Approved panels
Papers for each panel can be presented in any of the five languages in which the congress will be held: Catalan (CA), Spanish (ES), French (FR), English (EN) and Portuguese (PT).
1. African studies and diasporas. The Black Spain and Afro-Iberia cases
The objective of this panel is to focus on European case studies focusing on Black Spain, Black Portugal and Afro-Iberia, along the lines promoted by the coordinators in different projects. The interest is to detect and promote all types of studies and analyses that vindicate the need to construct alternative histories based on the study and recovery of African traces. Proposals from disciplines such as Anthropology, History, Sociology, Geography, Political Science, within the framework of Cultural and Post/Decolonial Studies will be especially valued. The panel is coordinated by Yolanda Aixelà-Cabré (IMF-CSIC) and Eduardo Costa Dias (ISCTE-IUL).
2. The Challenges of Political Representation in Africa
This panel investigates the patterns, causes and consequences of political representation in Africa considering both elite and citizen-level perspectives. It aims to discuss and complicate the dominant view that political representation in Africa is mainly driven by ethnic and clientelistic appeals, while substantive forms of representation are rather absent. It also seeks to survey the ways in which different forms of representation (formal and informal) coexist and overlap within African political systems; and identify the channels and factors that hinder or promote the quality of representation. The panel tackles the following (and related) questions: Which groups and interests are more (under)represented in Africa? (Why) Do legislators pay more attention to some constituents than others? To what extent do policy issues shape representation in Africa? What do citizens expect from their representatives, and how do they voice their interests? Does the quality of representation at the elite-level shape citizens political behaviour? The panel welcomes studies that utilize different methodological approaches (case studies or comparative designs, different types of qualitative and quantitative data and methods) and innovative theoretical/analytical frameworks to advance discussions on political representation in Africa.
3. Traces of an African anticolonial Archive in the Iberian Peninsula (1933-1975)
This panel aims to address the traces of the African anti-colonial archive in the Iberian Peninsula during the Estado Novo (1933-1974) and Francoism (1939-1975). We study the traces of a fragmentary and fragmented archive, both due to its production conditions and the diversity of materials that compose it. Firstly, we approach a context largely common to both countries, marked by an ideology that combined imperial nostalgia and the idea of colonial exceptionalism with economic austerity, emigration, political exile, and cultural isolation. Secondly, resistance against colonial domination and the utopian construction of a free and sovereign African future operate clandestinely, opening marginal and dissident spaces that confront censorship and political repression. As a consequence of this, such discourses do not necessarily materialize in artistic productions. From a dual comparative and transnational perspective, we propose that the Iberian counter-archive can be investigated in order to conceive the present as an archive (el-Malik and Kamola 2017, 5–6). The present in question is the post-colonial period of European countries such as Portugal and Spain that manage their colonial pasts through not always effective diversity management models (Aixelà-Cabré 2018).
4. The “literary environmentalism of the poor”. Towards an ecocritique of African literatures
Environmentalism and ecocriticism stand out among the most current developments in contemporary literary studies, especially in the field of comparative literature, postcolonial studies and the debate on world literature. However, these are critical and analytical perspectives that are still underdeveloped in the field of African literary studies, especially with regard to the literatures of Portuguese-speaking African countries. Environmentalism, to be understood as the relationship between nature, culture and society and which, in theory, guides the formation of the modern and contemporary African novel, is rarely (re)known as a theme – a content or an aesthetic – in the field of African literary studies, reproducing the logic of inequality which, according to R. Guha, among others, guides the discourses on ecology and environmentalism in the field of social and political sciences.Guha, among others, guides the discourses on ecology and environmentalism in the field of social and political sciences, where the hegemony of Western and especially North American perspectives silences what is defined as “the environmentalism of the poor” (Martinez-Alier, 2003). Based on these premises, the panel aims to bring together works that are situated within the environmental humanities, focusing on critical reflections on environmentalism in the field of African studies on the one hand and, on the other, analyses and (re)readings of literary works that problematize environmentalist themes in various geographical and linguistic contexts on the African continent. The main objective of the panel is to map, in an exploratory and cartographic sense, the environmental debates in Africa and the “literary environmentalism” that guides African literatures and especially the literatures of Portuguese-speaking African countries.
5. Military coups in the Sahel
Some Sahelian states have experienced a series of military coups, plunging the entire region into an unprecedented security and institutional crisis. The intervention of the army in the political game in Burkina Faso, Guinea-Conakry, Mali and Niger has sparked much debate in academic circles, raising questions not only about the trajectory of these states, but also about democratic transitions in Africa. While crises in the Sahel are linked to the terrorist threat, several reasons, such as political and institutional instability, are cited to explain the recurrence of military coups. This panel analyzes the dynamics and stakes of the army’s intervention in the political game in the Sahel.
6. African and Afrodescendant Cultural Heritage. Identities, Narratives, Tensions.
The richness of African heritage, both tangible and intangible, is unquestionable. Added to this is the variety and importance of the heritage of Afro-descendants, especially through the diaspora processes of the Atlantic Trafficking. Although part of this heritage has been declared World Heritage, most of it has not yet achieved this status. However, African heritage poses identity problems for some communities, in different areas, almost always linked to the assumption of Africanness by people of African descent and the acceptance of this heritage as African by African people. On the other hand, cultural heritage has served, and continues to serve, as a support and guarantor of the construction of the identity of many peoples. Approaches to the decolonization of African collections and the rethinking of Atlantic history with the involvement of people of African descent is another element to be addressed. The problems arising from the protection of heritage, its enhancement, the clashes in the defense of heritage variety in the face of certain uniformity policies of the States, its use as a political weapon, the reinterpretation and evolution of historical heritage are aspects that must also be addressed.
7. Sport and Leisure in Africa
The panel “Sport and Leisure in Africa”, an initiative of the “International Network for Sport and Leisure in Africa” (RIDLA), aims to promote reflection, through the exchange of experiences and research in the different areas of African Studies, on the multiple manifestations and implications of leisure and sports practices on the African continent.
