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Call for Publications Theme: Definitions of African-centered Theory, Methodology and Pedagogy Publication: Journal of Pan African Studies Date: March 2012 (Special Edition) Deadline: 1.9.2011 __________________________________________________ The Journal of Pan African Studies (www.jpanafrican.com) invites papers for a March 2012 edition on African-centered theory, methodology and pedagogy in Africana Studies. African-centered theorists argue that an African-centered perspective in spoken and written form in the American context emerges during the second-order 19th and 20th century speeches and writings of David Walker, Maria Stewart, Henry Garnet and the like, who were calling for cultural nationalism. Like many Africans before them whose actions expressed the vocal and written ideas of cultural nationalism, their sentiments were a direct call for enslaved and quasi free Africans in the crucible of the West to begin to (re) define themselves in relationship to a collective cultural heritage, a unified philosophical approach to reality, and a collective experience of oppression in the struggle to bring about freedom(s) and social justice for Africans residing in America on the one hand, and for Africans the world over, on the other. It is no surprise, then, that cultural nationalism and its later development as revolutionary Black nationalism resurge in the writings of architects constructing the degree granting discipline of Black Studies during the late 1960s and early 1970s. They called for students and practitioners in the discipline to rely on a “black perspective” to research, teach and serve their communities in their quest for cultural, social and political-economic freedom. It is within this trajectory that we can situate the strivings for the development of African-centered theory, methodology and pedagogy (and its variations as Africa-centered, Afrocentric, Africentric, Afrocentricity, Africentricity, and African-worldview) within the discipline of Africana Studies. With now eleven doctoral programs in Africana Studies, the most recent emerging at Brown University in 2010, the questions of theory, methodology and pedagogy are central to disciplinary endeavors, doctoral training and the communities in which we serve. On the one hand, students and practitioners in the discipline continue to have critical conversations around and develop theory and methodology within Black feminist, Black queer, post (post) modern, critical race theory and historical materialist frameworks, often times at the exclusion of African-centered frameworks. On the other hand, to date, students and practitioners within the discipline who attempt to utilize an African-centered perspective continue to sincerely grapple with the relationship between cultural nationalism, revolutionary nationalism and the disciplinary possibilities of a “black perspective” as an approach to the development of African-centered theory, methodology and pedagogy within Africana Studies. This special edition seeks fresh critical and self-critical writings that address African-centered theory, methodology and pedagogy for the development of Africana Studies in the areas of race and racism, history, social justice, community engagement, gender and sexuality, philosophy and religion, aesthetics, psychology, disciplinary research approaches and methodologies, sociology, economics, politics and worldview studies. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to) the following: - Definitions of African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy. - Historical development of African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy. - Self–criticism of any variation of African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy. - Rational for the plausibility and viability of African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy within Africana Studies. - First–order lived Africana experiences informing new models for interpreting and developing African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy. - Relationship between philosophy and religion within African-centered theory, methodology and/or pedagogy. - Role of African-centered theory, methodology and pedagogy in other disciplines, countries and communities. - African-centered theory on gender, sexuality and identity. - African-centered critiques of patriarchy, sexism and heterosexism. - African-centered theory on ideas of freedom within the context of the post-civil rights agenda. - Relationship between historical cultural nationalism, revolutionary nationalism and theoretical, methodological and/or pedagogical uses of African-centeredness. - African-centered approaches to teaching, researching, writing, and interpreting historical narratives, politics, race, racism, economics, gender, culture, sexuality, sociology, social justice, community engagement and psychology. Criteria for selection: Each paper must directly contribute to the development of African-centered theory, methodology or pedagogy for Africana Studies. Interested participants should email a 100 word abstract by September 1, 2011 and their paper by December 1, 2011 via Word document (both must include, title of paper, name, institution, and email address) to the Guest Editor and the Associate Editor. Each paper should not exceed 25 pages. Notification of acceptance will be provided within 30 days of receiving abstract and/or paper. About the Journal of Pan African Studies: The Journal of Pan African Studies works to become a beacon of light in the sphere of African world community studies and research, grounded in an interdisciplinary open access scholarly peer-reviewed construct, simultaneously cognizant of the multilingualism of our audience, and the importance of universal access in cyberspace; regardless of geography, economic, social or cultural diversity. For more information on the Journal of Pan African Studies, visit our website at: http://www.jpanafrican.com Contact: Sekhmet Ra Em Kht Maat, Guest Editor Assistant Professor of Black Studies University of Nebraska at Omaha Email: [email protected] Karanja Keita Carroll, Associate Editor Coordinator & Assistant Professor of Black Studies State University of New York at New Paltz Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
