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Call for Papers
Theme: Rethinking 'Late Colonialisms' in Africa
Type: Online Conference
Institution: University of Coimbra
Northumbria University
Location: Online
Date: 15.–16.9.2022
Deadline: 3.6.2022
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‘Late colonialism’ is a widely used concept in African, colonial, and
imperial history. It has been used to refer to a distinct,
transformative period of colonial governance, from around the time of
the Second World War through to ‘transfers of power’ in the 1950s,
1960s, and 1970s.
The late colonial moment was a critical period across Africa. It has
often been associated with the transformation of colonial
institutions to produce ‘late colonial states’; the rapid growth and
‘Africanisation’ of state institutions; the decline of ‘indirect
rule’ paradigms and managed expansion of electoral politics; the
proliferating role of experts and expertise in governance; the
emergence of new politics of difference and citizenship; and the
growing accountability of imperial and colonial governments,
including internationally. Late colonialism has been characterised,
on one hand, by new projects of economic and social development, but
on the other by military repression and social control. Late
colonialism sought to re-make mid-twentieth century Africa,
responding to new challenges, especially anticolonialism and
nationalism. Postcolonial African nations have had to contend with
late colonialism’s political, economic, social, and cultural legacies
for decades after formal transfers of power.
Although scholars have recognised the importance of this moment in
African history, and have frequently used the term late colonialism,
there have been few attempts to conceptualise or define exactly what
late colonialism was. Scholarship on late colonialism in Africa is
scattered across multiple geographical and thematic sub-disciplines.
We need to know more about fundamental questions. What – if anything
– characterised late colonialism across Africa? What were the roots
of late colonial ideas and practices? And what were the connections
and variations between late colonialism within, and across, African
territories and regions? We need to know more, too, about Africans’
role in making, adapting to, and contesting late colonialism; and
about the ways in which specific late colonial dynamics
simultaneously opened and circumscribed the options available to
postcolonial nations.
This workshop seeks to foreground the concept of ‘late colonialisms’
in Africa in order to interrogate and elucidate it. We would welcome
papers on topics including, but not limited to:
- Conceptualising late colonialisms: past approaches, new perspectives
- The roots of late colonialisms: including genealogies of ideas,
discourses, and repertoires of administration
- Africans’ role in making late colonialisms: including Africans’
campaigning and resistance, and the role of African knowledge and
institutions
- Comparative and/or connected histories of late colonialisms:
including transfers of knowledge, inter-imperial and inter-colonial
circulations, contrasting cases, and how colonial authorities used
comparison and differentiation within and beyond Africa
- The dimensions and practices of late colonialisms:
- Statehood: the growth of states and establishment of new state
and parastatal institutions
- Economics and taxation: who paid for late colonialisms?
- Development: how did development projects relate to wider late
colonial dynamics?
- Security: militarisation, counter-insurgency, security beyond
counter-insurgency
- Social aspects: education, health, community development,
urbanisation, migration
- Media: information and propaganda, the representation of late
colonialisms
- International dimensions: the role of international and
inter-imperial organisations
- The legacies of late colonialisms for postcolonial Africa
We plan to publish a selection of the workshop papers.
To contribute, please submit an abstract of up to 500 words plus a
short CV (2 pages maximum), by Friday 3 June 2022, to:
latecoloniali...@gmail.com
Conference committee:
Toyin Falola (University of Texas at Austin)
Leigh Gardner (London School of Economics)
Bonny Ibhawoh (McMaster University)
Alexander Keese (University of Geneva)
Amandine Lauro (Free University of Brussels)
Enocent Msindo (Rhodes University)
Co-organisers:
Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo (University of Coimbra)
Tim Livsey (Northumbria University)
Email: latecoloniali...@gmail.com
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