8. Intermedial and inter-artistic relations in African cinemas.
The panel proposes to delve into the relationships that African cinemas maintain with other forms of expression, from literature to music, from orality to communication technologies, from the static arts to dance and the performing arts. These experiences often have to do with the affirmation of identity after the processes of decolonization, just think of the presence of the oral tradition, which from the first decades after independence manifests itself in very different ways: from the collaborative experimentalism of La zerda ou les chants de l’oubli (1979) – the novelist Assia Djebar, the poet Malek Aloula and the musician Ahmed Essyad – to the more conventional narratives of Sembène, or Alassane. If at the beginning the research on its own forms, which implicitly denies the traditional partition between the arts, is carried out in a context of militant Pan-Africanism that must be inserted in the broader internationalism of the Third Cinema, from the second half of the eighties the international panorama changes, and the context will be very different. In this we witness the collapse of national cinemas, the loss of the social importance of cinema, its dependence on foreign capital within capitalist transnationalism. The relationship with the literary and oral tradition will be important in the reinvention of national cinemas since the nineties, but also the increasingly direct relationship of many of the filmmakers with other artistic manifestations and with the art system.
9. African Digitization Processes
The panel is set in the context of the growing importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on the African continent, and the need to approach it from a uniquely African social and cultural perspective. In this sense, the relationship between perceptions, policies, accessibility, infrastructure, agents, actors and digital media are at the center of the discussion of this panel, which aims to foster a space for collaborative, interdisciplinary and multidimensional dialogue by presenting and discussing research developed or underway on digitization processes in Africa. It invites the approach, from the perspectives of the Social Sciences and Humanities, of the African realities and challenges that this transition imposes on the global digital society today, and the current debates about whether it is possible and makes sense to talk about the so-called technological decolonization from African epistemologies.
10. The Struggles for Queer Rights in Africa: Examining the Role of Law and Politics in Shaping the LGBTQ+ Discourses across Africa
The African continent poses itself as a laboratory for the inclusivity of sexual minorities. The colonial legacy of the sodomy laws, which were domesticated and Africanised, still shaped the law and the politics in several African societies. These are sensitive topics, with some legislative movements threatening to undermine inclusion and diversity in society by imposing normative notions of family, sexuality, and behaviour. Nigeria, The Gambia and recently Uganda are among those who adopted restrictive Anti-Homosexuality legislation. Many more have known a growing State-homophobia (for example, Ghana). The same pattern is found in regional human rights mechanisms that faced backlash after some timid positive steps since 2011. Against this backdrop, this panel aims to address the following questions: What is the place of queer people in African societies? How can the law be leveraged to promote inclusivity for queer people? And, how can social movements use law and politics to facilitate dialogue and safeguard diversity, respect, and dignity? This panel welcomes contributions, across all fields of knowledge, that critically examine the queer experience in African societies, the challenges posed by rampant homophobia, and the responses and strategies necessary to combat conservative movements.
11. Perception of Environmental Problems and the Sustainable Development Goals in the Context of the (re)naturalization of Urban Rivers in Africa
Control over nature and the exploitation of natural resources is at the heart of urbanization and globalization. The relationship between a city and its rivers (and the environment) is a political construction with severe social implications. Throughout human history, rivers have been of fundamental importance and a key element in the success of civilizations. Although the place of water in the city has been a constant concern, rivers do not feature prominently. For the sake of rapid flow and to create urbanizable spaces, many rivers were straightened, channelized and covered, and riparian vegetation replaced by concrete and roads, gradually disappearing from the urban landscape. Unsustainable and less resilient urbanization has led to the degradation of rivers, which have become a permanent threat and are now one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. This degradation has resulted in recurring problems such as flooding, erosion and landslides, occupation of unhealthy areas, pollution, garbage, disease, etc. Rivers are often only remembered for their negative impacts. On the other hand, there is growing concern about the regeneration of rivers and the recovery of ecosystems. While in industrialized countries there are already many examples of the re(naturalization) of rivers, in Africa the cases are rare and little studied. Rapid urbanization, combined with limited resources, often prevents the effective restoration of urban rivers. Challenges such as the lack of waste management systems and pollution from human waste contribute to the degradation of water quality and habitats.
12. Cross-border mobility of jihadist groups and territorial reconfiguration in the Sahel.
For several decades now, the Sahel region has been faced with several types of threat, including rebellions, hostage-taking and terrorist attacks. At root, several reasons are given to explain this phenomenon: Tuareg irredentism, weak states and porouś borders. This context of fragilitý affecting the Sahel states has resulted in the emergence of cross-border terrorist groups. It seems obvious that mobility implies the movement not only of populations, but also of jihadist groups, vigilante groups and other non-regional paramilitary groups. The territorial reconfiguration resulting from the New Alliance of Sahel States (NAS) raises questions about the mobility of cross-border terrorist groups in this new geopolitical space. How are terrorist groups adapting to this reconfiguration? Can the new geopolitical alliance be a response to insecuritý linked to cross-border mobilitý in the Sahel?
13. African cities: decolonial approaches to contemporary urbanization processes and phenomena
Urbanization is a process of demographic, economic, environmental, spatial and socio-cultural transformation of societies. On the African continent, the specific historical-geographical contexts of these processes have produced urban centers with particular characteristics. However, urban studies have taken Euro-American cities as paradigms of urban “development” and “modernity”, rejecting the intrinsic characteristics and alternative modernities of other geographies, particularly African cities. Contemporary urbanists have therefore been claiming these “other cities” as not only equally valid, but above all necessary for forging and expanding urban theory. This critique questions research models, theories and methodologies imported from Euro-American contexts, which are poorly suited to the contexts of global cities. Thus, this panel invites the discussion of decolonial approaches to urban phenomena and processes on the African continent, through various theoretical concepts and methodological practices.
14. Cross-representations of the postcolonial city in the contemporary African novel
Literature, in all its tones, suggests that we have entered urban civilization. We’re all city dwellers, embedded in urban communities in crisis. The book is a fertile mediator between our dreams and our hauntings, between our imagination and reality, between what is and what will be. Frank Lanot, « La ville et la littérature » in Thierry Paquot, Michel Lussault (dir.), Dictionnaire de la géographie et de l’espace des sociétés, Paris, Editions Belin (2013), p. 336. The city has always been a favorite subject of inspiration for writers, who have sought to depict its dynamism, diversity, beauty or ugliness. The city is a place where the forces of modernity are concentrated, where cultures meet and where individual and collective identities are constructed. The city is the result of a set of representations in constant, uninterrupted interaction (Molina, 2007: 290). Issuing such a mandate implies agreement on a very broad definition of the concept of “representation”. Thus, far from the artificially simplistic divide between the ideal and the material, it is advisable to use it in a constructivist posture, to consider that representations organize our relationship to the world and indeed to urban space. Our aim in this international, interdisciplinary panel is to give an account of this wealth of discourse, whose media and versions intertwine in what can currently be termed urban thinking and writing.
