Call for papers: "History and Memory: Epistemological Reinterpretation of #Africa's #Past in a #Post_Colonial Context" -Práticas da História: Journal on #Theory, #Historiography and Uses of the Past (#SCOPUS, Open Access)

 Call for papers for Práticas da História: Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past (SCOPUS, Open Access)

 

Theme: History and Memory: Epistemological Reinterpretation of Africa's Past in a Post-Colonial Context

Editors: João Pedro Lourenço (Instituto Superior de Ciências da Educação de Luanda), Maria da Conceição Neto (Universidade Agostinho Neto)

 

The extraordinary advances in historiography on Africa and in Africa in the 60s and 70s of the twentieth century, running parallel to the contestation and end of colonial empires, were not accompanied by an equivalent pace of transformation in the teaching of history in African countries, in terms of theories, methods and organization of content to be transmitted. After several decades, the distance remains between the "decolonizing" effort in historiography, with some success, and the way history is taught to young Africans, still reflecting a Eurocentric vision of the history of humankind, whether in periodization or in selection of the most relevant themes. In general, the history of Africa continues to be studied in a fragmented way, with little emphasis on its connections with world history, in which it only appears fully integrated with (as a result of) European expansion and subsequent colonization. Despite the now classic reference to the continent as the "cradle of humankind", there are still narratives that do not take into account the temporal depth of African history, its ancient relationships with other spaces and the diversity of historical situations before, during and after European colonial exploitation. Inadequate and Eurocentric periodizations also prevail, whether for world history (the already much criticized division of the four "Ages") or for the history of Africa (a "pre-colonial period" for millennia of history). UNESCO's commendable efforts were important but insufficient to overcome Africa´s external dependence (mostly from former colonizing countries) in terms of the production of didactic content and means of teaching history, from basic to university level.

It is important to better understand what is happening in different African countries, at the level of the Academy but also in other spaces where social memory and history confront each other, and how political, ideological, economic and linguistic factors interfere in those situations. In the case of the former Portuguese colonies, which will soon celebrate 50 years of independence, there are additional factors, such as the later end of colonial rule and the delay in historiography about Africa that occurred until recent decades, both in Portugal and in Brazil. Despite current progress, most of the bibliography essential for the study of world history, and of the African continent in particular, is not available in Portuguese.

This special issue of Práticas da História is interested in receiving contributions, referring to colonial and post-colonial African contexts, that explore, question and/or reflect on aspects such as:

- The (im)possibility of epistemological autonomy of African Universities: debates and concerns around History Courses, Curricula and Programs.

- The relationship between historical discourse validated by scientific institutions and other forms of social and collective memory, generally ignored in educational institutions, despite their social importance.

- The way in which memory, history and contemporary policies of African national states intersect in spaces of debate and knowledge production, on the continent and beyond.

- The penetration and impact on the historiography of digital humanities - and the possibilities and difficulties, in the African context, of articulating the teaching of History with the world of digital information.

- The place and contribution of historiography and the teaching of History in the construction of memory in Africa, considering the multiple relationships between the constructions of historiographical discourses, public spaces and the public sphere.

- Policies for the construction of archives, public libraries and other infrastructures, as well as the constitution, dissemination and access of funds and collections, a condition for democratic processes in the construction of public memories.

- The relationships between African historiography and Africanist historiography - networks, internationalism, issues of power, publishing markets and their impacts.

- The construction and teaching of "national histories" in the face of the risk of teleological and anachronistic interpretations, projecting current borders into the past.

- The use of the past (known, imagined, manipulated) by different social actors (political parties, unions, churches, groups and social movements, individuals and collectives of citizens or others) as a place of confrontation, contradiction and legitimation.

 

Proposals (maximum 500 words) must be sent by 31 July to praticashistoria@gmail.com, accompanied by a short biographical note from the author(s). Your acceptance or refusal will be communicated by 10 September. Articles from accepted proposals must be submitted by 15 December. Contributions are accepted in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French.

