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I just landed in Atlanta, Georgia and am looking forward to spending the rest of the week at the African Studies Association conference networking and learning from my researcher heroes. The conference has the theme Energies: Power, Creativity and Afri-Futures and is expecting about 2000(!) delegates in 300 events over three days. You can follow all of it under the hashtag #AfricanStudies2018 across social platforms and Ghana studies’ scholars use the hashtag #GSAatASA2018
I have crafted my own mini-program which starts with my own panel at the conference – a discussion on Politically Motivated Internet Shutdowns will happen in this AfricaNOW! special series of issues that are ongoing or new. I also look forward to listening to talks by Finnish/Nigerian feminist and blogger MsAfropolitan Minna Salami during the Women’s Caucus Luncheon as well as the President’s Lecture by Prof Jean Allman, Prof Ato Quayson on Kofi Annan and Prof Mahmood Mamdani – all personal heroes and role models of mine!
This is my tentative and quite busy schedule – still I hope to also have much time for networking and one-on-one-talks! See you there?
Thu
10.30-11.30 My AfricaNOW! panel, see description below
2:00 pm [Room L403] Reframing anthropology
2-3.45 publish that article
4-5.45 pitch that article
7.30-9.30 Welcome reception at Morehouse College
Fri
8:30 am [International Hall C] Registers of Belief, Creativity and Power in Ghana
2-3.45 CCNY Publishing in for Africa
4-5pm Kofi Annan by Ato Quayson
6-7pm President’s Lecture Jean Allman
7:15 pm in M302 Ghana Business meeting
Sat
7.30-8.30 Queer African Studies association meeting
10:30 am Roundtable: Futures—African Studies and the Racial Politics of Knowledge Production, 1998-2028
12.45-2pm Womens Luncheon: Minna Salami
2:00 pm [International Hall C] Roundtable: Ghanaian Popular Culture Studies: (also Advocacy, also Flash presentations)
6-7pm Mahmood Mamdani Hoormud lecture
7-12pm Awards and Dance party
AfricaNOW!
The increase of politically motivated Internet Shutdowns in Africa: Lessons from democracy research and activism
This session seeks to frame a discussion on internet disruptions as a frontier of democracy research and activism on the continent and seeks to be highly interactive. After an introductory presentation on the state of internet disruptions in Africa, an academic discussant will highlight pertinent issues for democracy scholars and an activist discussant will report on new strategies to curb these disruptions.
Recent elections where shutdowns have been an issue: Mali (August), Cameroon (October),
Dr. Kajsa Hallberg Adu, Ashesi University (presenter), Dr. George Bob-Milliar, KNUST, Ghana (Academic Discussant), Mr. Peter Micek, General Counsel, AccessNow (Activist Discussant)
On Thursday, the Second Biennial African Studies Association of Africa (AS-AA) conference is taking off here in my academic home, the Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana Legon.
It is a three-day conference with the subtheme that almost reads as my tagline: African Studies and Global Politics.
Together with my colleague Kafui Tsekpo I am presenting a draft paper on social media in Ghanaian elections. Is it a new form of democratic participation? What are the opportunities and limitations? It is presented at the very last session of the conference, Saturday at 5 pm in the School of Law Examination Room. The collaboration comes out of a discussion at the Ghana Studies Conference last summer. I’ll also be the chair for one session. It’s a big deal for me as it is the first time I am chairing an academic session!
The program for the AS-AA conference is long and winding (find in full here PDF) so I made my own cheat sheet, in brackets are notes on the panel sessions (PS) I might attend.
Hope to see you there!