15. North-South University Development Cooperation: Towards more Equitable Academic Partnerships
North-South relations are historically marked by stark power disparities and imbalances. Development-oriented cooperation projects are criticized for being donor-centred—from agenda-setting to the choice of thematic areas, from funding structures to project design—and for following Northern institutions’ interests rather than Southern priorities. Such structural hierarchies have come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, resulting in calls to rethink North-South cooperation, whether framed as ‘development’ or fundamentally critical thereof.
These conversations are notable in university-facilitated cooperation between Northern and Southern higher education institutions. Even though university development cooperation remains little explored as a modality for aid and as an object of academic research, its potential for rethinking partnerships has been highlighted by Northern and Southern actors alike, in theory, through policy agendas, and in practice. Building on the growing calls for more equal and meaningful North-South relations, and focusing on Euro-African ties, this panel will explore lessons learned, challenges, and tentative solutions for improving North-South university-facilitated international development cooperation. It will welcome lessons drawn from both traditional and innovative collaboration formats and grounded in both short-term and long-term partnerships. Both case studies and conceptual presentations will be welcome from across the social sciences and from scholars engaged in applied research. Submissions involving Iberian universities and their African counterparts will be especially welcome.
16. The issues of schooling and gender equality in Africa: progress and difficulties in implementing SDGs 4 and 5.
This panel aims to bring together papers with a critical view of the implementation of SDGs 4 and 5 on the ground. We intend to frame reflections on how these goals materialize in concrete educational policies and contribute to free, equitable and quality access to primary and secondary education, and the mitigation of all forms of discrimination against women and girls. Which actors are involved in the different contexts? What challenges and contradictions are there? What strategies are most effective? How do practices clash with program designs?
17. African responses to multilingualism in Africa: challenges, challenges and opportunities.
Multilingualism is certainly not an exception but the rule in African societies, and it is observed at different levels: social, community and individual. In fact, Africa, and especially sub-Saharan Africa, is known as one of the most linguistically complex and diverse geographic areas in the world. This linguistic diversity also entails an enormous dynamism that is manifested not only in the tendency to mix languages, but also in the fact that one of the effects of mixing is the appearance of new codes. Multilingualism and, associated with it, multiculturalism, are therefore central features of African socio-cultural realities. This African multilingualism can be valued as a resource and source of wealth, but it can also be interpreted as a challenge, challenge or problem (Wolff 2016; Wolff 2018). In this panel, we want to approach multilingualism in Africa from different thematic angles, theoretical postulates and historical and geographical perspectives. Together we want to reflect on the challenges and challenges of both a theoretical and practical nature, but also on the opportunities and advantages that multilingualism can present for the continent, for different regions, countries, cities or communities. Proposals can be framed or inspired by different linguistic disciplines (sociolinguistics, contact linguistics, dialectology, discourse analysis, glotopolitics, etc.), but can also be formulated from broader philological approaches (e.g. media and communication, literature) or from neighboring disciplines that can contribute something to the panel’s theme. For reference, the following entries are proposed.
18. Education in an interconnected world: experiences of liberation in the global South
In various African contexts, decolonization processes have paved the way for transforming education into an instrument of emancipation. This panel, dedicated to narratives of Education Histories in the Global South, has a twofold objective: to bring together experiences of education in contexts often classified as peripheral, looking at the African context, deconstructing this notion of subalternity, thus helping to strengthen a comparative perspective, and to create a broad research network, going beyond the hegemonic vision of the Euro-Western world. The panel also seeks to debate the results of local, regional, national and transnational research, with the aim of highlighting the interconnectedness of the histories of education in the contemporary world. As such, the panel aims to broaden the analysis of education pathways, going beyond a simplified understanding of colonialism, the nation-state and the responses of local communities, institutions and individuals. The panel is structured around 4 objectives: 1) Historical reflections, seeking to analyze colonial and national discourses and policies on education, bringing examples from the field; 2) Encounters with education, with a focus on intercultural transfers in the context of formal and informal colonial education; 3) Education and Resistance, focusing on the study of education for Africans and the experiences of educational resistance; and 4) The role of education and women’s forms of expression, with special attention to narratives, language and literature, which mark the history of women’s education in African contexts. Panel open to communications in Portuguese and Spanish.
19. Colonial Continuities in Justice, Criminological Studies and Law in Africa: Crossed Views.
In the African colonial context, modern European law and the state were used to impose on the enslaved and the colonized a legal and political monism aimed at concealing and subordinating the plurality of legal, political, cultural, religious and economic orders that they brought to the islands. Being at the basis of slave society, this hegemonic law and state, on the one hand, contributed to the removal of contact with other forms of legal and political organization on the continent and, on the other hand, to the resistance and recreation of Afro-Black heritage in surreptitious forms of management and resolution of political-legal conflicts in the localities. This panel aims to analyze and challenge the colonial and Eurocentric continuities in African law and justice after independence in a context marked by numerous security challenges, as well as to discuss alternative legal, social and political proposals based on theoretically and/or empirically supported work. In addition to the counter-colonial approach and counter-coloniality, legal, sociological, anthropological and criminological visions are presented that rethink traditional approaches and methodologies in order to broaden the horizon of legal and political constellations, such as in the fields of community justice, collaborative justice, restorative justice and other unrecognized latitudes of African legal and political plurality.
20. The self-criticism of decoloniality: challenges, limitations and prospects
Our panel proposal for the XII Iberian Congress of African Studies seeks to foster a constructive discussion on the complexities of the concept of decoloniality, especially its historical use, its pragmatic implications and the retrospective evaluation of the results of its application in the academic sphere in recent years. In Frantz Fanon’s writings during the 1950s, one can see the recurrence of a reticent stance towards the idea of “decoloniality”, at that time founded on the argument that decolonization should be a long and gradual process, in counter-proposal to the demand of the independence struggles – especially the armed struggles – which demanded an absolute and immediate break with colonial relations. Since then, the concept of decoloniality has gained a lot of traction in academic circles, especially after the Durban Conference and the subsequent approval of the UN Decade of People of African Descent. This panel brings together researchers who have been working on issues of decoloniality to debate constructively and self-critically about the challenges faced so far, the victories, the limitations and the prospects for the future.
