33rd AFSAAP conference

Victoria University

 Engaging Africa / Engaging Africans: Knowledge, Representation, Politics


December 2 - 4 2010


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Conference Papers

Conference Panels

Conference Photos


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Keynote and guest speakers
 

  
 

Professor Paul Zeleza.
Dean, Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts,
Loyola Marymount University 

 

Professor Munashe Furusa.
Professor and Chair of Africana Studies,
California State University, Dominguez Hills

Professor Lindsay Tanner.
Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Fellow,
Victoria University

  


The 33rd AFSAAP conference was proudly supported by the Victorian Multicultural Commission


 

Keynote speaker presentations

Prof. Zeleza will present the paper "Producing knowledges of Africa: Which knowledges and for which Africa?" 

"African studies is now a vast international enterprise encompassing Africa itself, the former colonial powers of western Europe, countries with large African diasporas in the Americas, as well as countries in Europe and Asia that have had no overt imperial relations with Africa. As a field with diverse and complex institutional, intellectual, and ideological histories, disciplinary and interdisciplinary dimensions, and national and transnational dynamics, African studies is no longer a singular field, if it ever was. Thus there are multiple knowledges for multiple Africas. In this presentation, I would like to map out the major tendencies and trajectories of Africanist knowledges and their respective Africas".

A biography of Prof. Zeleza is available here.
 

Prof. Furusa will present the paper "Re-imagining identities: Continuities and changes in African cultural knowledges in the African diaspora"

 "This paper critically examines discourses on the formation of African and African Diaspora cultural identities. The essay focuses specifically on discourses that engage the questions of continuities and changes in African cultural knowledges in the African Diaspora and thus provide broad discussions of the conceptual issues relating to the study of politics of identity construction in Diaspora societies. Utilizing the terminology of “the politics of identity construction” at the group or societal level  as well as including individual or personal dynamics allows one to perceive, according to Homi Bhabha, where memory acts as the hazardous bridge between trauma of the past experience and cultural identity. Furthermore, the study recognizes the interactions between perceptions of the African self and the contexts within which identities are performed and conceptualized as well as the need to confront the struggles and conflicts of African identities in exile.  Both phenomena are deeply embedded in power dynamics at both the group and personal levels. As Nawal El Saadawi puts it, identity politics remains the exclusive tool of the powerful against the peoples who are being postcolonized (1997).  Consequently, perceptions of individual and group identities tend to evolve from relational economic, political, and cultural dynamics within a given society. Research shows that marginalized groups are more cognizant of their unique identities as part of processes of self-affirmation (Steck et al., 2003). Cultural identity is also often times conceptualized and theorized as dynamic, incomplete, always in process, and always constituted within and not outside (Stuart Hall).  This paper therefore investigates the subject of African cultural identity in the diaspora with its enduring themes of “migrating words and worlds” (Saadawi), difference and belongingness, “authenticity” and “hybridity” as both a theoretical and an existential question (Stuart Hall)".

A biography of Prof. Furusa is available here.


Conference themes and information

Working across a wide range of disciplines, the 2010 conference aims to foster new intercultural and transnational discussion about Australian-African engagements with issues of race, culture, representation, trade, education and diasporas, drawing on a range of both internationally eminent and locally based scholars and research. The theme of this year’s conference reflects an emphasis on exploring how Australia/ns and Africa/ns are engaging each other at the levels of governments, institutions, cultures, communities and the arts.

 In addition to keynote, plenary and paper sessions, this year’s conference will feature:
- a postgraduate paper stream and workshops on Day 1 of the program. Note that in addition to the annual AFSAAP prize of $100, assistance in publishing in the Australasian Review of African Studies, and a certificate, the best postgraduate paper this year will receive a $3,000 prize (see below).
- an African Film Night screening short cinema works relating to the African diaspora and refugee experience in Australia created by doctoral students and independent African and other filmmakers.
- an African Community Forum hearing from African-background community members about current issues and future directions for African communities in Australia that can inform research priorities the politics and practice of Australian-African engagement at local, national and international levels.

*** Postgraduate essay prize ***
Monash University have generously agreed to sponsor this year's AFSAAP Postgraduate essay prize. The prize will be awarded for the best postgraduate paper presented at the conference and will consist of a return airfare from Australia to Johannesburg, assistance in publishing the conference paper in AFSAAP's peer-reviewed journal, the Australasian Review of African Studies, and a certificate. The winner of the prize agrees to present their paper at Monash South Africa, and up to 2 weeks accommodation at the campus will be provided. The campus web site is located at http://www.monash.ac.za/ and final details will be arranged between the prize winner, AFSAAP, and Monash University.


 

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