Jointly organized by Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana), Lincoln University (Pennsylvania, USA)
Venue
Kwantlen Polytechnic University
8771 Lansdowne Rd.
Richmond, British Columbia
Canada
Theme
Re-engaging the African Diasporas: Pan-Africanism in the Age of Globalization
Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Vancouver, Canada, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, and Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, USA are pleased to invite you to participate in the Third Biennial Conference, Kwame Nkrumah International Conference (KNIC3).
The interdisciplinary conference will provide a platform for scholars and students from educational institutions from across the globe to share ideas on how to pool resources and to provide a synergy of knowledge, efforts, projects and programs in Africa and throughout the African world community that are designed to develop the intellectual, social, economic as well as cultural life opportunities of people of African heritage.
With its theme “Re-engaging the African Diasporas: Pan-Africanism in the Age of Globalization” the conference has as its cardinal aim to harness intellectual, academic, technological, and pedagogical resources in addressing the brain-drain scourge that bedevils the continent. It will seek to debate the causes, effects, and dynamics of the scourge of brain-drain in Africa. The conference will bring together leading scholars and researchers to discuss and share innovative and creative ideas, projects and solutions that would aim at turning the brain-drain loss into a brain-gain gain for the mutual benefit of Continental Africans and people of African descent in the Diaspora.
Keynote/Plenary Speakers
Dr. Molefi Kete Asante will provide the keynote address for the conference. Dr. Asante is Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University. Considered by his peers to be one of the most distinguished contemporary scholars, Dr. Asante has published sixty-eight books. The KNIC has attracted other scholars of similar calibre and talent.
Guest Speaker
The Honourable Samia Nkrumah, ex-Member of the Ghanaian National Assembly, daughter of Kwame Nkrumah and his Egyptian wife Fathia Rizk.
Tribute to Nelson Mandela
A special tribute to Nelson Mandela will be held on the opening day of the conference to honour Mandela’s life and work and celebrate 20 years of South African independence. While Mandela is widely considered one of the greatest men in modern history, he is first and foremost an African. The program consists of an inaugural Mandela Lecture, two panel discussions and a number of cultural events celebrating South African music and dancing. It brings together world-renowned South African scholars and community activists working in South Africa and abroad. It therefore speaks eloquently to the conference theme, “Re-engaging the African Diaspora” and operationalises the conference aims of building bridges between the Global South and North, academics and non-governmental organizations.
Inaugural Mandela Lecture
Dr. Jay Naidoo was recently voted one of the top 100 most influential Africans. He was at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid, leading the largest trade union federation in South Africa. After Independence he held ministerial positions in Mandela’s Cabinet. He currently volunteers for international NGOs such as UNESCO.
The Tribute to Mandela is sponsored by the Kwantlen University Students’ Association (KUSA).
The conference is a sequel to, and builds on, the very successful SSHRC-funded inaugural Kwame Nkrumah International Conference held at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in the summer of 2010 and the 2nd Biennial KNIC held at KNUST in the fall of 2012, The two conferences attracted a combined total of over 250 participants globally. The Journal of Pan-African Studies has published a special issue on the KNIC1 and the Cambridge Scholars Publishing plans to publish a combined volume on the proceedings of the two conference by the end of this summer.
KNIC3 takes off from where the first two conferences ended by seeking to mobilize cutting edge research and innovative ideas on African development within context of 21st century global trends. KNIC3 targets international and Canadian scholars, and while it is expected that the majority of the presenters will be academics, submissions have been invited from both graduate and undergraduate students in any Canadian and foreign institutions of higher learning. Members of Non-Governmental Organizations and Civic Society Organizations (NGOs and CSOs) have also been invited to the conference.
Plenary Themes and Topics
Plenary themes and topics to be discussed include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Africa and the Diaspora: Synergies, strategies, and solutions
- African Union International: Integrating Africa's 6th Region
- Brain-Drain/Gain : Tapping into the Brain Drain and Brain Gain
- Brain Gain/Drain: Strategies, Synergies, and Solutions in the Intellectual and Academic Realm
- Brain Gain/Drain: Strategies, Synergies, and Solutions in the Corporate World
- The Brain/Gain Debate and the Globalization logic
- The Brain/Gain Dilemma: Who Gains, Who Losses?