21. Naming and Identity struggles in African feminisms
Using documentary analysis and observation, this study intends to bring in evidence the contribution of African feminists voices in constructing African feminisms knowledge and experiences in contrast with global western feminism. Feminism is a concept that instills suspicion in most African cultures, as it is perceived to evoke hatred towards men and, consequently, to be against motherhood and other family-related values. However, experience shows that feminists and feminist ideals existed in African contexts even before the emergence of Western feminism. Additionally, politically active women have left their mark on the entire history of Africa, from the precolonial period to anticolonial struggles, independence movements, and the expansion of Pan-Africanism. On the one hand, the study argues that feminist ideology in the African context is sometimes subject to contentious and poor misunderstandings. On the other hand, the study establishes that feminisms exist in Africa and they reflect the diversity of African contexts. The study shows that in postcolonial and decolonial Africa eras, feminisms in Africa face challenges that are rooted in local and global contexts. For this reason, African feminisms are not constructed in a vacuum; instead, they are embedded in other existing feminisms across the globe, including Western feminism, Black and South feminisms, Pan-African feminisms, and popular feminisms. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that feminisms in Africa can be compared with Western feminism but should not be evaluated solely through its lens.
Key concepts: African Feminisms, Black Feminism, identity, Popular Feminism, Western Feminism
22. African Sounds, Power and Knowledge. Potentialities, challenges and decolonial possibilities of historical sound archives on Africa.
In this panel we discuss African sound archives produced as part of various scientific and cultural expeditions/missions to rural territories in Africa during European colonial occupation and in the period following African independence. Considering that these sound archives are still largely unknown to academia and the wider public and, above all, to the African nations and communities that have been the target of these initiatives, we intend to make these archives and the knowledge that has been produced about Africa visible and understandable. Approaching these archives as social and political practices, what stories do these collections reveal, hide or omit? How can we get to know and understand these archives from Africa? Favoring interdisciplinary approaches between anthropology, ethnomusicology, history and postcolonial/decolonial studies, we call for interventions that critically discuss these sound archives from different experiences and contexts. For example: think about the dilemmas and challenges posed by research in these archives; study the provenance of these collections and archives; understand practices of colonial oppression and violence, processes of agency and African resistance; inquire into colonial legacies, continuities and discontinuities; demonstrate the importance of participatory and collaborative methodologies with ex-colonized African communities, or their descendants and representatives; interpret processes and policies of preservation and patrimonialization of African expressive cultures, and their relationship with national, ethnic and cultural identities; reflect on the possibilities of decolonization of historical sound archives and on processes of historical reparation.
23. LITANY OF LIFE: AESTHETICS OF DEATH, REAL AND SYMBOLIC, IN MOZAMBICAN LITERATURE
The theme of death has been exhaustively worked on and discussed by countless philosophers and poets from all nations and all times; however, Portuguese-speaking African poets also awaken us to the reflection that – from the silence that words erect in the patrimony of being, as a litany that listens to instincts, when mining life, does the word remain on the inexorable journey of the end? From the internal, real or symbolic dynamics of death, the poets caulk the voids, the instincts of loss, the absence that becomes present in poetics dilucidated and recovered as the magna of human (re)existence. In the litany of death, in the musicality of instincts, in the funeral dirge, in the elegies of human memory, ecstasy decants the “secret journey/ of an imaginary bird/ in search of the instant/ where everything begins again” (Artur, apud Saúte, 2004, p. 553): death, as an attempt to answer the initial question. Poets plow the word into the time and space of sensibility, “because weapons made it precocious and unnatural, distancing it from the African conception of the world, according to which the dead enter another stage” (Secco, apud Dopcke, 1998, p. 219). In this panel, we accept proposals that discuss not only the African conception of death understood as a passage to another existential dimension, but also the real and symbolic “metaphor of death” in space/time, in the score/song, in the Mozambican text/context that states: “Death/A game, a pause, a note. Violence/As sensual as life” (Lemos, 2009, p. 214). Keywords: literature; Mozambique;
24. Tracing Ruination: Research Methods for Engaging with the Remains of Environmental and Political Histories
This panel seeks to explore the prevalence of ruins across the African continent, highlighting their significance as repositories of historical narratives and environmental changes. It proposes a shift in perspective towards considering ruins not only as man-made structures but also as traces of anthropocentric interventions, including environmental changes. The panel advocates for a methodological rethinking grounded in interdisciplinary perspectives, emphasizing the interconnectedness between humans and their environments. It calls for creative methodologies that uncover hidden layers of history and reimagine human-nature relationships amidst environmental challenges. Drawing on the concept of “tracing,” the panel encourages active engagement with the present environment; ground, soil, water, air, and other materials, and its communication of political narratives.
Examples of innovative research methods, such as hydrophonic sound recordings and three-dimensional reconstructions based on oral histories and memories, underscore the importance of expanding research beyond sight. By showcasing creative approaches to investigating the afterlives of political projects in Africa, the panel aspires to contribute to a holistic understanding of the continent’s historical landscape tapestry.
The panel invites contributions that explore Africa’s rich historical heritage and the complexities of its socio-environmental dynamics by delving into neglected layers of ruinations and examining the intricate relationships between humans and their surroundings. By uncovering these overlooked aspects, we aim to provide a platform for an extended discussion about Africa’s past and present, highlighting the interconnectedness between the past interventions and the environments they inhabit.
25. Lessons and questions from socio-anthropological research on Neglected Tropical Diseases in Africa: Weaving bridges for a more equitable Global Health.
Today’s Global Health tends to make invisible an Africa with multiple faces, with specific public health problems, but also with the capacity to create effective and contextualized interventions. Decolonizing global health involves recognizing and addressing these structural inequities, as well as challenging the dominant narratives that contribute to the marginalization of populations affected by Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). In this panel, we propose to rethink the approach to global health from the experience of research on NTDs in Africa; making visible the African response to these neglected diseases, questioning the dichotomies and hierarchies of knowledge, and trying to identify and address the narratives and practices that produce and reproduce imbalances in the global research agenda. What do we need to consider in order to do public health policy-relevant, contextually appropriate, and culturally sensitive research? How can we move towards a more equitable Global Health?