Thu 12
8.30-9.00 arrival great hall
9.00am program starts
11.45-1.15 pm PS 1 (1.2 decolonial edu)
1.15-2.15 Lunch, IAS
2.15-3.45pm PS 2 (2.4 Regina Fuller gender, examination room, school of law)
4.00-5.30pm PS 3 (3.1 Nketiah Conference hall)
7-8.30pm Akwaaba night with Chief Moomen, IAS quadrangle
Fri 13
8-9 reg
9.00-10.30 Keynote, Prof Gordon, Prof Allman, Dr Wa Goro (ADB), Nketiah Hall
10.30-10.50 break
11.00-12.30 PS 4 (4.4 Prof Adomako Ampofo tomorrows leaders 4.5 roundtable)
12.30-1.30 Lunch IAS
1.30-3.00pm PS 5 (5.1 African Agency George Bob Milliar in Nketiah or 5.6 panafricanism Leciad)
3.15-4.45 PS 6 (6.3 Democratic condo in Seminar room ias, 6.6 edu with Millicent as chair in leciad)
5.00-6.30pm PS 7 (7.1 citizenship in Nketiah, 7.2 Millicent in Senior common room ias)
7-8.30 AASA Business meeting
8.30-10 film
Sat 14
9-10.30 Keynote Professors Yao Graham, Takyiwaa Manuh, Seth Asumah (Nketiah hall)
10.30-10.50 break
11-12.30 PS 8
12.30-1.30 lunch
1.30-3.00pm PS 9 (9.2 decolonizing edu)
3.15-4.45 PS 10 (10.5 publish that article)
>>5.00-6.30 PS 11 (11.4 Role of Social media in School of law examination room)
7.30-10.00 Closing banquet Great Hall
Here are the Twitter highlights from four days of all things Ghana!
I’m spending a couple of days in Dakar for the “Innovation, Transformation, and sustainable futures in Africa”– conference organized by American Anthropological Association, African Studies Association, Codesria and WARA-WARC. The hashtag for the conference is virtual reality. I am giving one flash presentation (five minutes, 15 PowerPoint slides) and on Saturday a three hour workshop. My collaborators Dr Gordon Adomdza, Design professor at Ashesi, and Mr Kabiru Seidu, Ashesi alumni involved in VR with his company NubianVR, could not make it, so I have a big job to do!
Here are the blurbs.
Flash Presentation: Re-thinking “Education under Trees”
Where do you teach? In a classroom? Or a larger lecture hall, perhaps? Is it a place where you feel inspired? Your students feel inspired? Let me ask you: Is it an African space? Where you feel connected to the continent? Or is it mostly practical?
At the same time as “education under trees” or education without resources is being challenged in the African political space, the “education that never happens under trees” or does not relate to the physical world outside the campus must be problematized. Many schools and universities lock themselves away on beautiful campuses, while the purpose of any learning institution is to have a positive impact on the surrounding society. In addition, many classrooms are designed almost like stages for professors, instead of empowering students. Therefore, I feel static classrooms must be challenged and convenient, economically sustainable alternatives must arise.
In this flash presentation, I want to share innovation, transformation and sustainable futures of the African lecture hall and classroom.
This is a workshop on engaging, simple, and efficient use of Virtual Reality and Social Media in the classroom.
Recent developments of information technology offer new ways of teaching with small or no additional investments. With the use of Internet infrastructure already available on campuses around the continent and students’ own smart or feature phones, this workshop will show you how to bring social media and virtual reality into your syllabus. While there are many real world examples or experiences that could be made available to students, some experiences take time to acquire or do not occur at the most appropriate time in the learning cycle to achieve the desired learning goals. As a result, we explore opportunities to simulate real world examples and experiences through the design and development of virtual reality content with relevant social media integration to achieve learning goals.
The workshop will be a unique meeting between educators and will hone their different experiences and backgrounds. Based on teaching interests discussed in the first session, participants will be placed in groups that will work together on brainstorming a VR material to be produced. Alongside, practical tips on how to get started with VR and social media will be shared. Participants are encouraged to contribute. A tangible outcome and takeaway can be a crowd-sourced and active toolkit for learning engagement in the age of social media and emerging virtual reality.
…and finally here I am hanging out with a Senegalese rapper who speaks Swedish! Maxi Krezy!
For Gh twirra to understand how big @maxikrezy is – he is Senegal’s @ReggieRockstone!??? #dakarfutures2016 pic.twitter.com/ej7Zjk8IeT
— Kajsa Hallberg Adu (@kajsaha) June 2, 2016
Oh, there is so much to say after a three day conference. But a picture says more than 1000 words, right?
