Association of Concerned Africa Scholars
Analysis and Action on Policies Impacting Africa

Announcements

ACAS events at 2008 African Studies Annual Meeting

ACAS meets every year at the African Studies Association annual meeting. ACAS has four roundtables scheduled for the African Studies Association 2008 Annual Meeting with the theme “Knowledge of Africa: The Next Fifty Years” scheduled for November 13-16, 2008, in Chicago.

Jubilee Act Passes US Senate Foreign Relations Committee

WASHINGTON – Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of 80 religious denominations and faith-based networks, development agencies, and human rights groups today applauded passage of the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation (S. 2166) by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and passage of legislation to authorize funding for the World Bank (International Development Association), including strong calls for reform at the World Bank.

ACAS Press Release: Zimbabwe Crisis

The Association of Concerned Africa Scholars (ACAS), has published a special issue on Zimbabwe in the ACAS Bulletin. It introduces the issues surrounding Zimbabwe’s March 29 elections and the current political violence leading up to the June 27th Presidential run-off. The aim of this special Zimbabwe issue is to provide details and analysis often left out of mainstream news sources. The reader will find a variety of articles from different perspectives, by Zimbabwe experts from the fields of political science, sociology, history, and theology, as well as from seasoned Zimbabwe journalists and an NGO worker reporting from the field. The special issue concludes with a historically-inflected editorial on Zimbabwe’s politics of violence, an open letter to Thabo Mbeki, and provides a listing of on-line resources for further research and information.

Call for Papers: Critical Connections

Critical Connections is a one-day symposium created in collaboration between the Center for African Education, Teachers College and the African Law Student Association of Columbia Law School. The purpose of this symposium is to promote interdisciplinary engagement with the legal, educational, scholarly and practice-based issues affecting the African continent. This year we are paying particular attention to the effect of neo-colonialist policies on the emigration of African peoples on the continent and around the world. Specifically of interest are the connections between such policies and questions of discriminatory immigration laws and trade policies; the movement of refugee populations; xenophobia both in and out of the continent; the development of new legal norms reflecting African cultures and identities; education; the shifting of identities across generations and borders; and the health and well-being of Africans throughout the world.

Call for Papers: African Customary Law Revisited

A Project of the Leitner Center for International Law and Justice at Fordham Law School The sponsoring organization of African Customary Law Revisited: The Role of Customary Law in the 21st Century invites submissions and participant nominations for a collaborative exchange and discussion at a two-day conference to take place on October 23-24, 2008 in Botswana. The conference working language will be English. The conference will include paper presentations on topics detailed below and will also include working group discussions with a broad range of stakeholders, including, for example, traditional leaders, members of the judiciary, representatives of non-governmental organizations and other interested persons, on topics related to customary law.