CONFERENCE Call for Proposals

The World and Africa Series
Committee on Global Thought
Columbia University
New York, NY

May 6, 2011

Insight on African cities has driven some of the most innovative and provocative recent scholarly debates considering development, the nature of citizenship, and the postcolonial urban condition. In contrast with a familiar, sometimes apocalyptic reading of “failed” African cities which characterizes them as dysfunctional, chaotic and decaying, there is a burgeoning scholarship which explores the way that African cities actually work and the very orderly, dynamic, and creative processes which animate them. Building on those insights, this one-day academic conference seeks to highlight the emergent citizenship practices through which urban Africans enact and reconfigure their cities, while asking some hard questions about the implications of these strategies and their limits.

In particular, the conference aims to rescue African cities from the hackneyed language of developmentalism and sustainability through which they are too often understood. Instead, it focuses on the art of citizenship—or the specific imaginaries and creative solidarities through which urban Africans understand, order, and stake claims around the rights, rewards, and spaces of the city. In addition to papers seeking to extend the analytical purchase of theories of African cities, we are especially interested in ethnographic studies exploring those new theories and practices. Specifically, we seek contributions pertaining to the following central themes:

• Environment
• Infrastructure
• Community
• Spirituality

Paper proposals should include title of the paper, name, affiliation, email, and a 250 word abstract. Proposals must be submitted by December 10, 2010 to: artofcitizenshipconference@gmail.com.

Conference conveners: Mamadou Diouf (Director, Institute for African Studies; Professor of History; Member, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University)

Rosalind Fredericks (Research Scholar, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University; Assistant Professor, Gallatin School, NYU)