July.

Complete Session
The Complete Session option allows a submission for a complete panel (90 minutes in length) pre-formed with participants and papers/projects chosen in advance by session chairs. This session requires advance planning and information gathering by the chair(s). 

A panel has a chair, no more than four paper presenters, and can include a discussant.
A complete session proposal consists of 1) the panel title and abstract; 2) names, email address, phone number, and institutional affiliation of eachparticipant on the panel; 3) paper titles and an abstract for all the papers. The panel abstract should consist of a statement about the topic and a brief summary of the main argument(s) to be explored (no more than 250 words).

GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

The following guidelines will help prospective participants complete their proposal:

  • All sessions will be 90 minutes in length.  Please plan accordingly.
  • Following ACASA selection, the sponsored panel must be submitted online on the CAA portal.
  • In order to submit a proposal to ACASA for consideration, individuals do not need to be current CAA members. However, all participants of the selected ACASA-Sponsored session will need to be current members to finalize the session submission with CAA by April 30th.
  • Online registration for the CAA 108th Annual Conference will begin in October 2020.
  • CVs are required for panel proposals where the chair and, if applicable, the co-chair are known. 
  • Session and paper abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length.
  • The accuracy of information entered into the proposal form (e.g. spelling of names, affiliations, titles) is important, as it will be pulled directly from this database for conference publications such as Abstracts 2020 and on the conference website.
  • The quality of the panel abstracts is the main criterion for acceptance; a panel with a weak abstract or with two or more weak paper abstracts is unlikely to be accepted. The submission process must be completed online.
  • If their proposals are accepted, CAA members may now participate in session panels in consecutive years.

KEY DATES

  • April 19th – Submit Proposal to ACASA Board
  • April 26th – Chosen Sponsored-Panel will be notified
  • April 30th – Deadline for submission to CAA of chosen Sponsored-Panel
  • October 2020 – Online conference registration opens
  • December 2020 – Early conference registration closes

The CAA call for proposals is accessible at: http://www.collegeart.org/proposals/

Berber (Amazigh) cinema as a communication space. The mise-en-scène.

International conference, June 11, 2019

INALCO – National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations, Paris
65, Rue des Grands Moulins, Room 5.08

This is the second meeting on Berber cinema organized at INALCO. In the first conference, we discussed the state of the arts and presented the narrative analyses of famous films. Selected papers from the first symposium are in publication (Karthala 2019). This second meeting aims to identify and analyze the elements of the mise-en-scène of Amazigh films (images, colors, framing, sound and other audiovisual elements), to try to understand how the films reach (or try to reach) their narrative purpose through its audio-visual elements and composition, .

The analysis of the mise-en-scène is a key moment in current research, for two main reasons. The first is that we have very little in-depth analysis of audiovisual elements allowing us to approach the Amazigh film as a communication space. The second is that the very existence of Amazigh cinema is seen as dependent on technical competence. The conference will be an opportunity to gather and to cross data useful to the elaboration of a nuanced approach of the artistic ambition of certain films and on the “emergence” of the Amazigh cinema in relation with the technical skills of its production.

We will have the honor to have among us Mrs. Djamila Amzal, actress and director.

Some of the papers presented at this symposium will be included in a thematic issue of the journal Cinéma (www.revue-cinemas.info) after the journal peer review process.

Proposals must include a title, the names of the authors, their affiliation, an abstract (300 words) and a short bibliography. The papers of papers can be in French or in English (20 minutes + 10 minutes questions).

Organization: Daniela Merolla, University Professor, Berber Literature and Art

Proposals must be sent to Daniela Merolla (daniela.merolla@inalco.fr) and Ouzna Ouaksel (ouzna.ouaksel@inalco.fr) no later than April 30, 2019.