Between the president’s lovely speech, the youngest participant, the great conference bags/cloth, the fashions show(!) there were the academic highlights of discussions on panel papers, insightful key note speeches and meetings of fellow colleagues – it is hard to chose just one impression to highlight!
It was a wonderful conference and I hope I made some lasting connections!
You can follow the Institute of African Studies on Facebook and Twitter as well as on YouTube (where some of the key speeches will end up soon!)
This week, my department, the Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana is organizing a major conference on the theme: “Revisiting the first international congress of Africanists in a globalised world”. The three day conference is apart of the institute’s 50th anniversary celebration and also links to the 1963 convention for Africanists opened by Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah. This conference will be opened by the current president, John Dramani Mahama!
Key note speakers are Kenyan professor and writer Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, professor Fatou Sow, specialist in gender studies and Dr. Carlos Lopez from the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Almost all the big names in the world of African Studies seem to be in the program, framed by exhibits, cultural performances and receptions.
I will be involved in two capacities – as a PhD candidate of the institute obviously I have to present a paper. Mine is a slight deviation from my PhD research project – concerned with migration aspirations among university students in Ghana – instead this paper is on the future of graduate school in Africa. My presentation time is just after the conference opening on Thursday afternoon (Session A, Panel 3, Computer room of the INstitute at 12.20-2.00 PM to be exact). In addition to being a presenter, I have volunteered to handle social media for the conference. So you can follow the institute account for proceedings on Facebook and Twitter or follow the hashtag #ICAS13.
I will be posting here on my blog during the conference as well.
So let’s wish all international participants welcome and while we are at it, please wish me luck!
Photo from an earlier post on AiD.
I am proudly the social media reporter for the conference From Success to Significance: Thought Leaders in the African Renaissance, starting tomorrow afternoon. The conference is organized by alumni of the prestigious Yale university in the Yale Club of Ghana. You can find the program for the conference here.
My expectations for the conference are high as almost all the names of speakers and panelists are “big” men and women here in Ghana and beyond. I am especially looking forward to the education and the technology panels, as well as writer Taiye Selasie, writer of “Ghana Must Go” that I just read. I am tasked to tweeting through out using the hashtag #YaleConfGH and write a summary blog post. Watch this space!
Does it sound interesting? Conference tickets sell for 225 USD with a big discount for students. Buy tickets here.
Wednesday and Thursday, West Africa Civil Society Institute, WACSI, had invited me and some of my fellow blogging colleagues to an international conference on the opportunities of social media.
Present were among others Nigerian online campaigners like Enough Is Enough, Ivorian sister organization to BloggingGhana, CIVBLOG, Buddy Media/Marketing Cloud a Ghanaian (branch of a?) company managing social media and especially Facebook pages around the world and Source Fabric, an interesting social media software organization, as well. Some prominent Tweeps like @spectraspeaks (Nigeria/US), @ZawadiN (Kenya), @mashanubian (Gambia/Senegal) @MacJordaN were also attending and of course GhanaDecides.
Out of the two days of conferencing, I could only attend one due to other obligations, but still walked away with plenty of inspiration and a few insights that I would like to share with you:
Thanks to the organizers for putting this fruitful meeting together. Next time, Adventurers in the Diaspora and Accra Dot Alt should also be invited – Ghanaian social movements using social media!
Here is my report from the West Africa Humanism in Action conference from last week, this time in pictures, report in words will come very soon!
On Friday 23 Nov 2012, the first ever humanist conference takes place in Ghana. The organizer is the newly founded Ghana Humanists, a group I keenly follow on Facebook as I most definitely am a humanist or a freethinker. I also agree with one of the key speakers at the event, Nigerian skeptic Leo Igwe, that certain beliefs in Ghana – like witchcraft – are hurting people and need to be questioned.
I remember moving to Ghana and suddenly being under an immense pressure to go to church, praise God and believe! Quickly, I adopted a strategy that involved never speaking about my non-faith, throwing in some “Thank God!”, “By the grace” and “Insh’Allah!” in my daily speech and agreeing to visiting people’s places of worship (also I was curious, like most humanists!). If asked directly, I’d say I was a Lutheran – as The Church of Sweden is Lutheran – and I felt I wasn’t exactly lying, even though strictly speaking church and state were separated in year 2000.
