Linguapax
Conference on African Renaissance, Integration, Unity and Development
University of South Africa, Pretoria
28th September - 1st October 2011
A call for papers
Since its inception in 1963, the Organization of African Unity - the OAU - made every effort to promote greater African economic, social and political integration within the continent. The OAU was founded on the principle of promoting unity and cooperation among all African Member States and to bring an end to colonialism. The African Union, the successor to the OAU, as it is now called, has embarked on a struggle for a united Africa and economic independence, and development that would change the lives of Africans for the better. The quest for a rebirth of Africa - the Africa Renaissance - began a long time ago. As Pixley ka Izaka Seme noted when he spoke at New York's Columbia University in 1906:
The brighter day is rising upon Africa...Yes the regeneration of Africa belongs to this new and powerful period. The African people...possess a common fundamental sentiment which is everywhere manifest, crystallizing itself into one common controlling idea...The regeneration of Africa means that a new and unique civilization is soon to be added to the world.
Decades after the formation of the OAU there are still many challenges, as Africa groans under the burden of poor or weak governance, pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria; hunger and starvation, poverty and a sense of loss of cultural identity. There is hence a need for a socio-economic, cultural and political rebirth and a re-orientation of the African psyche, leading to a redefinition of Africanness. Like other races throughout the world, Africans themselves must engage in the struggle to give real meaning to their Africanness.
It is against this background that the African Renaissance Campaign was launched in Ghana in May 2010 to coincide with Kwame Nkrumah's centenary celebrations. The conference on African Renaissance to be organized by the African Union's African Academy of Languages in collaboration with the Institute for African Renaissance Studies, University of South Africa and with the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), is a contribution to the campaign.
The conference aims to broaden and deepen the debate on African Renaissance across disciplines. Thus, scholars, practitioners, and stakeholders are invited to submit abstracts focusing on the following themes:
§ The place and role of African languages in the development of Africa
§ The place and role of culture in the development of Africa
§ Women's Empowerment and development in Africa
§ The place and role of education in the development of Africa
§ The role of science and technology in the development of Africa
§ Africa and the globalization discourse
§ Indigenous Knowledge Systems, African Languages and Development
§ African Renaissance and democratic culture and governance in Africa,
§ African traditional governance institutions and frameworks and their contribution to democracy.
§ The challenge of managing democratic elections in Africa
Abstracts of 300 words in English, French, Portuguese, Arabic or any other African Union working language including Kiswahili, should indicate the objectives of the paper, its scope, major contributions and conclusion and should be sent online to:
The Co-ordinator, African Renaissance Campaign Conference, African Academy of Languages, BP 10 Koulouba, Bamako Mali not later than 17 May 2011. E-mail: (Necessites javascript per veure aquest correu-e)
All abstracts will be peer reviewed and the authors will be informed accordingly. Final papers will be published.
All submissions should be word processed as pdf materials cannot be accepted. Further information on the conference can be obtained from www.acalan.org .3 - 17 May 2011: Call for abstracts and review
24 May 2011: Notify the authors of accepted abstracts
24 May - 22nd July 2011: Receive and review of draft papers by the scientific committee
29 May 2011: Inform and invite the authors whose papers have been accepted
29 July - 8 August 2011: Receive revised papers from authors
28 September 2011: Arrival of participants
29 - 30 September 2011: Conference
1 October 2011: Closing session and departure