African Humanities Forum 2019
When, local time:
Monday, 9 September 2019 - 8:30am to Friday, 13 September 2019 - 6:00pm
Where:
Mali, Bamako
Type of Event:
Category 8-Symposium
Contact:
Maréma Touré Thiam, m.toure-thiam@unesco.org
As part of its action in favour of African humanities, UNESCO and its partners are organizing the African Humanities Forum in Bamako, Mali, from 9 to 13 September 2019.
At the end of the African Humanities Conference held in Bamako, Mali, from 28 June to 1 July 2017, and the World Humanities Conference held in Liège, Belgium, from 6 to 12 August 2017, it was observed that the humanities are globally marginalized, particularly in Africa, and that there is a need to promote a new understanding of the world, a new "being-in-the-world". Both conferences advocated for collaboration based essentially on the establishment of new regional and global humanities networks, starting with Africa and its Diaspora.
It was therefore decided to set up a network whose mission will be to reunite as much as possible the different communities of Africa and the Diaspora, taking into account the transversal nature of gender and youth issues, through the biennial organization of an African Humanities Forum.
Its objective is to provide a space for reflection on major issues relating to the humanities in Africa, to be built or consolidated, with a view to making the best possible contribution to the construction of the "Africa we want".
The African Humanities Forum meets this requirement. It offers the opportunity to place the process of (re)building African humanities within a sustainable and viable framework: coordination, mutualization, synergy, restitution and publication of proceedings, among others. For its first edition, the aim will be to foster fruitful convergence around African languages and cultures through the creation of reference multi-stakeholder platforms.
The Forum is organized by UNESCO, in close collaboration with the Mali National Commission for UNESCO, the relevant ministries and Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), among others.
It will bring together researchers and humanists from Africa and the Diaspora, Africans and Africanists. The participation of young people will be strongly encouraged.