CALL FOR PAPERS
13th Annual Researching Africa Day Workshop
3 March 2012
St Antony’s College, Oxford
Deadline for abstract submissions: 31 January 2012
Researching Africa Day is an annual opportunity for researchers and graduate students to come together to critically examine and discuss their research in, on and for Africa. It provides a supportive, open and engaging environment in which to grapple with the challenges of the often fraught research process. Open to all graduates working on Africa-related topics in the humanities and social and natural sciences, Researching Africa Day provides a forum for discussing and receiving feedback on research approaches, strategies and logistics; developing and synthesising new plans and ideas ; learning and sharing information and best practices ; and connecting with fellow colleagues.
« Researching Africa: Moving beyond researcher and researched »
This year's theme aims to move beyond the dichotomous and artificial construction of the ‘researcher/researched’ relationship to examine the complex and nuanced reality of navigating imbalanced academic, social and political-economic contexts for the purposes of knowledge production. The workshop is underpinned by the belief that critically engaging with peers to critically examine the means and ends of research maximises the utility and quality of our work. The best research engages with questions of power, privilege and access. Researching Africa Day will provide a platform for disentangling these issues for the purpose of improving the quality of research, its contribution to both the disciplines and the continent, and the integrity of the relationships and exchanges that constitute modern research.
We welcome papers that engage with, but are not limited to, the following topics:
The practicalities and logistics of original research:
Where do we go, what do we do when we get there, and how long should we stay?
Theory and methods:
Methodological innovations, good practices, applications and critique.
What do different methods offer and how can they be adapted, or not, to diverse African research contexts? How do we define ‘the field’ and is original research inherently ‘fieldwork’? To what extent should findings privilege what is learned or observed in Africa, versus the Ivory Tower?
Ethics and the social context:
Research, and the production, dissemination and recording of knowledge are inherently fraught processes embedded in and reproductive of social, political and economic power dynamics. To pretend otherwise is a convenient untruth. However, as graduate and post-graduate researchers are often still sorting out their own thoughts, feelings, approaches and standards, whilst implicating others and inserting themselves into dynamic, changing, and often obtuse social contexts. What happens when researchers try to realise good intentions? How do we balance building relationships with the transactional nature of gaining access to and extracting information? What are the ethics of respecting or deconstructing the researcher/researched dichotomy? To what extent can these social dynamics be controlled by researchers, and to what extent should they?
Knowledge production, reciprocity and accountability:
What stories, histories and her-stories do we choose to legitimise and how do we moderate the potential impact and influence our work might have? Does the researcher have a responsibility to protect ‘vulnerable subjects’; can they? How do we distil and write our thoughts and ideas effectively – and efficiently? Once written, or published, to what extent can knowledge be shared, expanded and further developed? Where…in Africa, in the Ivory Tower, in policy circles? What do we do when we achieve our own ends, or when ‘returning’ one’s data and papers to communities is not what the participants and colleagues want?
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Papers and panels can be proposed according to the above topics or related to this year’s theme. Although all papers should engage with the particular needs and issues faced in researching Africa, comparative and global perspectives, in relation to the theme, are welcomed. Presentations should promote a constructive and open debate, and special attention will be paid to creating opportunities for robust discussion. To this end, candour and contributions grounded in personal experience and constructive self-reflection and critique are particularly welcomed at Researching Africa Day. It is not necessary to have conducted formal research in Africa to submit a paper.
Abstracts should be 200-500 words and must be submitted by 31 January 2012. Accepted papers will be grouped into panels and authors will be contacted shortly thereafter. Full papers will be requested by late February so that they can be made available to panel chairs and fellow presenters before the workshop.
Participants are welcome from all universities and, whilst specific funds are not available to reimburse travel expenses, exceptional appeals for assistance will be considered. Please contact relevant bodies at your home institution first.
Address abstract submissions and inquiries to:
Zoe Marks and Franziska Rueedi
Organisers, Researching Africa Day 2012
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