ASNA 2023 CONFERENCE

JOY, PROMISE, AND FUTURE IN THE NEGATIVE MOMENT!

 
Call for Papers

The past years have been characterized by moments of disaster and crisis in many parts of the world. The Covid-19 pandemic and the mass deaths, loss, and illness that resulted from the disease have promoted a global atmosphere of catastrophe and decay. In Southern Africa, challenges with the energy crisis, political uncertainty, and economic instability have further exacerbated inequities in various spheres at the structural, social and interpersonal levels. In this “negative moment” as Achille Mbebe writes, where “new antagonisms emerge while old ones remain unresolved”, we invite abstracts, poster presentations, and proposals for panels for the 2023 Anthropology Southern Africa conference to be held in the Western Cape of South Africa.

We are interested in papers that “speak back” to the negative moment through anthropological explorations of joy and promise in the midst of disaster and crisis. Scholars such as Nthabiseng Motsemme, in their widespread work, have shown that even in the midst of crisis, deadly pandemics, and epidemics, people continue to pursue pleasure, desire, and joy.

For the 2023 conference, we seek explorations of what an “anthropology of joy” looks like in the midst of crisis. We seek explorations that, not exhaustively, look at:

• Anthropology in the negative moment;
• Joy, promise, and future in the midst of crisis and disaster;
• Global South contributions to pleasure and desire in the midst of death and loss;
  
• Ethnographic explorations of life making under terrible and deadly conditions;
  
• Promises of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to connection and intimacy;
  
• Advances in technology and Artificial Intelligence and their contributions to well being;
  
• Opportunity, leisure, and the promise(s) of decolonisation.

Due Date for abstracts, panels, and poster presentations: 28 April 2023
Feedback and notification: 31 May 2023
Final papers: 28 July 2023
Conference: 7th – 9th September 2023
Registration fee: to be communicated
Venue: Western Cape - details to be confirmed and communicated

Please submit abstracts and panel proposals to: asnaconference2023@gmail.com