Call for Papers "Pan-Africanisms: The Work of Diaspora Within and Without the Academy" Interdisciplinary Graduate Conference African American Studies Department, Yale University New Haven, CT (USA) 20-22 April 2006
The African American Studies Department at Yale University invites submissions for a graduate student conference that will be held April 20-22, 2006 in New Haven, CT. The conference, Pan-Africanisms: The Work of Diaspora Within and Without the Academy, will provide a forum for emergent voices in the field to address the constructions of nationalism, diaspora, and community that animate the scholarship and activism of African American Studies. Additionally, this conference will engage a dialogue of commemoration and reflection. Nearly forty years since the first black studies departments entered the academy, the relevance of their work has continually been the subject of debate. In the past year, academic press querying the state of black studies and its apparent “identity crisis” has concerned exigent questions about what constitutes and distinguishes African American Studies, as well as the institutional and theoretical relationships between African American Studies and other traditional and multidisciplinary departments. The crucial issues imbedded in the debate about how (and why) to delineate the field of African American Studies are central concerns of our conference. We invite graduate students to submit paper proposals that explore the particular work of African American Studies by addressing the historical, literary, political, and philosophical strands of Pan-Africanisms. Rather than positing a distinct ideology, we use the term Pan-Africanisms to refer to the multiplicity of movements, philosophies, and scholarly innovations that complicate the boundaries of diasporic study. We encourage papers that address Pan-Africanisms through themes that include, but are not limited to: global feminisms, gender and sexuality, grass-roots activism, environmental justice and geopolitical movements, religious studies, visual culture, performance studies, literary and filmic criticism and post-colonial theory. We are also desirous of papers that explore the theme of Pan-Africanisms as a set of corresponding questions; such as: What are the intellectual traditions of Pan-Africanism? What does Pan-Africanism mean to a post- (or neo) colonial present? What is the methodology of Pan-Africanism and what is the relationship between its political projects and the academy? How might Pan-Africanism help us identify the particular contributions of black studies and the interchange between African Studies and African American Studies? Similarly, how might the theme of Pan-Africanism help us understand the particular convergence and divergence of the key terms diaspora, transnationalism, and black Atlantic? Graduate students whose work involves black studies across the humanities and social sciences are invited to submit a CV and a *1 page* abstract. Submissions must be received by January 9, 2006. Contact: Pan-Africanisms Conference c/o Brandi Hughes 493 College Street Yale Station P.O. Box 203388 New Haven, CT 06520-3388 USA Phone +1 (203) 432-1170 Email: [email protected] _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