URL:
http://www.inalco.fr/appel-communication/cinema-berbere-amazigh-seconde-…

CALL FOR PROPOSALS FOR ACASA-SPONSORED SESSION CAA

108th ANNUAL CONFERENCE CHICAGO, FEBRUARY 12 – 15. 2020

DEADLINE for proposals to the ACASA board: April 19th, 2019

ADDRESS: Send proposals electronically to Bukky Gbadegesin, CAA Liaison, ogbadege@slu.edu and copy Cynthia Becker, ACASA Secretary, cjbecker@bu.edu
ACASA sponsors one session at CAA’s annual meeting. We invite proposals for sessions in all areas of the study of the arts of Africa, and we welcome submissions from professionals and scholars at all stages of their careers. The Annual Conference Committee looks for session that cover the breadth of current thought and research in art, art and architectural history, theory and criticism, pedagogical issues, museum and curatorial practice, conservation, and developments in technology.
All sessions will be 90 minutes in length.To submit a proposal to be considered as ACASA-sponsored, individuals do not need to be current CAA members. However, membership to CAA will be needed to finalize the submission through the CAA portal. Eventually, please note that all session participants and leaders will need to be CAA members and to register for the conference. Online registration for the CAA 108th Annual Conference will begin on October, 2020.
SUBMISSION FOR ACASA CONSIDERATION
ACASA will sponsor either one Complete Session proposal (90 minutes in length) pre-formed with participants and papers/projects chosen in advance or one Session Soliciting Contributors proposal (90 minutes in length) to be included in the CFP which opens early July. 
Session Soliciting Contributors The Session Soliciting Contributors option allows a submission for a full session (90 minutes in length) with yet-to-be identified speakers and papers/projects. If selected by ACASA, such sessions will be included in the call for participation (CFP) which opens early July.
Complete Session The Complete Session option allows a submission for a complete panel (90 minutes in length) pre-formed with participants and papers/projects chosen in advance by session chairs. This session requires advance planning and information gathering by the chair(s). A panel has a chair, no more than four paper presenters, and can include a discussant.A complete session proposal consists of 1) the panel title and abstract; 2) names, email address, phone number, and institutional affiliation of each participant on the panel; 3) paper titles and an abstract for all the papers. The panel abstract should consist of a statement about the topic and a brief summary of the main argument(s) to be explored (no more than 250 words).
GENERAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
The following guidelines will help prospective participants complete their proposal:

  • All sessions will be 90 minutes in length. Please plan accordingly.
  • Following ACASA selection, the sponsored panel must be submitted online on the CAA portal.
  • In order to submit a proposal to ACASA for consideration, individuals do not need to be current CAA members. However, all participants of the selected ACASA-Sponsored session will need to be current members to finalize the session submission with CAA by April 30th.
  • Online registration for the CAA 108th Annual Conference will begin in October 2020.
  • CVs are required for panel proposals where the chair and, if applicable, the co-chair are known. 
  • Session and paper abstracts should be no more than 250 words in length.
  • The accuracy of information entered into the proposal form (e.g. spelling of names, affiliations, titles) is important, as it will be pulled directly from this database for conference publications such as Abstracts 2020 and on the conference website.
  • The quality of the panel abstracts is the main criterion for acceptance; a panel with a weak abstract or with two or more weak paper abstracts is unlikely to be accepted. The submission process must be completed online.
  • If their proposals are accepted, CAA members may now participate in session panels in consecutive years.

KEY DATES

  • April 19th – Submit Proposal to ACASA Board
  • April 26th – Chosen Sponsored-Panel will be notified
  • April 30th – Deadline for submission to CAA of chosen Sponsored-Panel
  • October 2020 – Online conference registration opens
  • December 2020 – Early conference registration closes

The CAA call for proposals is accessible at: http://www.collegeart.org/proposals/

The Black Arts Movement in the United States and Algeria

18-19 November, 2019

In the 1960s, one attended the emergence in the United States a movement that came to be known as the Black Arts Movement. According to its founders, the assimilation of the African-American would unquestionably go through loss of identity hence a quest for sovereignty. In the course of time, however, it appeared that in the absence of an international footprint, the BAM would be short-lived and sovereignty sheer utopia. At this juncture myriad African-American singers, musicians, writers, poets, playwrights, and political activists like the Black Panthers, seized the opportunity to attend the First Pan-African Festival, organized and hosted in Algiers by the OAU chairperson, Houari Boumediene. Influenced by Algeria’s War of Independence; the meeting of Algeria’s Premier Ben Bella with Dr Martin Luther King in New York and W. E. Dubois in Accra, and by one of Algeria’s adoptive sons, Franz Fanon, they undertook, once in Algiers, to report on their quest and to highlight their respective contributions with the view to win social and historical international recognition.

Contact Info: 

Abdeldjalil Larbi Youcef, Conference Presenter. University Abd el Hamid Ibn BadisContact Email: abdeldjallil.larbiyoucef@univ-mosta.dzURL: https://www.univ-mosta.dz/fle