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By The Africa Institute

November 1, 2022

The Africa Institute, Sharjah successfully participated in the 65th Annual Meeting hosted by African Studies Association (ASA) in Philadelphia between November 17-19, 2022. The Annual Meeting  encouraged the production and dissemination of knowledge between Africa and the Arab world.

During the 65th Annual Meeting themed, ‘Africa Urbanities: Mobility, Creativity, and Challenges’, The Africa Institute contributed to thought leadership through specially curated roundtables that feature our senior faculty and fellows as well as set up an exclusive visiting booth to promote the Institute’s mission, programs, fellowships, publications, and more.  

The African Studies Association (ASA) is the flagship membership organization based in the United States that is devoted to enhancing the exchange of information about Africa since its establishment in 1957. With almost 2,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, the ASA aims to cultivate a better understanding of the continent, taking a holistic approach to its areas of focus. This includes all facets of Africa’s political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, scientific, and environmental landscapes, to name a few.

The Africa Institute faculty contributed to two roundtables at the Annual Meeting and both were well received. 

The first day of the conference, November 17, 2022 featured Professor Christopher J. Lee, Professor of African history, World history, and African literature at The Africa Institute was part of an Author Meets Critics roundtable based on the publication, “Spear: Mandela and the Revolutionaries” authored by Paul Landau. Professor Lee was joined by Robert Trent Vinson, University of Virginia; Meredith McKittrick, Georgetown University and Jacob S. Dlamini, Princeton University. The panel was chaired by Elizabeth Thornberry, Johns Hopkins University.

The second day, November 18, 2022 hosted a roundtable that was was proposed by The Africa Institute’s scholars. The panel was titled, “Outside Africa/Outside the West: Visions and Prospects for Building “African Studiesin the Gulf”. The topic chosen emerges for “African Studies” has been an outgrowth of Western knowledge production, informed by Eurocentric disciplines and based on racist colonial epistemological paradigms. Although the field has grown and its paradigms have experienced major shifts, in which enduring divides, such as the ones between North and Sub-Saharan Africa, or continental Africa and its diasporas, have been challenged and transcended, cultural, political, and racial divides continue to inform the Western academy. That academy remains stubbornly hegemonic on a global scale.  

While ongoing calls for decolonization of the field and critical revisions of its history and origins continue to challenge the status quo and the hegemony of whiteness in organizations like the ASA (US), what has been achieved? Black Lives Matter protests and movements for reparations and for the repatriation of African cultural artifacts continue to resonate across the global south and embolden demands for critical reflection on what precisely it means to do “African Studies” today. 

The roundtable chaired by Professor Salah M. Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute, Sharjah  critically reflected on what it means to do “African studies” outside the west. 

The panelist presenters included Jean Allman, Professor of History, The Africa Institute; Elizabeth Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute; Naminata Diabate, Ali Marzui Senior Fellow, The Africa Institute and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University and Ahmad Sikainga, Professor of African History at the Ohio State University.

The Africa Institute, Sharjah successfully participated in the 65th Annual Meeting hosted by African Studies Association (ASA) in Philadelphia between November 17-19, 2022. The Annual Meeting  encouraged the production and dissemination of knowledge between Africa and the Arab world.

The Africa Institute, Sharjah successfully participated in the 65th Annual Meeting hosted by African Studies Association (ASA) in Philadelphia between November 17-19, 2022. The Annual Meeting  encouraged the production and dissemination of knowledge between Africa and the Arab world.

During the 65th Annual Meeting themed, ‘Africa Urbanities: Mobility, Creativity, and Challenges’, The Africa Institute contributed to thought leadership through specially curated roundtables that feature our senior faculty and fellows as well as set up an exclusive visiting booth to promote the Institute’s mission, programs, fellowships, publications, and more.  

The African Studies Association (ASA) is the flagship membership organization based in the United States that is devoted to enhancing the exchange of information about Africa since its establishment in 1957. With almost 2,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, the ASA aims to cultivate a better understanding of the continent, taking a holistic approach to its areas of focus. This includes all facets of Africa’s political, economic, social, cultural, artistic, scientific, and environmental landscapes, to name a few.

The Africa Institute faculty contributed to two roundtables at the Annual Meeting and both were well received. 

The first day of the conference, November 17, 2022 featured Professor Christopher J. Lee, Professor of African history, World history, and African literature at The Africa Institute was part of an Author Meets Critics roundtable based on the publication, “Spear: Mandela and the Revolutionaries” authored by Paul Landau. Professor Lee was joined by Robert Trent Vinson, University of Virginia; Meredith McKittrick, Georgetown University and Jacob S. Dlamini, Princeton University. The panel was chaired by Elizabeth Thornberry, Johns Hopkins University.

The second day, November 18, 2022 hosted a roundtable that was was proposed by The Africa Institute’s scholars. The panel was titled, “Outside Africa/Outside the West: Visions and Prospects for Building “African Studiesin the Gulf”. The topic chosen emerges for “African Studies” has been an outgrowth of Western knowledge production, informed by Eurocentric disciplines and based on racist colonial epistemological paradigms. Although the field has grown and its paradigms have experienced major shifts, in which enduring divides, such as the ones between North and Sub-Saharan Africa, or continental Africa and its diasporas, have been challenged and transcended, cultural, political, and racial divides continue to inform the Western academy. That academy remains stubbornly hegemonic on a global scale.  

While ongoing calls for decolonization of the field and critical revisions of its history and origins continue to challenge the status quo and the hegemony of whiteness in organizations like the ASA (US), what has been achieved? Black Lives Matter protests and movements for reparations and for the repatriation of African cultural artifacts continue to resonate across the global south and embolden demands for critical reflection on what precisely it means to do “African Studies” today. 

The roundtable chaired by Professor Salah M. Hassan, Director, The Africa Institute, Sharjah  critically reflected on what it means to do “African studies” outside the west. 

The panelist presenters included Jean Allman, Professor of History, The Africa Institute; Elizabeth Giorgis, Associate Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism, The Africa Institute; Naminata Diabate, Ali Marzui Senior Fellow, The Africa Institute and Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Cornell University and Ahmad Sikainga, Professor of African History at the Ohio State University.

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