Call for Papers – Canadian Journal of African Studies
This special issue seeks to illuminate the blindspot in Boko Haram research to date by assembling a multi-layered, multi-disciplinary reading of Boko Haram as an everyday experience lived by inhabitants of the Lake Chad Bassin. The objective of such a reading is to know and make known the myriad ways that Boko Haram has touched the very foundations of life and sociability in the region. The purpose is to approach the phenomenon of Boko Haram “from below” as a history of the present drawing on living, new, and visible source material. How have the region’s populations, public services, armies, and religious orders lived and survived the Boko Haram threat? What tangible, demonstrable elements enable us to show the degree of chaos Boko Haram has provoked in the quotidian experience of the region’s inhabitants, and what strategies have arisen to resist, check, or otherwise escape the current climate?
To contribute, please send a proposal of no more than 300 words before 20 March 2017. Proposals may be sent to the following addresses: wassounifrançois@gmail.com; chetima.melchisedek@unibas.ch
Selected authors will be informed by the 1st of April 2017 at the latest. Selected proposals will be submitted to the Canadian Journal of African Studies for a special issue, conditionally upon the journal editors’ acceptance of our special issue proposal.
Center for Civilians in Conflict Country Operations Manager – Nigeria
Center for Civilians in Conflict’s mission is to improve protection for civilians caught in conflicts around the world. We call on and advise international organizations, governments, militaries, and armed non-state actors to adopt and implement policies, tools, and training to prevent civilian harm. When civilians are harmed we advocate for the provision of amends and post-harm assistance. We bring the voices of civilians themselves to those making decisions affecting their lives.
The operations manager is responsible for the daily management of CIVICs Nigeria-based project field office and includes: finances, facilities, human resources and benefits, risk mitigation, recordkeeping and contracting. This position requires independence, strong organizational and interpersonal skills, and the ability to anticipate needs and respond to staff inquiries on a broad range of subjects.
Deadline: 17 February 2017
Institute for Justice and Reconciliation Dialogue Series
7–22 February 2017
Call for Submissions: Symposium: “New” Conflicts and Emerging Economy of Difference in Africa
Submissions Due: April 15, 2017
Recent studies suggest that Africa is increasingly experiencing new patterns of conflict, which reflects the trappings of contemporary global insecurities. In this context, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice announces its 29(3) issue theme: “New” Conflicts and Emerging Economy of Difference in Africa. This special issue aims to probe how exactly African conflicts are transforming in character in the 21st century. In conflict ecologies where ideational and ethno-nationalist factors are mostly “glocalised,” are “new” conflicts emerging in Africa? If so, what are their characteristics? How has the so-called “continent of forever wars” changed to a new global order in the post-9/11 world? How are everyday Africans reacting? What are the implications for peace? How are African countries and communities responding?
This issue will be co-edited by three African researchers: Muhammad Dan Suleiman, PhD researcher at the University of Western Australia, Hakeem Onapajo, postdoctoral fellow at the University of Zululand, South Africa, and Benjamin Maiangwa, PhD researcher at the University of Manitoba, Canada.
Themes to consider in this special issue include but are not limited to:
- Social protests and civil conflicts
- Radicalism and religious terrorism
- Subaltern movements
- Ethnocentrism and combative identities
- Xenophobia and racial conflicts
- State repression and human insecurity
- External actors as conflict entrepreneurs
- International versus locally engineered peacebuilding interventions
- Gender in conflict and conflict management
- African union and regional peacebuilding frameworks
We seek analytical essays on these and similar themes which interrogate questions such as, how much of the characteristics and motivations for “new” conflicts are “African” in origin? That is, how much of the factors shaping a new frontier in African conflicts are primarily situated in Africa, as a continent, and as a group of people, and around the “African” as an individual? How much has the contemporary external environment of “global wars” such as the present wave of religious terrorism and global war on terror influenced “new” conflicts in Africa? If indeed contemporary African conflicts are changing in character, focus, and motivation — and if an argument that these changes have been significantly influenced by “global wars” is sustained — what then should African governments do to redeem their peoples, societies, and economies from the trappings of conflicts that are both local and global? Who are the principal actors and what prospects and capacities do African governments and the people possess to be able to address the challenge?
The editors seek contributions from early career researchers who will bring “fresh” and critical perspectives on the above themes and questions, although contributions from senior researchers will also be welcomed. Both academics and practitioners are encouraged to submit essays that appeal to a wide readership. Essays of 2,500 to 3,500 words, along with a one- to two-line bio, should be sent to Peace Review no later that 5 p.m. PST on April 15, 2017. Essays should be jargon- and footnote-free, although we will run recommended readings. Submission guidelines for authors:
Please direct content-based questions or concerns to the guest editors: Muhammad Dan Suleiman (muhammad.suleiman@research.uwa.edu.au), Hakeem Onapajo (onapajoh@unizulu.ac.za), and Benjamin Maiangwa (maiangwb@myumanitoba.ca).
Send essays to:
Robert Elias (Editor in Chief)
Shawn Doubiago (Managing Editor)
(peacereview@usfca.edu)
Subject Line: “New” Conflicts and Emerging Economy of Difference in Africa