15th Annual African, African American, and Diaspora Studies (AAAD) Interdisciplinary Conference
Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA
Organization: James Madison University
Conference Theme: Ithaka na Wiyathi: Land and Freedom
February 12-14, 2025
Deadline for Abstracts: EXTENDED To October 1, 2024
The African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Center at James Madison University invites proposals for its annual interdisciplinary conference to be held from Wednesday, February 12 to Friday, February 14, 2025. The conference brings together scholars, archivists, and practitioners from a wide variety of overlapping and intersecting fields. This year’s theme is “Ithaka na Wiyathi,” or “Land and Freedom,” after the twin objectives of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), alternately known by the British colonizers as the “Mau Mau rebellion.” This sacred and political concept serves as an ongoing reminder of how land and freedom are inextricably linked in history across the African continent and its diasporas. Our aim in invoking their inherent connection is to foreground questions of land justice, rehabilitation, and use as they continually evolve, transform, and proliferate in our global present.
We invite proposals for in-person presentations only. We welcome proposals from scholars from all relevant disciplines at any point in their scholarly careers. Proposals for individual presentations or pre-constituted panels could address, but are not limited to, topics such as these:
- Gendered ecologies
- Posthumanisms and anthropocenes
- Territoriality and deterritorialization
- Land redistribution and appropriation
- Uses of land in education
- Educational districting
- Agri/Cultures
- Land data
- Land and climate justice
- Nomadism
- Transhumance
- Terra nullius and terra communis
- Displacement
- Locations of health and healthcare
- Rehabilitation of and using land
- Development
- Urban environments
- Gender and sexuality and the land
This year we are extending our partnership, established in 2023, with the Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation (GovInn) at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. With them we will be hosting a special stream of panels devoted to “Accountability in African Public Policy and Administration.” If you are interested in presenting your work as part of this special stream, please specify on your proposal.
Please send 300-word presentation proposals, or 1000-word panel proposals, to aaadstudies@jmu.edu by October 1, 2024. In addition to your title and abstract, proposals should include each presenter’s name, institutional affiliation, email address, and a brief bio. Panel proposals must include at least three panelists. Further information and updates about the conference may be found at sites.lib.jmu.edu/aaadjmu.
International respondents traveling to the United States in need of Visa documentation are encouraged to submit their abstracts as early as possible, ideally before September 1. International respondents will be notified on an ongoing basis. US respondents will be notified within a month after the deadline listed above.
https://sites.lib.jmu.edu/aaadjmu/
Delores B. Phillips