Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference 2013 call for papers

Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference 

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary 

1988-2013 

Afrocentric and Africana Studies 

Diop, Asante and the Radical Aestetic of African Culture 

October 16-19, 2013  

Wyndham Historic District Philadelphia 

(Formerly the Holiday Inn, Historic District) 

Sponsored by the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies and  

the Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement 

The Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies and the Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement (DISA) are pleased to announce our collaboration on the 25th anniversary of the annual Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference. Over the years, there have been hundreds of papers delivered at the Diop Conference, scores of publishing opportunities, and numerous networks created among the most consistently insightful and productive of scholars. We have achieved far more in 25 years than we could have ever imagined. Yet there is more to do. This is why we are urging you to attend this year’s celebratory conference. The Diop Conference coincides with the 25th year of the first doctoral program in African American Studies at Temple University. These two events, combining the academic and the professional, represent dual achievements of our field. Your attendance, alongside that of your colleagues, will mark this year’s conference as one of the most rewarding ever.  

In the latter part of the 20th century, the Afrocentric Idea, as a philosophical and theoretical construct centered on African subjectivity and agency and Hip Hop, as the manifestation of African artistic expression exploded onto the American, and subsequently, the international intellectual and cultural landscape. Also, there was during this period an increasing study of the works of Cheikh Anta Diop on a global level, raising the question of the value of the study of the classical African civilization of Egypt as a way to enrich and expand our thought and practice as African people. At this historical juncture, a critical analysis of the influence of Afrocentricity and the classical African tradition on hip hop is a timely and necessary initiative in the rescue and recovery of the contemporary African mind.  In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the annual Cheikh Anta Diop International Conference and the first Ph.D. program in the field, the MKA Institute and DISA invite scholars, educators, artists, and community activists to engage this landmark conference and embrace the opportunity to critically examine and reflect on the evolution of Africana Studies, Afrocentricity, and Diopian thought, and their impact in fostering one of the most influential intellectual, social, and cultural movements of the era.  

In line with the theme of this year’s conference, we are inviting papers and presentations that address, but are not limited to the following broad areas of inquiry and dialog: 

1. Afrocentricity and Reshaping the Academy and the Disciplines 

Addressing questions of the impact of Afrocentricity in engendering a self-interrogation and rethinking of the disciplines and the academy itself; its reframing and grounding Africana Studies; and its posing a new paradigm for cultural, intellectual and social engagement. 

2. Revisiting and Reimagining Diop: Issues of History, the Human Sciences and Culture 

Re-examining Diop’s works and his contention concerning the essentiality of grounding in ancient Egyptian studies as a vital way to reconcile African and human history; reconceive and develop the human sciences and renew African culture.                  

3. Word Warriors: The Afrocentric Roots of Hip Hop 

Exploring the articulation of Afrocentric consciousness within the hip hop movement through the themes, symbols, and motifs artists, past and present, use in their lyrical responses to the African experience in America. 

4. Asante and the Afrocentric Idea: Emancipatory Insights and Continuing Currency 

A critical discourse on the groundbreaking Afrocentric initiative and seminal works by Molefi Asante, their essential understanding, liberative insights and continuing utility in reconceiving and reconstructing the educational and social transformative project. 

5. Afrocentric Spirituality and Ethics: Recovery, Reconstruction and Renewal 

Critical discussion of the impact of Afrocentricity on the study, recovery and reconstruction of ancient African spirituality and ethical traditions such as Maat, Ifa, Dogon, Akan, and others, as well as the re-interpretive initiatives in the Abrahamic traditions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism and the resultant inter-tradition dialog. 

6. Afrocentricity and Hip Hop Pedagogy in Primary thru Post-Secondary Education 

Accessing the pedagogical challenges and opportunities of incorporating hip hop into a traditional curriculum through the use of innovative discursive strategies to improve critical thinking skills and subject comprehension from an Afrocentric perspective. 

7. Theorizing The Essential: Reflections on the African Aesthetic Tradition 

Examining the evolution of aesthetic theory within the Afrocentric enterprise. In particular, Kariamu Welsh’s contributions to the field as formalized in the Nzuri model and the Umfundalai dance technique. 

8. Utilizing New Media Technologies to Forward an Afrocentric Agenda 

Understanding the implications of digital and social media and the ethical use of information technology as a means of mobilizing the collective conscious will of African people. 

9. Africana Womanism: Posing a Culturally Grounded, Self-Determined and Emancipatory Project 

An open-textured exploration of questions and concepts that aid in understanding and practicing Africana womanism as a culturally distinct, self-determined, self-standing and emancipatory project. 

10. Locating the Language and Literature of a Hip Hop Nation 

An Afrocentric examination of the hip hop literary text. Examining the original subjects and authorial techniques writers and artists are currently exploring in their work. All multidimensional forms of hip hop literary expression (oral, written, visual, performative) will be considered. 

11. Flippin’ the Script: Afrocentric Liberation for a New Black Century 

Exploring innovative social justice and public policy initiatives addressing the economic, political and social disenfranchisement and empowerment of the African community. Particular attention will be given to youth-centered models of leadership, activism, and civic engagement and intergenerational initiatives. 

12. Globalizing Culture/Localizing Tradition 

An Afrocentric exploration of international artists’ adaptations of hip hop to specific historical experiences, political issues, and social concerns; local practitioners’ fusion of hip-hop with traditional forms of creative expression; and diasporic communities’ use of hip-hop as a means of negotiating transnational identities.  

13. Beyond Hip Hop: Emerging Voices in Black Popular Culture 

Addressing how contemporary culture producers such as the Afro-Punk movement and internet sensation Issa Rae intersect and expand the dialogic boundaries of hip hop to occupy a popular space increasingly characterized as “the other black experience.” How do we access these phenomena in relation to the Afrocentric articulation of a regenerative black cultural discourse? 

14. New Visions of an African Renaissance 

Advancing the Afrocentric idea as a theoretical tool in the creation of sustainable models of African agency, authority, sovereignty, renewal and flourishing. 

Ankh, Djed, and Seneb

Molefi Kete Asante 

Founder, Cheikh Anta Diop  

International Conference 

President & Senior Fellow  

Molefi Kete Asante Institute 

Adisa A. Alkebulan 

Executive Director  

Diopian Institute for  

Scholarly Advancement 

Fellow, Molefi Kete Asante Institute 

Requirements for Abstracts: 100-word limit; name, affiliation, academic title, email address; paper title, thesis and methodology. Also indicate which sub-topic abstract falls under. Please send via email as a Microsoft Word attachment; and indicate if you need an LCD projector. 

Abstracts are due August 1, 2013:  

Diopian Institute for Scholarly Advancement, P.O. Box 1156, El Cajon, CA 92022

Abstracts@DiopianInstitute.org
Notification of paper acceptance will be sent August 31, 2013.

For more information send email to Info@DiopianInstitute.org or call 619-384-9868.