University of Bayreuth, Press Release No 100/2024 - 23 September 2024
University of Bayreuth becomes the center of research on Africa
From September 30 to October 2, 2024, the University of Bayreuth will become the hub of African studies when the Association for African Studies in Germany (VAD) hosts its biennial conference here. Under the title “Reconfigurations in Africa - and in African Studies”, over 600 experts, researchers and interested parties will gather in Bayreuth to discuss current developments and visions for the future of research on the African continent.
The Institute of African Studies and the Cluster of Excellence “Africa Multiple” at the University of Bayreuth are hosting the 29th VAD Conference, one of the largest scientific conferences on Africa in the German-speaking world: it is an important platform for interdisciplinary exchange on topics in the African context such as politics, society, environment, economy, culture and history. The conference also focuses on issues of globalization, migration and sustainability.
VAD Chairwoman Prof. Dr. Andrea Behrends, Institute Director and University Professor at the Institute of Social Anthropology at Leipzig University, emphasizes: “Africa is a continent in transition, and research makes a decisive contribution to understanding the complex developments. With this conference, we want to provide new impetus and create space for innovative research approaches.” The choice of the conference venue is no coincidence: the University of Bayreuth has established itself as an internationally recognized center of African studies through the Cluster of Excellence “Africa Multiple”, which was founded in 2019.
The conference consists of numerous panels, workshops and roundtables. The VAD Young Talent Award for outstanding dissertations and master's theses will also be presented. The event program will be framed by two keynote speeches, which will open and close the three-day conference. On Monday, 30.09.2024, Prof. Dr. Grace Musila from the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, will kick things off. In her lecture entitled “Black sensemaking | Discretion”, she will outline the logic of discretion as a practice and ethic in many black societies. She focuses on nodes of black cultural practices and literary-artistic representations to understand how discretion functions in the sensemaking modes of these communities.
On Wednesday, October 2, the conference will close with a keynote speech by Mactar Ndoye, former Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for the Decade for People of African Descent. In his keynote address, Ndoye will take stock of the successes and failures of the last ten years, which was proclaimed by the UN as the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015 - 2024) to promote the rights and recognition of people of African descent and to combat discrimination and racism. He will also discuss the expectations for the currently discussed “second decade” and present the plans to establish a UN Network for African Studies.
Further thematic focuses of the VAD Conference 2024:
- Location-based African studies: discrepancies and debates
It will be outlined and discussed what African Studies looks like from different location-based perspectives and whether African Studies offers “different perspectives” in different local contexts, e.g. in German-speaking countries.
- Perspectives on current crises
In this section, there are contributions on global processes defined as crises, such as migration, health and pandemics, climate change, war, terrorism, land rights, debt, disinformation campaigns and their impact on social cohesion, persecution based on ethnicity, class, gender and sexuality, budget cuts in education, attacks on constitutional integrity and their significance within Africana studies.
- The notion of 'Africanness'
2024 is the final year of the UN International Decade for People of African Descent. Here, research will be discussed that addresses the self-understanding of different individuals and groups in Africa and its diaspora and their (historical and contemporary) relationships and mutual perceptions.
- Social media, archiving and “the digital”
The digital sphere offers new opportunities for communication in and about Africa. Scholars, artists and activists are increasingly taking advantage of the digital to collaborate, collect information and combine, visualize and archive different forms of content.
- New forms of collaboration in African art
Recent cultural productions from Africa are enjoying unprecedented attention worldwide. Literature, music, dance and visual arts in physical and digital forms are being appreciated everywhere from Seoul to Bayreuth. Studies exploring art worlds that reflect these new developments will be presented and discussed.
- Ecology and global consciousness
Planetary consciousness is seen as a relevant continuation and extension of globalization studies that goes beyond the narrow national framework. Among other things, this area questions different approaches to religion and the relationships between organisms and their environment and examines the social, political, spiritual, ecological and economic impact of these perspectives.
In addition to the scientific lectures and discussions, there will be selected accompanying events, including book presentations and a decolonial city tour through Bayreuth.
Maria Papenfuß, head of the organizing team, emphasizes: “The conference is an opportunity to promote academic exchange across disciplinary boundaries and to build bridges between science, politics and civil society. We are particularly pleased about the close cooperation with African partner universities and research institutions, which will make VAD 2024 in Bayreuth even more interdisciplinary and international.”
The VAD 2024 conference will take place both in person and digitally in order to enable the broadest possible international participation. The conference language is English. Further information on the event, the program and the speakers can be found on the conference website: https://nomadit.co.uk/vad/vad2024/ .
About the VAD:
The Association for African Studies in Germany (VAD) is an association of scholars engaged in the study of Africa and African societies. Since its foundation in 1969, the VAD has promoted the exchange and networking of experts from different disciplines. The VAD conference takes place every two years at different locations and offers a platform for interdisciplinary dialog
Maria Papenfuss M.A. Research Associate Study of Religion
Phone: +49 (0)921 / 55-4178
E-mail: Maria.Papenfuss@uni-bayreuth.de
Anja-Maria MeisterPR Spokesperson at the University of Bayreuth
Phone: +49 (0) 921 / 55-5300
E-mail: anja.meister@uni-bayreuth.de