 

Contact Email

praticashistoria@gmail.com

URL

https://praticasdahistoria.pt/history-memory-epistemological-reinterpretation-o…

Call for Book Series Announcement - Afrasia: Contours, Crossings, Connections -University of Pittsburgh Press

 The University of Pittsburgh Press is pleased to announce the launch of Afrasia: Contours, Crossings, Connections (ACCC), a new scholarly book series that will examine how African and Asian peoples have encountered each other across diverse geographical and cultural contexts, in the past and present, with a focus on the frictions and solidarities of these encounters as catalyzed by contemporary trends in global migration, movement, and interrelation.

ACCC takes Afrasia as the conceptual and contingent space—historical and contemporary; sociocultural, political economic, and ideological; interpersonal, collective, and mass-mediated, among others—through which African and Asian peoples, as well as peoples of African and Asian descent, have engaged each other on and between their respective continents, across and through oceanic regions, and around the world. The series aims to establish a framework through which to understand the various interactions and enmeshments that took and take place between and across African and Asian actors—interactions that are neither stable nor unchanging but rather defined by their complexity, richness, mutability, and depth.

Welcoming interdisciplinary scholarship that explores the myriad dimensions of these exchanges, the series traces the contours of Afrasia to encompass West, Central, South, Southeast, and East Asia; Sub-Saharan and North Africa; and diasporic zones worldwide, including the Indian Ocean, the Caribbean, and the Americas.

ACCC will be edited by Marvin D. Sterling, associate professor of cultural anthropology, and Pedro Machado, associate professor of history, both of Indiana University Bloomington. An international editorial board of distinguished academics will advise the editors and the Press on series matters.

“The complex, myriad, and increasingly deep entanglements of Africans and Asians—and people of African and Asian descent—have chartered broad and wide-ranging trajectories whose contours and dynamics have shaped the currents of the global past and are defining the contemporary world,” states Machado. “Interest in exploring these enmeshments has been growing in recent years and this series will provide an urgently needed venue to showcase scholarship in this field.”

“In addition to the international political, economic, and similar terms in which the interactions between African and Asian peoples have been understood, we are invested in what have been under-explored perspectives that are socioculturally attentive, ethnographically attuned, and humanistic in their framings of the global histories, as well as the present and emergent futures, of these interactions,” offers Sterling. “In this way, the series is both forward looking, and decades overdue.”

The series invites proposals for monographs and edited volumes from new and experienced scholars. Inquiries should be directed to William Masami Hammell, senior acquisitions editor: whammell@upress.pitt.edu. Submission information is available on the Book Submissions page. Once up and running, the series aims to publish 2-3 books each year.

Contact Email

whammell@upress.pitt.edu

URL

https://upittpress.org/series/afrasia-contours-crossings-connections/

Call for Chapters: Unsettled childhoods in southern spaces (edited collection) Felicity Jensz (University of Münster, Germany) and Rebecca Swartz (University of the Free State, South Africa)

 

We are looking for a number of chapters of 7,000 words to expand our basis of an edited collection which examines the meaning of ‘settled’ and ‘unsettled’ childhoods in the southern hemisphere locations of the British Empire that became South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand from European ‘settlement’ to the present day. We are interested in the meaning of childhood in (settler) colonial contexts and these chapters show that a focus on children’s experiences can unsettle common understandings of settler colonialism. Children are unsettled and unsettling as they are not as ‘fixed’ as adults in their identities, and, are deemed still ‘malleable’. Their position in colonial society is also contingent on projected trajectories of settlement, with mixed race as well as children outside of the categories of white or indigenous also complicating as well as testing and straining the concepts of child, childhood and settler colonial societies. The bodies of children were projections of normative expectations of a ‘healthy’ settler colonial site, with bodies that deviated from the norm, either through illness or genetics, having the potential to unsettle both projected as well as lived realities within settler colonies.

Through a focus on children and childhood(s) in settler colonial contexts we are contributing to the academic discussion as to the meaning of what it meant to be a child in the past and how childhood was used in the construction of new political entities. Similar to contemporary contexts, childhood is inherently unsettled, as it is a phase of dynamic physical, emotional and mental change, prior to a more settled, adult phase. The collection, therefore, seeks to unsettle the idea of childhood itself, showing that understandings of what it meant to be a young person in the past varied significantly across the southern spaces under study. The edited collection stems from our work on childhood and institutions in settler colonial spaces across empires, see: Settler Colonial Studies vol 13 2023. 