26. MIGRATIONS: SECURITIZATION AND NECROPOLITICS
We are currently in a period referred to as “the era of migration” due to the large flow of human displacement at the national, regional and international levels. In the case of the African continent, this has been characterized by the great dynamism of intracontinental migratory flows, surpassing in numbers the number of people going to other continents. However, the configuration of the Schengen Area in Europe brought with it important restrictions on access to non-EU foreigners, especially preventing the entry of Africans. The deployment of resources to reduce arrivals through the Mediterranean Sea to southern Spain resulted in the consolidation of the Atlantic Route as a way to reach European soil, making the Canary Islands the main gateway to the North since 2006. Since then, the central government has approached episodes of increased migratory influxes from a security perspective, shifting the migration issue to the security agenda and facilitating the implementation of exceptional measures. Open to case studies of the African continent, we are interested in investigating to what extent the theory of securitization developed by the Copenhagen School can be an adequate analytical tool for the study of migration policies designed in relation to the African continent, reflecting on whether the theory of securitization could dialogue with the concept of necropolitics proposed by Achille Mbembe to explain the new forms of politics that constitute the organization of death.
27. Voices and Visions: Exploring Postcolonial Places Through Participatory Audiovisual Co-creation
To respond to the challenge of decolonizing social science research, scholars have turned to creative applications of participatory audio-visual in various African contexts. Seeking to identify “new empathetic routes through which to broker everyday knowledge” (Pink 2011, 451), such methods can help to awaken otherwise hazy memories, illustrating and communicating this past to an outside observer while also connecting to the immediacy of human experience in an affective and often non-verbal manner. The realms of sound and image can enable both researcher and participants to evoke various senses, meanings, experiences and emotions. Such methods have become an important stimulus to prompt people’s own stories and indigenous perspectives. Followed responsibly, they can help participants to assume control over their narratives: expressing priorities through their own gaze and using their own voice. Oftentimes, the process of co-production is no less important and edifying as the final products, both for the communities (e.g., by honing skills and opening new avenues of co-creation) and for the researcher (e.g., by informing them about social power dynamics and priorities).
This panel explores the intersection between audiovisual qualitative methods, participatory research approaches, and the study of the tangible and intangible in postcolonial Africa. Presenters are welcome to share their experiences—regardless of discipline—employing established and exploratory creative methods: participatory photography and videography, graphic anthropology and mental mapping, audio walks and other movement-oriented audiovisual methods, amongst others. We encourage discussions on practical considerations, e.g. equipment, participant selection, training sessions, ethical dilemmas, and cascading effects of co-production.
28. New historiographical perspectives on the medieval Saharan space: human dynamics and intra-African and intra-Islamic religious and intellectual exchanges up to the 16th century. XI/XVII
This panel raises a series of questions about the processes of trans-Saharan exchange in medieval times, with special interest in the human groups involved and the religious and intellectual traditions in which they are inscribed. The main objective is to identify new historiographical strategies to deepen the knowledge of the genesis of the Islamic tradition in the central and western Sahel, overcoming the models built on the uncritical interpretation of the known textual evidence and the apriorisms of French colonial Africanism. Specifically, this panel aims to review the Maghrebi biographical and legal literature in search of traces of the presence in North Africa of Muslim scholars of Sahelian origin between the 2nd and 3rd centuries. III/VIII and XI/XVII. Similarly, and in the absence of Sahelian textual evidence prior to the s. XI/XVII, this panel seeks to reflect on orality as a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge of Islam and Islamic jurisprudence in West Africa, as well as on the causes of the irruption of a very abundant manuscript culture from that time onwards. In addition to this, the panel proposes to analyze the material evidence and the climatological conditions in which the settlement of the Sahara-Sahelian areas developed, in order to better understand the implications of the different processes of desiccation and humidification in the late-antique and medieval periods on the dynamics of exchange of the human groups that settled or moved on both sides of the Sahara.
29. The Canary Islands in the face of the decolonial dilemma: rethinking Africa from its complexity.
European and Spanish universities are increasingly promoting internationalization as a way of responding to the challenges of an increasingly globalized world (CYD Foundation, 2023). Meanwhile, links and connections with African universities remain invisible or lack sufficient support for their realization. This is due to the strength with which certain colonial logics still operate in the continent, which, hand in hand with the academic extractivism that operates in the discourses of openness to the West and its supposed benefits, intensify the mechanisms of control over non-Western bodies and knowledge. How to think the “decolonial dilemma” in this context? This panel aims to explore this question by assuming the place that the Canary Islands archipelago could play in order to make visible the diversity of ways of thinking, knowing and doing that can be encompassed under the decolonial perspective. That is why we invite those who are thinking, researching and working in the social fabric of the Canary Islands – we are referring to residents born in the islands and on the African continent – to share their critical vision about the functioning of their institutions, cultural associations and political collectives. We call on all these people to present academic, literary, performative, audiovisual, etc. works that attempt to provide answers that do not elude the decolonial dilemma that crosses the reality of the Canary Islands; answers that face the complexity that describes its African location, as well as its capacity to generate transformations, learning and experiences that help us to imagine another possible world.
30. Afro-descendant and Afro-migratory literatures in the Iberian Peninsula.
This panel proposes an exploration of the links and imaginaries related to the African continent in the 20th and 21st centuries by Afro-descendants and Africans located in the Iberian Peninsula. In the case of literature and other arts, elaborations around history, memory and imagination are crucial. With this proposal we invite critical reflection on the terms in circulation, case studies in the Portuguese or Spanish spheres, as well as comparative perspectives in literature and the arts.
(Re)thinking the Rif and Morocco: Critical approaches to plural ways of being and being in the world in the contemporary world.
This panel will address, from critical theoretical and epistemological perspectives from the field of Social Sciences and Humanities, social and political practices concerning the plural forms of being and being in Morocco, with special attention (but not only) to the events of the recent past and the present in the Rif territory. We are particularly interested in proposals that reflect innovative working perspectives that allow us to go beyond hegemonic colonial and postcolonial approaches, and proposals that propose critical revisions and revisitations of what has been researched and sustained to date. Papers may belong to the field (among others) of feminist and gender studies, studies on colonialism and decoloniality, studies on linguistic diversity, studies on human-non-human relations…
32. Violence in Africa: from the colonial system to the postcolonial world.
This panel will seek to exploit the continuities and ruptures between colonial and postcolonial violence. It will explore the motives for the violence, the perpetrators, the victims and the methods of repression, to find out what threads linked the two phenomena and to discern to what extent one derives from the other (or if on the contrary they are violence of opposite sign and without direct relation).
