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Call for Papers "Rethinking Rights in Africa: The Struggle for Meaning and the Meaning of Struggle" Interdisciplinary Conference Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) New College, University of Toronto Toronto, ON (Canada) 24-26 May 2007 __________________________________________________ The ultimate challenge and objective of this conference is to encourage Africanists across the disciplines to think about rights in ways more consonant with local struggles over power and its meaning, and to consider how they might establish more meaningful conversations among the academic world, the world of international and non-governmental agencies, and the worlds in which people strive to imagine, define, create, and defend their rights in Africa and its diasporas. Almost all research and writing in the field of African Studies relates to question of rights, but in many different ways. Although rights discourse has tended to be dominated by political perspectives, public health and economic rights are attracting increasing attention. Much work remains to be done in connecting social activity and cultural expression to the question of rights. The 2007 CAAS Conference seeks to draw less recognized areas of study into dialogue with areas in which thinking about rights as a form of struggle has long been acknowledged. In relating work that has not been thought to be as directly relevant to the subject, and by encouraging new perspectives on existing rights discourse, the conference aims to open new spaces for thinking about a subject of enormous importance to Africas future. In addition to being especially interested in having participants explore the connections between culture and the struggle for rights, CAAS urges conference participants from all disciplines to think specifically about how their work engages issues of rights. The bicentennial of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in 2007 not only provides an apposite focal point around which to think about the meaning of rights and struggle for rights in Africa from a wide array of perspectives. It also requires Africanists to open themselves up to the aspirations of people in both the diasporas and on the continent that created and moved the struggle against slavery forward. Many questions flow from reflecting on this anniversary. For example, do the often well-intentioned, if hollow, claims of abolition also highlight the dissonance between rights discourse as it was and is now applied to Africa and the African experience of rights defined in the West? Reflecting on the legacy of abolition and other western right discourses also opens up a needed discussion of the epistemological biases in the definition of rights. What difference does it make that Western-dominated talk of rights in Africa usually ignores the specificity of local meanings of rights as part of its project to universalize its own culturally specific understandings? What do we mean by, and who gives meaning to, talk about African rights? Are these different from universal rights? Finally, what is the relationship between universal rights discourse and the reality of rights in Africa? Following from the perspective that human rights are better understood as the outgrowth of sentiment rather than reason, and the call to see rights more holistically, the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade provides an ideal historical vantage point from which to reexamine the importance of the histories and cultures of aspirations on the continent as well as throughout the African diasporas. What other meanings has freedom, for example, had beyond the struggle against slavery, racism, or colonialism? What has been the role of acts of imagination in moving forward thought and action about rights in African cultures and societies? How do we go about creating clearer and more nuanced understandings of the history and politics of aspirations? Papers are sought that reflect a wide range of approaches to these issues, from historical to current perspectives, and from all related disciplines. Papers that do not conform to the Conferences overall theme will also be welcome; CAAS mandate is to promote research and enquiry into all aspects of African studies. Proposals for full panels are greatly appreciated; individual paper proposals will be accommodated as space and logistics permit. Sessions will be ninety minutes in length; therefore, panels should consist of four 15-minute presentations, plus a chair and/or a discussant. Working Languages: Either of the official languages of Canada, English or French All submissions, panel or individual, must be received no later than January 15, 2007. Contact: CAAS Conference Program Committee CCASLS SB 115 c/o Concordia University 1455 de Maisonneuve O. Montreal, QC H3G 1M8 Canada Tel: +1 (514) 848-2280 Fax: +1 (514) 848-4514 Email: [email protected] Web: http://caas.concordia.ca/htm/conference-e.htm __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
