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1996 MEETING OF THE CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN STUDIES (CAAS)
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"Africa 1996 Afrique: Crisis and Renaissance et Crise"
1-5 May 1996, Montreal
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Jointly organized by McGill University and the Universite de
Montreal, the next Annual Meeting of CAAS will be held in Montreal
during the first week of May, 1996. The current crisis in Africa
is social, political, economic, environmental, demographic and
medical in nature. We are concerned not only with understanding
the genesis and nature of the crisis, but also the inventiveness
and resilience revealed as the continent seeks models of resurgence
and rebirth to meet the challenges of the present.
The 1996 meeting shall be concerned with political conflict, within
and between countries, its mediation and resolution, the search for
new forms of governance through democratization, the growing
international influence of South Africa under majority government,
the effectiveness of structural adjustment policies and their
environmental and social effects, responses to the agrarian crisis
and debates over changing forms of property and land tenure,
different trends in migration and population across the continent,
trends in the spread of HIV and social and economic responses to
AIDS, and the humanizing role of African arts, music and literature
as expressions of the human spirit and of resistance to crisis.
We propose an innovation in our program, by holding several plenary
sessions on themes which cross the experiences and interests of
diverse participants. Samir Amin has agreed to present the keynote
address on the African Crisis; other plenary sessions will concern
the mediation of regional conflict, the role of the media in
development, and environmental and health implications of the
agrarian crisis.
To reinforce the melding of the humanistic and scientific within
our Association, as well as in African life, we will join with the
international African film festival, <<Vues d'Afrique>>, a world
famous event held each year in Montreal, to present a program of
cinematic presentations and debates between scholars and
filmmakers. This program, especially aimed at the CAAS audience,
will include two film series, on "Images of Subversion: Alternative
Views on Culture and Politics in Africa" and "(Re)Vising Conflict:
Media(ting) Images of Africa". Complementing the CAAS banquet of
African cuisine and live music, <<Vues d'Afrique>> will offer an
array of African and Caribbean food and performance throughout the
week, as well as exhibits of African art, handicrafts and
literature.
Plan to arrive Wednesday afternoon, May 1st, for Samir Amin's
opening presentation, and stay until Sunday, May 5th, when the CAAS
program and the film festival end. We invite participants to offer
papers for presentation in Panels based on topics suggested here,
or to propose Panels in addition to or as refinements of those
mentioned. We invite ideas for Panels even if a full array of
contributors has not yet been identified. As always, although CAAS
meetings are organized around a theme, presentations on any theme
relevant to African Studies are welcomed.
SOME SUGGESTED TOPICS FOR ACADEMIC SESSIONS
a) Political Science/Economics
Structural adjustment and conflict
Economic outcomes of structural adjustment politics
Canadian foreign policy on Africa
Minority political participation, democratization
Ethnicity, conflict, national and international resolution
Rwanda, international failure, policy, response
Negotiating internal conflicts: Sudan, Mali, Chad, Somalia, Rwanda
b) Health, Demography and Nutrition
AIDS and development
Infectious diseases and demographic projections
International health development
Community health, national structures, international involvement
Infectious diseases and history
The politics of food assistance
Local food security
Population and development
Urban migration, urbanism
c) Land Use and Environment
Environmental history and health
Structural adjustment and the environmental sustainability
Critical environments and community management
Agrarian transformation and environment
Environmental education and popular mobilization
Land tenure policies and political conflict
Productivity and privatization
Villagization after liberalization
Common resource management and agrarian communities
Tenure and food security
Land, gender and food security
Megaprojects in Africa
Forest conservation
d) Anthropology, History and Cultural Studies
Identity and conflict in complex settings
National and local identities, representations and practices
Performance and literature, oral and otherwise
Religious revitalization and reformulation
Anthropology and colonialism
Luso-African Studies: new trends and directions