in cooperation with

THE INTERNATIONAL WATER HISTORY ASSOCIATION (IWHA)

presents

Flows from the past: a trans-disciplinary conference on the history of water in Africa

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT and CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

This conference follows in the wake of discussions on the IWHA network and plans mooted by a group of interested researchers at the third conference of the IWHA in Alexandria, Egypt, in December 2003.

DURATION: 8 – 11 December 2004

VENUE: North West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, Vanderbijlpark and at the Riviera Hotel, Vereeniging.

OBJECTIVES:
The major objective is to start exploring, under the auspices of the IWHA, the potential for a comprehensive project on the history of water on the African continent. It is hoped that the conference would prepare participants who specialise in Africa for the next IWHA Conference in Paris that is scheduled for 2005. There seems to be interest amongst international scholars to explore some of the following themes.

THEMES FOR DISCUSSION:

· Papers on past, current and proposed research on water history in Africa
· Water historiography
· Case histories of water in various parts of African
· The history of (large) water schemes
· Current trends in water planning – ideology and practice
· The history of irrigation
· Drinking water – trends in planning past and present
· Sanitation from the pre-colonial to the postcolonial era
· Water and security in Africa
· Myths and rituals related to water: cultural manifestations
· Strategies of water procurement in the colonial era
· Hydropower in Africa
· Indigenous societies and water
· Rivers and their significance in Africa
· The history of natural water disasters in Africa
· Water in African delta regions
· Water in African swamps
· Methodologies of water history research
· Interdisciplinary co-operation
· Co-ordination and interaction of existing and proposed research
· Other themes that present themselves from the abstracts received

ABSTRACTS:

Guidelines & Instructions:
· All abstracts must be submitted in English as an e-mail attachment
· Use Ms-Word
· Maximum length 300 words (one page)
· Short CV (not more than 100 words)
· Institutional affiliation

Send abstracts to:
Johann Tempelhoff (Northwest University) at gskjwnt@puk.ac.za

Paper, Presentation & Programme Guidelines:

·No limitation of the length of a paper, but bear in mind that presentation of papers will probably be confined to 20 minutes per speaker

·There will be no simultaneous sessions (the objective is to engage all conference participants in all sessions in order to establish a form of cohesion)

·There will be ample opportunity for discussions both during presentations and in separate workshop opportunities

·A number of social activities, related to water and history would be presented as part of the conference

IMPORTANT DATES TO DIARISE:

Final date to submit abstracts: 15 May 2004
Notification of acceptance of proposed papers: 1 August 2004
Deadline for the submission of papers: 13 October 2004
Closing date for conference bookings: 1 November 2004

GENERAL& REGISTRATION ENQUIRIES:

Ms Petra Lawson at tel. +27-16-910-3709 or fax +27-16-910-3711 or e-mail dvdpal@puk.ac.za