Call for Papers "The Locations of Power" International Symposium on Southern Africa University of Cape Town Emory University Atlanta, GA (USA) 10-12 November 2006
Southern Africa presents acute questions concerning power, authority, and the challenges of democratization. While all countries in the region have made attempts to adopt democratic institutions and good governance practices, they have also all experienced the limits of liberation. These limits are only partially imposed by global structural conditions ranging from the workings of the international financial markets and institutions (IMF, World Bank, derivatives markets). These global constraints interact with regional and domestic factors in terms of a lack of transformative capacities of the state, of governmental skills, economic stagnation, and the resurgence of 'traditional' authority structures. The symposium seeks papers that explore the following themes. 1. The Problem of Authority and Power Contributions may touch upon a wide variety of issues, for instance, centralized authority and the legacies of colonial decision-making structures both local and national; the role of 'informal authority' in terms of chiefs and traditional healers; or more general discussions around the issue of the conceptualization of authority in Southern Africa. How can we come to grasp the concept of power and authority in the region? 2. State Formation and Capacity Contributions may touch upon issues such as the history of state formation and nation-building; issues of state capacity in terms of service delivery; the democratization project and the underlying socio-structures that might delimit such efforts such as poverty, crime, lack of skills in the public sector and so forth. How are we to understand the relationship between modern state building and the capacities of the state to transform society? 3. The Sociology and Anthropology of Tyranny Contributions are sought on the issue of tyranny and non-democratic decision-making in the region and elsewhere despite heavy international pressures towards practices of good governance; how can we account for such developments in the region? How are we to understand the developments in Zimbabwe and Malawi? What accounts for the continuation of the structures of tyranny at the local and national levels? 4. Democratization in a Globalizing World Contributions are sought that explicitly address the issue of globalization and democracy in the region and elsewhere; what are the factors encouraging democratization emanating from the global level to the local and what are delimiting factors? What are some of the economic, social, political, geo-strategic factors influencing local efforts at democratization? 5. Violence and Memory In the aftermath of the TRC how do we understand memories and the production of histories on and around violence? To what extent do conceptions of violence in a masculine frame help suppress the identification of rape and other forms of sexual violence as political acts? How might historians, sociologists, anthropologists and literary theorists approach the issue of the memory of violence differently? And what insights might oral history add to our understanding of state violence. The Symposium is organized around the critical discussion of pre-circulated papers. In addition, the organizers will solicit papers from scholars working on similar themes from other areas of the world. The Symposium is committed both to deepening our understanding of Southern Africa and to locating the region in a global and comparative framework. The Symposium grows out of a long-standing and productive relationship between the University of Cape Town and Emory University. The Symposium will convene every two years. The 2008 Symposium will take place in Cape Town. The Steering Committee is made up of Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully (Emory University), Thomas Koelble, Maanda Mulaudzi, Owen Sichone (University of Cape Town). To apply to attend the symposium, contact Clifton Crais ([email protected]) and Thomas Koelble ([email protected]) by April 7, 2006. Applications should include a one page abstract of the paper and a current CV. Participants will be required to submit a completed paper and a five page abstract six weeks prior to the symposium. Financial support is limited to members of Emory University and the University of Cape Town. Contact: Clifton Crais email: [email protected] Thomas Koelble email: [email protected] _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
