Calling all undergraduate students with a passion for African Studies! The Institute of African Studies (IAS) at Carleton University is hosting its 5th annual undergraduate research conference on Saturday, October 5th, 2019 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. The goal of this interdisciplinary conference is to provide a platform for emerging researchers with an interest in Africa and the pan-
African diaspora to share knowledge and engage in conversations that are prominent today. We are accepting proposals from a broad range of disciplines that interact with African studies such as communications and journalism, international studies, environmental studies, architecture and design, geography, anthropology, film studies, Afrofuturism, music studies, history, gender studies, political science, economics, human rights and social justice. This years’ theme, Globalization, Media and the African City, provides students a fascinating interdisciplinary and creative lens to explore the intersections of everyday life, urbanism and the future of Africa in the context of globalization. We must not limit our understanding of the city to the physical but extend it to the imaginaries propelled by culture and urban design. The media, globalization, popular culture, and industrialization are continuously influencing the urban space, and this conference seeks to examine the intrinsic and synergic relations between Globalization, Media and the African City. Possible subtopics for research include, but are not limited to:
● Urbanization and urban planning
● Youth and Popular Culture
● Information communication technology (ICT)
● The African city: the physical and the imaginary
● Sustainability and the environment
● Social Media and traditional media
● Afrofuturism and the postcolonial African city
● International politics and migration
● Gender, equity, and the city
The organizing committee of the IAS undergraduate conference welcomes well-researched papers
addressing any of the above-listed sub-themes relating to the African City. Local and international undergraduate students interested in participating in the conference are encouraged to submit an abstract by July 6th, 2019. The abstract should be between 250 and 400-word for a final paper suitable for a 20- minute presentation. Notice of acceptance of abstracts will be sent within two weeks after the deadline. All submissions in Word Doc (not PDF) must include the name of the applicant, year of study, academic program, and the name of their institution. Students in the African continent interested in presenting via Skype or recorded video are encouraged to pitch their abstract by the deadline. Please note that the organizers are not able to facilitate visa applications to Canada. Submissions should be addressed to the organizing committee at: [email protected]
There will be prizes for the best papers at the conference. The rewards include publication opportunity in Nokoko, the open-access academic journal of Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies, after peer review. This conference presents itself as an excellent opportunity for professional development and networking beyond the classroom, as well as for improving academic portfolios, especially for those interested in future graduate studies or a career that requires research skills, writing reports or policy papers for international agencies, government establishments, NGOs, etc., and making public presentations. In its fifth year, the conference has brought together 39 undergraduate students from various parts of Canada, the United States, the Middle East, and continental Africa, who have shared their exciting research at the undergraduate conferences. Some of the prize-winning research papers have undergone blind peer review and have been published in Nokoko, Carleton IAS’s journal of African Studies. Special guests for the conference series have included Professor Jane Onsongo, Deputy High Commissioner of Kenya to Canada; Prof Yigadeesen Samy, Director of the Norman Paterson Institute for International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University; award-winning writer Okey Ndibe, and scintillating spoken word poet, and artist, Komi Olaf. The resounding success of the conference testifies to the students’ commitment to sustaining the distinction of the conference as perhaps the only fully-fledged international Africa-centered undergraduate research conference in North America. The interdisciplinary conference provides a platform beyond the classroom for emerging researchers in the field of African Studies. For more information, please email the organizing committee at [email protected] or follow us on Twitter or Facebook at the Institute of African Studies Student Association -IASSA for continuous updates.
