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------------------ We would like to invite paper abstracts for our panel Engaging the Francophone/Anglophone divide in research on Africa Like other disciplines, African studies are situated within specific knowledge/institutional configurations. This is perhaps most obvious in the separation between the discipline?s two main languages into Francophone and Anglophone scholarship. Partly rooted in different colonial histories, this divide is manifest not only as linguistic difference, but also in intellectual traditions and methodological approaches. Earlier discussions have explored the theoretical aspects of the divide; particularly in relation to the relevance of contested paradigms such as postcolonial theory, transnationalism, and globalisation. We would like to draw and expand upon these reflections to highlight the epistemological implications of the divide, its enduring effects in contemporary and future research practice, as well as their repercussions beyond academia such as in the field of development. Our panel invites contributions from interdisciplinary perspectives which attempt to map specific areas of the Francophone-Anglophone divide in African studies as a context for knowledge production, and as a site that creates both opportunities and constraints in researching Africa. Contributions should draw out particular tensions, contradictions and continuities within the divide. Related issues such as representations of Africa, understanding of social change, and collaboration with and amongst African researchers are also relevant. We hope that the contributions will explicitly engage with some or all of the following questions: Is the francophone/Anglophone divide a problem? For whom? And why? To what extent does the divide contribute to entrenching disparate clusters/communities of researchers, research methodologies, the archiving of knowledge, the dissemination of research, etc? What are the implications for the maintenance or probing of scientific/lay knowledge in Africa, Europe and elsewhere, for policy-related research, etc? What opportunities and constraints derive for the scope and axes of collaboration in researching Africa? While we welcome theoretically-based papers we particularly encourage papers that explore connections with wider practical/problematic issues and current patterns of change connecting Africa to the global world. Reflections that emerge from concrete situations are invited in the domains of sustainable development and policy, human rights and democracy, international relations and identity. We also welcome contributions from the arts and performance that may offer may offer novel insights in these areas. Please send your contributions to Muriel Cote and Amy Niang; the deadline is July 29, 2010 for paper abstracts. The conference deadline for panel proposals is August 15, 2010 Link to conference website: http://www.aegis-eu.org/ M.Cote@sms.ed.ac.uk A.Niang@sms.ed.ac.uk Many thanks -- The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
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