It was such a relief, when I decided to speak up. It started when I began teaching and a student one day asked me about my faith. I just couldn’t say I was a Lutheran to someone I was going to teach. It didn’t feel right to hide who I was when I was telling my students to be proud of who they were. Although reluctantly at first, I now take the debate on issues relating to faith, especially with my students and particularly when it comes to dogmatic instructions of not asking, not questioning, not even for a second doubting.
One on one, I have talked about in depth why I can’t “give it to God”. In larger groups, I have initiated debate by for instance showing the film the Witches of Gambaga at the university where I teach and moderated the ensuing discussion. A freethinker’s club has recently been formed on campus and even though it is a small group and the Christian and Muslim groups have many more members, I still think its a great step to illustrate the diversity: Not everyone in Ghana is religious.
If you are interested in attending the conference follow the instructions here.
Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to a conference “Migration and Development: Opportunities and Challenges in a Globalized world”. It was a great experience in many ways – inspiration, networking and the personal growth that comes with sharing your work.
To me, it is always inspiring to learn about research that is ongoing some favorite new aspects of migration involved gold scams in Ghana, changing migration patterns of unskilled labor to Accra (kayayeis, scrap collectors and others) and student migration out of the Congo finding new destinations.
The networking was superb – I met with many graduate students at University of Ghana – as migration naturally is interdisciplinary we never knew of each other! We have exchanged contacts and will meet up again soon. Also, in the main frame of the collage above, I met with a former lecturer to Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan!
Finally, the pressure that comes with synthesizing your work and presenting some aspect of it feels horrible, but I am convinced it is good for me. I presented a paper in progress about the migration policies of the north and their impacts on academe in the global south, naturally with a focus on Ghana.
Later this year, a publication from the conference will be put together. If my work meets the quality target (and I manage to submit in time), I will tell you more!
See more of my photos from the conference here.
I am happy to announce I have an academic conference to attend!
As I am well familiar with the Uppsala bound Nordic Africa Institute ( at a point in time they were even my physical neighbors!) I was well informed about the yearly Nordic Africa Days, this year taking place in Turku, Finland. The Nordic Africa Days is a annual conference each year taking place in a Nordic country. For these conferences, young scholars and PhD candidates are especially encouraged to partake, so I was keeping an eye open… When I realized the theme for the conference was Time Space Africa: Reconnecting the Continent, and participants were to focus on “the changing conditions, positions and possibilities of the continent” I knew I had to submit an abstract. I wrote one based on my research so far and it was accepted with a panel called “Mobility and relocation as strategies of youthful resistance”. I am to present my paper (which will be a reworked version of my PhD proposal with maybe a little empiry from a focus group I’d like to follow up on) and actively take part of discussions within my panel.
I have been to conferences before (even crashed a few), but not as an active participant, presenting a paper of my own. I am excited about the opportunity and look forward to critique and input from other participants to make my research more profound.
Out of the key speakers I am especially looking forward to Professor Mahmood Mamdani‘s speech. Ugandan by birth, he is currently the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the Department of Anthropology and Political Science and the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and an academic writer I admire and often quote.
I also saw that Professor Paul Nugent will be a speaker. That could be interesting since he launched the web publication Critical African Studies last year (do read the pdf paper that defends the concept of Critical African Studies ) and was more than critical when he wrote this on conferences:
Let us be honest. Most modern academics are caught on a treadmill that prevents them
from thinking in a sustained way about what they are doing. Typically, a researcher presents a
paper at a conference at which (s)he is given all of ten minutes to outline the findings. A cursory
discussion then follows, and minds then turn to converting the paper into a publication before it is overtaken by other commitments. By their very nature, conference papers are often half-cooked, but the pressure to produce finished results means that while they might receive some light seasoning, they are often sent off with minimal changes.
I hope that Nugent’s presence will have an effect on this conference making the results more sustainable.
So, end of September I am off. Wish me luck!