The papers presented in this edited collection will present original research that engages with the following themes:

1. Migrant childhoods: What were the experiences of migrant children entering settler colonial spaces? How does including migrant children in our analysis shift understandings of children and childhood? How do these literally ‘unsettled’ children enter into colonial spaces and change the dynamics between coloniser and colonised and challenge the categories associated with childhood itself?
2. Indigenous childhoods: How did colonial regimes in these southern spaces impact on understandings of childhood and in particular on indigenous children themselves? How were these children brought into relationship with institutions in those contexts?
3. Settler childhoods: What did it mean to grow up as a settler child? How does studying white settler children in colonial contexts help us to understand the settler colonial context more broadly?
4. Institutions: How were and are childhoods - migrant, settler, indigenous - shaped by institutions in (settler) colonial contexts? What is the role of these institutions in shaping children’s lives, experiences and futures?
5. Sources of childhood: What kinds of sources can we use to understand the experiences and agency of children in the past, particularly in these southern locations? Papers in this collection illustrate the utility of a vast range of sources, including personal documents and writings, autobiography, anthropological field notes, oral history interviews, archival research, amongst others. How do we access children’s voices?

We are particularly looking for papers that examine the experiences of Maori children, mixed-race children, children of various socio-economic backgrounds, Indian children in South Africa, and migrant children in general.

Timeline:

By 1 March 2024: 300 word abstracts and one-page bios to be submitted to both Felicity Jensz (felicity.jensz@uni-muenster.de) and Rebecca Swartz (swartzr@ufs.ac.za)

15 March 2024: Invitations to submit a full manuscript will be sent

30 June 2024: Full papers due

Please note the tight turn around time as we are already advanced with the project.

Contact Information

Felicity Jensz (felicity.jensz@uni-muenster.de) and Rebecca Swartz (swartzr@ufs.ac.za)

#CallForPublications: #Academics, #Activists, and "#Superstition" -February 28, 2024.

 

“Superstition.” Historians, folklorists, anthropologists, scholars of religion have long critiqued the term, and taught our students to do so as well. Always unavoidably ascriptive, it functions to divide: true religion from primitive magic, right reason from blind faith, “us” from “other.” Whether deployed by Stoic philosophers against the silly practices of the plebians, by medieval urban Catholics against rural “pagans,” by early modern Protestants against Catholics, by Victorian scholars against colonized and Indigenous peoples, or (across millennia) by men against the beliefs and practices of “old wives” and women more generally, the category of “superstition” is a weapon of domination and marginalization.

“Superstition.” Human rights activists, disability activists, advocates for the elderly or for children languishing in “witch camps” have recently deployed the term to great pragmatic effect. Organizations such as the #Maharashtra Blind Faith Eradication Committee in India and Advocacy for Alleged Witches in Nigeria shame the accusers of alleged witches as “superstitious.” By doing so, they forge alliances with international humanist movements, align themselves with the language of human rights organizations forged in the Enlightenment tradition, and effect policy changes to the benefit of the demonized. In a historical twist, the category of “superstition” can be a weapon of the marginalized against domination, violence, and dehumanization.

Contributions from junior scholars, and from scholars writing from and/or about historically marginalized communities, are especially welcome.

If interested, please send an abstract of about 100-150 words to MRW co-editor Michael Ostling by February 28, 2024, at michael.ostling@asu.edu, or contact us with questions.

Full drafts of those contributions accepted for inclusion in the Discussion Forum will be due June 30, 2024. Anticipated publication in Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft volume 20.1 (Spring 2025).

Discussion Forum pieces tend to be short (2000-4000 words) and conversational. While they may be theoretically sophisticated and grounded in detailed scholarship, they should also be accessible to audiences across a wide range of disciplines and positionalities: historians and sociologists, philosophers and activists, policy actors and ethnographers. Please write accordingly.

Contact Information

Michael Ostling

Contact Email

michael.ostling@asu.edu