- Green Politics: A Solution for the Brain Drain/Gain Debacle?
- Indigenous Knowledge Systems: A Solution for the Brain Drain/Gain Debacle?
- Neo-liberalism and the Brain/Gain Debacle
- The Black Atlantic and Pan-Africanism
- Africa and its Diasporas: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
- Pan-Africanism and Globalization
- Pan-Africanism in the 21st Century
- Measuring Pan-Africanism
- The political economy of African Integration
- The geopolitics of Africa's North-South Divide
- Governance, Democracy and Development in Africa
- Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD): Reassessment
- The Imperative of African Integration
- The New Scramble for Africa and the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China)
- The ideology and geopolitics of the "phones": Lusophone, Francophone, Anglophone Africa vs. Africa-phone Africa
- The United States of Africa or the Africa Nation
- The Pan-African Congresses and Pan-Africanism
- The European Union and the African Union
- United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Africa’s Cycle of Poverty
- China, the West, and Africa
- Enforcers and barriers to inter-African engagement
- Enforcers and barriers to Africa-Diaspora engagement
- Perspectives on globalization and African development and underdevelopment
- Global African unity in the age of globalization: strategies and tactics
- Pan-Africanism: Historical, contemporary and future trajectories
- Pan-Africanism: A reality or a pipedream?
- Pan-Africanism and praxis: from theory to practice
- Globalization and Africa's economic development
- Globalization and Africa: a nirvana or a curse
- Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Pan-Africanism
- Obama, AFRICOM, and African Security; Terrorism and Counter-terrorism
- Globalization and Social Justice and Western interventions in Africa
- The Communist Party of France and Francophone Africa
- Africa and the West in the 21st century: Neo-liberal globalization or Neo-colonization
- China and Africa: New engagement or new imperialism
- Fifty years of the Organization of African Unity (African Union)
- The spiritual and religious dimensions of pan-Africanism
- Gender politics and pan-Africanism
- The political economy of pan-Africanism
- Economic Pan-Africanism
- Pan-Africanism and paxAfricana
- Pan-Africanism or Pan-Africanisms?
- Cultural Pan-Africanism
- Whose Pan-Africanism?
- Global Africa and the Politics of Ex/inclusion
- The Neo-Liberal Agenda versus the Pan-Africanist Agenda
- The Black/African Left
- The Black/African Right, Pan-Africanism and Globalization
- Does Age Matter?: 21st Century Pan-Africanism and the Youth
- Does Gender Matter? : 21st Century Pan-Africanism and Women
- Does Class Matter? Who rules; who is ruled: 21st century Pan-Africanism and Power politics
- Does Race Matter? Race, Colour, and Pan-Africanism
- African development: Resource curse of leadership curse?
- Corruption Inc. Kletocracy and African governance
Although efforts are being made to secure some funding for the encouragement and assistance of participation by scholars from outside North America and Europe -- especially young scholars -- the organizers are unable, at this time, to offer financial support. Therefore, as of now, participants are responsible for their own expenses until later notified otherwise. Participants from countries requiring a visa to enter Canada must make arrangements to secure them before they travel to Canada.
Paper Abstract Submission
Abstracts of approximately 250 words for papers of 20 minutes' delivery duration — coupled with suggestions of panels consisting of 3 panelists each — are welcome and should be e-mailed, with a short bio-note (50 words, indicating email address, university or institutional affiliation, department or academic program, and year of study for students ) contact address, and one to three keywords related to the area of research to: Dr. Charles Quist-Adade, knic@kpu.ca or cquistad@kpu.ca or wendy.royal@kpu.ca no later than April 15, 2014, final notification of selection to be communicated by April 30, 2014.
Contact Information
Dr. Charles Quist-Adade
Chairperson, Department of Sociology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
12666 72nd Avenue
Surrey, British Columbia
V3W 2M8, Canada
E-mail: charles.quist-adade@kpu.ca
Telephone: 604-599-3079