Africa and the Academy in the 21st Century

An interactive, interdisciplinary bringing together a selection of Swiss and international scholars studying Africa

The conference invites the speakers and audience to reflect on a classical work in the field of African Studies, Africa and the Disciplines (V. Mudimbe, R. Bates and J. O‘Barr 1993), but also consider the present and future of African Studies, in particular in Switzerland.

25 years ago, the conference Africa and the Disciplines and the landmark publication that resulted from it, asked for Africa‘s contribution to the disciplines. It showed the extent to which Africa as an apparently marginal field of study had already contributed to the emergence of new topics and ideas in the respective disciplines.

The momentum created by these insights within broader academia was, unjustifiably, short lived. Especially so given that the study of Africa has not only contributed to the development of the disciplines; as an interdisciplinary field, but has also changed the character of what once were separate disciplines and brought them closer together.

Scholars became increasingly interested in the spaces between the disciplines. This interest, which is usually cast in terms of interdisciplinarity or transdisiciplinarity, has bred a wide range of new and interesting studies with stimulating findings. Africa has created new research fields that no longer fit into the existing disciplinary framework. This increasingly affects our view of what the social sciences and the humanities are about, the topics that they will need to address in the future and how these new fields shape our understanding of the academic landscape as a whole.

Detailed program here. 

Please register online.

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