33. A critical look at the phenomenon of war and peace in sub-Saharan Africa.
The panel attempts to analyze the phenomenon of war and peace in the Sub-Saharan African region in recent decades, reflecting, on the one hand, on what are the most appropriate theoretical-analytical tools to understand the causes, nature, consequences and impacts of armed conflict in a country (or region) of Sub-Saharan Africa, and on the other, how to analyze, critically, the different policies and activities that, at local, national, continental and global levels, are being carried out to “make peace” and respond to this phenomenon. Specifically, we seek, among others, case studies that introduce novel reflections on under-researched aspects of a scenario (and/or episode) of armed conflict and/or the peace-building agenda(s), such as, among many others: the role of capital conflict against the fabric of life, the sex-generating dimension of war or peace, the challenges for the achievement of a just, ecofeminist and sustainable peace, indigenous knowledge and practices of peace-building, etc. We also welcome papers that focus on critical approaches (feminist, decolonial, etc.) to the current theoretical debates surrounding armed conflict in Africa, the current changes in the global peace agenda, or the academic controversies surrounding the prevailing models of peace or the different solutions proposed to build peace.
34. The role of the political opposition in the context of democratic regression in Africa.
The main objective of this Panel is to understand and analyze the opposing political actors in African countries in the context of the autocratic drift affecting the continent and all societies globally. Recognizing the considerable variation in the degree of institutionalization of opposition parties, their level of local and/or national deployment and the diversity of agendas and ideologies they mobilize, and based on the premise that the study of political oppositions is essential for studies of political systems, democracies and power dynamics, the Panel asks, among others, the following questions, applied to the African continent: how is dissent expressed and anti-government agendas mobilized in the current context of democratic regression? What spaces are available for opposition action? How do the opposition parties act? What agendas for democracy and democratization are proposed? How do you connect with citizens, political protest movements or political activism that are not part of political parties? What novelties and continuities do phenomena such as PASTEF in Senegal bring and what implications does it have for the democratic reality of African countries? Based on these questions, the panel aims to explain the mobilization, action and proposal strategies of opposition political parties and to map the interaction between opposition parties and the citizenry and political activism. The panel thus seeks to contribute to some of the gaps that exist
AFRICA, AFRODIASPORIC RELATIONS AND ATLANTIC CHALLENGES: cartographies from decolonization, gender and the geopolitics of knowledge.
This panel reflects on the cultural materialization of colonial inequality in Africa and in the Atlantic space, which is presented as a witness of a shared history between its shores, a history of migrations, of comings and goings throughout the 17th to the 21st centuries. We seek to analyze the way in which the concepts and categories we use are traversed by multiple debates and dominant narratives that are in turn immersed in spaces of legitimization. In this sense, we propose to deepen in a transformative learning from a decolonial approach, with special attention to gender issues, seeking approaches to the various forms in which they manifest themselves today, trying to articulate the decolonial perspective with ecology, violence, interspecies debates, religiosity, spirituality, identity and the geopolitics of hegemonic knowledge.
36. Identity constructs in Western Sahara and the role of Spanish.
For decades, Western Sahara has been the scene of a complex territorial conflict that is deeply rooted in the history of colonization and post-colonial identity formation. This panel will analyze the construction of the Saharawi identity, with special attention to the role of the Spanish language. The theoretical basis is provided by Manuel Castells’ “The Power of Identity”, which sheds light on the dynamic nature of identity in a networked society.
42. Annobon Island and the Annoboneses – a world apart
The island of Annobón, a small land lost in the middle of the Gulf of Guinea, has an original and very rich history: its population, of diverse origins and status, experienced slavery and Portuguese colonization in the 16th century, but also since the beginning of the 18th century. century, decolonization and the abolition of slavery.
This united people will fight for their freedom by developing different strategies until the end of the 19th century. At this time, the Annobonais suffered several droughts and famines that weakened them considerably. Spanish missionaries, the Claretians, came to open a mission in the main village of the island. Through their presence and actions they allow us to recognize the Spanish colonization of this territory. Although the islanders are no longer officially enslaved, some still suffer forced labor and have to be exiled from their homeland. However, they continued to show resistance whenever they were victims of abuse of power by the colonial government and missionaries.
They know how to express their love for their island and culture through words. His written and oral testimonies are rich and numerous. This literary heritage is increasingly valued thanks to various editions of stories, legends, collections of old souvenirs and other initiatives taken by the inhabitants themselves. Not to mention writers whose notoriety did not stop at the border of Equatorial Guinea. This is the case of Juan Tomás Avila Laurel.
43. Structural economic transformations in Africa: why, how and when.
This panel proposes a discussion on the role of structural transformations in Africa, their feasibility, processes and actors. It raises the question of whether they are desirable given the configuration of global capitalism, and, if so, which directions and forms are the most promising. This panel proposes papers documenting various forms of structural economic transformation, such as industrialization (green or not), expansion of formal or informal services or transformations of the agrarian productive model, among others.
44. AFRICA AND DIASPORA IN THE SOUTH ATLANTIC: SLAVERY, EMANCIPATION AND POST-ABOLITION (17TH-20TH CENTURIES)
This panel invites researchers with an interest in the debate on recent studies on African enslavement in the Portuguese Empire, particularly in Africa and the South Atlantic. We welcome papers that focus on the experiences, perspectives, projects and expectations of African women and men and their descendants, and the different social networks built between them and their masters, former masters, enslaved, freed, free, black, mixed-race and white people in their various reorganization strategies in slave and post-abolition societies in the Portuguese Empire between the 18th and 20th centuries. In this sense, themes around: ethnic and trans-ethnic identities, free and compulsory labor, slave resistance, emancipation, the black family, crony relations, religious practices, cultural systematizations in colonial and post-colonial perspectives are of great value. The new methodological concepts, especially those guided by the tools of microanalysis, which focus on the daily arrangements of the “anonymous”, have contributed significantly to the renewal of studies on African trafficking and slavery. It is worth noting that, since the 1970s and 80s, issues related to the daily lives and forms of social reorganization of Africans and their descendants have become the object of research by historians of slavery and post-emancipation (COOPER, HOLT, SCOTT, 2005). However, there is still little knowledge about the experiences of people of African origin and their descendants in the Atlantic World, particularly in the Portuguese Empire.
