Afropolitanism and Afropean Belongings

Afropolitanism and Afropean Belongings

Organizer
Chloë Mayoux (United States) & Robin E. Möser (Germany)
ZIP
190 00
Location
Prague
Country
Czech Republic
Takes place
In Attendance
From - Until
25.06.2025 - 28.06.2025
Deadline
15.12.2024
By
Connections Redaktion, Leipzig Research Centre Global Dynamics, Universität Leipzig

This panel aims to address blind spots in the historiography of Africa in the atomic age, propose theoretical frameworks and methodological innovations which can give the field new momentum, and thus help bring to the fore a richer, more diverse and inclusive narrative of the atomic age.

Afropolitanism and Afropean Belongings

Scholarship on Africa in the atomic age has come a long way in the last two decades. Not only has recent work shown the diversity of nuclear stories in Africa and their links with European and global history, but it has also suggested that the African continent made a distinct contribution to the atomic age, from its provision of uranium to its participation in non-proliferation and disarmament initiatives. Still, the geographical coverage is patchy: countries like Namibia, Congo and Egypt merit special consideration. So far, we have also paid more attention to African attitudes towards nuclear weapons and tests, than to uses of atomic science for energy, agriculture, industry, and medicine. Equally under-researched has been the Organisation of African Unity's traditional stance against nuclear weapons, less state-centric accounts of African resistance to Saharan nuclear testing, and the roles played by African actors within the IAEA during the Cold War. Notable exceptions aside, the diplomatic turn of the last years, whilst writing Africa back into the Global Nuclear Order, has obscured questions relating to the environment and human belonging. Overall, the field continues to lack coherence, creativity, and direction. This panel aims to address historiographical blind spots, propose theoretical frameworks and methodological innovations which can give the field new momentum, and thus help bring to the fore a richer, more diverse and inclusive narrative of the atomic age. We especially welcome submissions from scholars based in Africa and look forward to receiving proposals covering new geographical, thematic and theoretical ground.

Contact (announcement)

robin.moeser@gmx.net

https://www.ecasconference.org/2025/
Editors Information
Published on
13.11.2024
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Language(s) of event
English
Language of announcement