ASAA 2025 Call for Papers, Panels, Roundtables & Workshops
*****Deadline extended to 5 April 2025 *****

African Responses to Global Vulnerabilities: Building Hope for the Future
6th Biennial Conference of the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA)
UNi-CV – PRAIA – CABO VERDE
24–27 SEPTEMBER 2025

The African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) invites scholars, researchers, activists, policymakers, and practitioners to submit papers for its 6th Biennial Conference, to be held in Praia, Cabo Verde (Campus do Palmarejo Grande), from September 24 to 27, 2025. Co-hosted by the Universidade de Cabo Verde (Uni-CV), the ASAA’s 6th Biennial Conference provides a vital platform to engage with Africa's critical challenges and explore opportunities for redress. 

Through collective reflection, inquiry, and dialogue, we aim to build a collaborative vision for global futures that center Africa in processes of hope-building, resilience, and growth in a complex and despairing global landscape. The ASAA2025 conference theme  “African Responses to Global Vulnerabilities: Building Hope for the Future” will explore how forms and articulations of African agency have shaped our collective histories, cohabitation, dignity, knowledge, sovereignty, violence, survival, and hopes for imaginaries of better futures.

We are particularly interested in unpacking intersections between the past, the present, and the future in tackling challenges of vulnerabilities, enunciations of resilience, and expectations of resolution. These processes and interventions of hope are oriented towards building individual and collective futures not merely of survival but, importantly, of solidarity and collective thriving.

Submission Guidelines:

Paper Submissions:

We welcome individual paper abstracts, special panels, roundtable discussions, workshop proposals and other presentation forms that critically engage with the conference theme. Interested participants should submit:

- An abstract of no more than 250 words

- A brief biography (50 words) that outlines their academic background and areas of expertise.

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Submission deadline: 5 April 2025.

Authors will be notified by 15 April 2025

Full papers are expected on 1 September 2025.

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For Creative Submissions (Film, Art, Performance), please use this form.
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Email *
The Sensory Foundations of Amílcar Cabral's Critical Theory
Carreira da Silva *
Filipe *
Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon/Selwyn College, Cambridge *
Research Professor of Sociology *
Academic Position
Gender: How do you identify? (if other*, please specify)
 *
Portuguese *
Portugal *
Lisbon *
Prefered Language  *
Short Bio (50 Words)
 *
ASAA Membership  *
Would you like to become an ASAA member?  *
Format of Submission *
Roundtable Discussion
Names, email addresses and institutional affiliations of the participants (no more than 5) *
Discussant (name, email address and institutional affiliation if applicable)
Short biography of participant 1  *
Short biography of participant 2
 *
Short biography of participant 3
 *
Short biography of participant 4
Short biography of participant 5 
Title of the roundtable discussion *
Abstract of the roundtable discussion (250 words) *
Which Axis does the roundtable fall under?  *
Required
Individual Paper Proposal 
Abstracts (Papers, Panels, Roundtables, and other presentations) should be a minimum of 200-250 words with the authors affiliation, bio and contact information. 

The organizers encourage authors to identify which stream they are aligning their abstract with and if desired, to construct panels of 4 presentations.
The Sensory Foundations of Amílcar Cabral's Critical Theory *
name of co-author  (if applicable)
email of co-author
name of third co-author (if applicable)
email of third co-author (if applicable)
name of fourth co-author (if applicable)
email of fourth co-author (if applicable)
A sensory approach is deployed to discuss Cabral's critical theory, namely his concept of resistance *

How does it feel to be a problem?

For Amílcar Cabral, the feeling of being a problem is the first step towards resistance. Resisting racial discrimination and political oppression requires a different perception of oneself and one’s people. It involves a critique of vision as the noblest of the senses, without ignoring the need to look ahead to the future of the post-colony. In this, Cabral is not different from other mid-twentieth century anti-colonial thinkers like Sartre and Fanon, who also distrusted the colonial gaze. For all of them, the critique of colonialism is in large part a critique of ocularcentrism. From the first colonial encounter to the lived experience of coloniality today, critiquing and resisting the social effects of privileging vision over the other senses is a fundamental component of anti-colonial and anti-racist discourse and practice. It is always already a critique of vision as the noblest of the senses, because modern colonial sensory regimes have been ocularcentric from their inception. If we accept this, 1492 is more than a date: it is a visual prompt, a line of demarcation separating the past from the future. It provides a clear target for those who resist the dark side of modernity. Perhaps the most valuable sociological lens through which to view this historical process is Du Bois’s programmatic assertion that the problem of the “colour line” is the problem of the twentieth century. In this paper, I adopt a DuBoisian perspective by looking at the problem of the colour line in Amílcar Cabral’s work and life. 

 *
Which Axis does the paper fall under?  *
Required
Workshop Proposal
We welcome panel proposals identifying with the sub-theme of ASAA2025
Title of the Workshop 
 *
Workshop Description (250 words) *
Names, email addresses and institutional affiliations of co-convenor(s) (if applicable) *
Which Axis does the roundtable fall under?  *
Required
Panel Proposal 
We welcome panel proposals identifying with the sub-theme of ASAA2025
 Panel title
 *
Name of co-convenor(s) (if applicable)
Email of co-convenor (if applicable)
Names, email addresses and institutional affiliations of the participants (no more than 5)
 *
Abstracts (no more than 250 words for each participant) 

Please note that all authors must also submit their abstracts individually. 
 *
Discussant (name, email address and institutional affiliation if applicable)
Which Axis does the panel fall under?  *
Required
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