45. The African Diaspora and Its Margins: ancestry, culture and religiosity in Brazil
The purpose of the panel is to discuss how a network of religious expressions was built in Brazil from the trafficking of blacks from African countries subjected to the tragic centuries of enslavement that marked Brazil’s history. The diaspora made it possible for Bantu, Haussá, Yoruba and indigenous beliefs and customs to mix, giving rise to religious strands such as Candomblé, Umbanda, Pajelança, Tambor de Mina, Ifá, Batuque, Jurema, Terecô, Xangô from the northeast and others. These mixtures result in the incorporation of various elements of African religious traditions with indigenous practices, as well as the influence of Catholicism and Islam. It is important to understand that this process of mestizaje does not imply the simple overlapping of cultures, but rather the creation of new practices, beliefs and cultural expressions which, in addition to reflecting the diversity and creativity resulting from the engendering and resistance between different peoples, implies their understanding of the cult of nature and the communion of various entities that inhabit these places, such as original ancestors, inkisses, voduns, orixás, enchanted ones, divine ancestors of a religious tradition founded on the diaspora. The ethnic identities forged in Brazil will become Candomblé nations, permeating the idea of the nation-city within the terreiros, shaping alliances between peoples, preserving and updating identity rites. Thus, in addition to differentiating ritual modes and styles, nation indicates, above all, peoples of origin who have perpetuated themselves in Brazil. In this mestizaje, however, the Brazilian – and therefore Afro-Amerindian – character of Afro-Brazilian religiosity stands out.
46. Afrodescendence, gender and aesthetic and ritual gestures.
The panel proposes to analyze Afro-descendant aesthetics and religiosities in diasporic places. It is proposed to analyze syntheses between different cultural frameworks and reinventions of African memories in the context of transculturation (Ortiz 1991). In particular, contributions are solicited on female religious and aesthetic practices and discourses that valorize Afro-descent. From this gender perspective, we are invited to focus on the multiple dynamics that, in globalization, represent networks of transnational solidarities (Capone, Argyriadis 2011) linked to the idea of Africa and at the same time constitute local creative practices that oppose the dominance of the Western component in the way of thinking and experiencing the notion of decolonization (Gilroy 1993). In particular, it is invited to address the transmission of Afro-descendant memory enacted through shared everyday, aesthetic or ritual gestures that represent concrete practices of belonging and decolonization (Zapponi 2023) and suggest transnational forms of social cohesion.
47. African counter-narratives to the (post)colonial heritage dilemma.
In current heritage practices and policies, a hegemonic discourse still prevails that privileges Western standards by focusing on the artistic and the historical, the monumental and the tangible, what Laurajane Smith (2006) calls the “authoritative heritage discourse”. This discourse is insufficient to address the heritage recognition of those cultural assets whose genealogy is linked to the processes of European colonial occupation in Africa. In particular, because this heritage involves the complexity of being perceived by local populations as external and belonging “to others” and hardly assumed as an endogenous heritage to be conserved and preserved. This session aims to discuss new approaches to the recognition of Africa’s (post)colonial cultural heritage. To this end, two key questions are posed: what is or what does this heritage mean and to whom does it belong? The aim is to reveal decolonial alternatives to the “authoritative heritage discourse” through values and narratives specific to the African socio-cultural context and by focusing on new actors, epistemologies, narratives and phenomenologies. In this framework, the session will discuss new conceptual and methodological approaches to the study of (post)colonial cultural heritage in sub-Saharan Africa, the role of this legacy for the sustainable development of the African continent, its renewed meanings by local populations and their everyday experiences, and how to present and preserve it within communities and cultural institutions.
48. Language policies in Africa: practices and issues
History, the construction of nation-states and globalization, as well as new technologies and geopolitics, have changed the (socio)linguistic landscape of African countries. Faced with the challenge of multilingualism, governments have adopted language policies. Language policy is a set of measures adopted by a state with regard to one or more languages spoken within its sovereign territory, with the aim of modifying the corpus or status of the language, generally to reinforce its use, and sometimes to limit its expansion. It can involve developing the corpus of a language by standardizing spelling and lexicon, or by encouraging the creation of terminology. It can also be summed up as changing the status of a language by declaring it official. Finally, language policy can recreate a language whose use has been lost. However, a distinction needs to be made between the languages actually spoken in a country and their official management. For African governments, resolving the language issue is crucial to the implementation of national and development policies. In which language(s) should education, administration or justice be provided? Which languages should be used in economic exchanges and international relations, or in the fields of science and technology? This panel aims to analyze the socio(linguistic) situations of African countries. It also examines language coexistence and usage. He also studies language practices, ideologies and linguistic representations.
49. Historical and contemporary challenges to social justice in Africa.
The objective of the panel is to bring together young researchers on Africa to discuss and reflect on the historical challenges and current opportunities on the African continent in the fields of human rights and social sciences and history. The panel is designed to explore and analyze the complexity of African realities, as well as to promote dialogue and interdisciplinary collaboration to address the challenges facing the continent and propose concrete solutions. With this, we want to serve as a framework for discussion on relevant issues in the African context, especially in relation to social justice, including the historical perspective to understand its development and current situation. Among the topics proposed are human rights, labor rights, citizen participation, hate speech, activists, community leaders, government representatives and representatives of international organizations, among others.
50. Local knowledge, sustainable development and decolonialism. African balances and perspectives: health, governance, gender equity…
The panel proposes to take stock of the confluence between the use of local knowledge in sustainable development policies in Africa – very scarce despite institutional declarations – on the one hand, and the use of such local knowledge in the decolonial movement – very conspicuous – on the other. And it proposes to do so, looking to the future by contrasting studies on concrete cases: multisectoral (health, governance, gender equity, ecology and climate change, popular economy…) and multidisciplinary (open to all sciences, even if anthropology is the one that can be most immediately alluded to). OBJECTIVE: to generate synergies and clues for new roadmaps on the future role of local knowledge in Africa, assuming the multidimensionality of the concept.
51. AFRICAN AND AFRO-DESCENDANT LANGUAGES: DILEMMAS AND ANSWERS ON THE ROAD TO DECOLONIALITY
This panel aims to bring together studies of African languages and languages of African descent situated in the current and effervescent scenario of decoloniality. In this context, we hope to foster the meeting, knowledge and debate between studies of continental and insular African languages, as well as studies of Afro-descendant languages, Creole and semi-Creole languages, spread across African and Latin American countries that have socio-historical links with countries of the Iberian Peninsula, especially Portugal, Spain and France. The aim is to make known the features and manifest profile of decoloniality in these studies: the dilemmas, debates, dialogues, proposals and answers that emerge from the questionings, discoveries, proposals and theoretical applications coming from the areas of the humanities, such as Linguistics, Literature, Education and Anthropology.
52. Geopolitical dynamics in Africa
The African continent is in the geopolitical spotlight, with active competition between the great powers, but also a diversity of state and non-state actors, both local and external. The aim of this panel is to bring together papers on current or past African geopolitical issues, elucidating the actions and objectives of its geopolitical actors, against the backdrop of the relationship between geography, politics and power.
53. African women’s power and empowerment in decolonial times: methodological challenges and experiential implications.
At the risk of simplifying a very complex picture, but in order to stimulate the optimization of the contrast of cases, the panel proposes to compare and interrelate African women’s empowerment strategies, usually in response to state or international policies, with the local forms of power in which these women are inserted. It is not a matter of choice, of course, but of understanding the nature and soundness of the decisions and the lines of force on which they are based. This contrast may or may not be made explicit, but it is difficult not to perceive it in situations of research or cooperation around the gender axis. And the reaction to this multiplicity involves methodological challenges, ethical dilemmas and often ambivalences, the sharing of which the panel wishes to encourage. Both to refine scientific interpretations (knowing that we are working with a lot of qualitative data), and to uncover the political implications of the research (the need for political recognition of collective subjects of rights, with the implications of introducing diversity in the waterline of the rights approach).
54. Africa, between decline and progress
Created with the purpose of uniting the methodologies of the epistemological and hermeneutic disciplines, so that, from the point of view of the requirement of its rules or relevant norms, any autonomous and independent researcher can interrogate the African reality. If the former, in its development, could be considered as a kind of philosophy of science or of the sciences, the latter, preserving its primordial etymological sense of “hermeneia”, as coined by the famous Stagirite, brings us the best interpretation of its objects. When dealing with the African continent, as with the rest of the continents, it is necessary to avoid haste, anticipation or prejudice, superficiality, in order to descend as archaeologists into the depths of its essential characteristics.
55. Casamance: memories, powers, tensions and local initiatives in the new Senegalese context.
After the last elections in March 2024, all eyes are on the new context both in the Casamance region in particular and for Senegal in general. During the last few years, and after the long protests over the arrest of the leader Ousman Sonko, the ideas of the winning party in the Senegalese elections have deeply penetrated a large part of the Casamance population, especially among the youth, awakening new hopes in this dynamic region which, despite new peace agreements in 2022, continues to search for a definitive peace. This panel, in the line of meetings on Casamance in other academic events (such as the one that took place, for example at the Iscte-IUL in Lisbon, in February 2019), aims to bring together the different research recently completed and ongoing as well as proposals for future research projects in relation to the socio-political situation of Casamance with the idea of presenting a multidisciplinary state of the art on the area in the Iberian world (from anthropology, history, geography, international relations, economics, etc.).
56. Overwhelmed infrastructures. Comparative perspectives on mobilities and urban displacement in Africa
The anthropology of infrastructures and mobility models highlights how transport systems and forms of urban travel are not simple equipment, but also the result of complex social dynamics and imaginaries, which give them more meaning and value beyond its technical functionality. All within the framework of what is recognized as the (new) paradigm of mobilities, which allows us to locate specific infrastructures, institutions and planning, and the material and social relationships they entail, connecting them with different areas and scales, without leaving aside the way in which plans, projects, infrastructures and mobility equipment are often overwhelmed by unforeseen uses, needs, appropriations and alternatives. In this panel we propose to apply this perspective to the African continent in order to identify and analyze various processes that have infrastructures and mobility models at the center. We want to do this by contrasting the logistical dynamics of implementing new urban mobilities in the global South based on several cases of African cities of various sizes and profiles. We intend to apply a perspective that invites us to analyze them as multiple and different processes of neoliberalization, subjected to the complexity of institutional, political, economic, urban and public service dynamics, while paying attention to their complexity and the way they are embodied in everyday forms of travel.
57. Gender and urban mobility. Experiences on the African continent
Metropolises, cities and public spaces are not neutral, people experience them, feel them and appropriate them in different ways. To understand cities from the point of view of complexity, it is necessary to incorporate the perspective of gender and diversity when understanding everyday life, care (Pérez, 2014), power relations, discrimination and the forms of resistance that arise. Urban mobilities are not exempt from these dynamics. As happens in other areas, everyday mobility is a particularly relevant area when it comes to understanding how relationships and forms of domination materialize that pivot on the gender axis. Women’s daily mobilities (Jirón, 2010) take on specific forms and are often not taken into account in urban planning and governance, which affects women’s access to certain urban services and, thus, the exercise of rights such as education, health, political and civic participation, or at work. A key element in relation to mobilities is the perception of insecurity (Soto, 2012) and violence against women in public spaces and transport. Despite everything, women incorporate multiple strategies of resistance.
58. African pasts for global futures: the contribution of archaeology to the decolonial challenge.
Africanist archaeology presents a contradiction within itself: it is both a product of colonialism and a fundamental tool for its epistemological dismantling. In this panel we want to explore both the advances that have been made in recent decades in the decolonization of archaeology itself (and its limitations), and the multiple contributions that the study of the African past, and the deconstruction of historical eurecentrism can make to our understanding of the world today and its future prospects.
59. Cybercolonization in Africa: data and platform capitalism.
The term “cybercolonization” describes how large digital and media platforms are exerting significant control over data and culture in Africa. This panel will explore the impact of the hegemony of platforms such as Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Meta (Facebook, Instagram) Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, HBO Facebook, Twitter, Netflix or Disney on the economic, social and cultural life of the continent. The concentration of media in the hands of a few Western companies presents a challenge to African cultural diversity and digital sovereignty. As these digital platforms expand, they are reshaping access to information, entertainment and communication. While they provide opportunities for economic development and innovation, they also perpetuate a dependency that may limit Africa’s ability to control its own digital destiny. This panel will address the current form of extractivist capitalism that is data.