"Spatialities" conference shows wide range of Cluster research

From 11 to 14 October 2023, the fourth annual conference of the Cluster of Excellence Africa Multiple took place at the University of Bayreuth. This year, the four-day event focused on the topic of “Spatialities” showcasing the broad scope of Cluster research.

From 11 to 14 October 2023, the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence at the University of Bayreuth hosted a conference on the theme of “Reconfiguring African Studies through Spatialities”. Over 500 participants had registered to follow the three keynotes and 34 panels either online or in person at the FAN B building on the campus of the University of Bayreuth.

One topic – countless facets

Although the organising team had limited the call for papers to the topic of “Spaces” in the broadest sense, the number of proposals submitted was outstanding. “It was impressive how many submissions we received not only from Cluster members and associated researchers, but also from colleagues from other international institutions,” explained Dr. Doris Löhr, coordinator of the Cluster portfolio “Internationalisation and Public Engagement”, who, together with Robert Debusmann, coordinator for “Research”, and Prof. Dr. Eberhard Rothfuß, Chair of Social and Population Geography at the University of Bayreuth, was responsible for organising the academic content of the conference. Not all of the contributions submitted could be considered, but the remaining submissions were merged into a total of 36 panels, which were presented in parallel in three rooms on each of the four conference days. “The remarkable diversity of topics offered in each panel once again impressively demonstrated the extraordinary range of African research fertilized by the Cluster,” Prof. Dr. Rüdiger Seesemann, Spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence, summarized the conference programme. The individual panels illuminated specific facets of the context of “Spatialities”: participants could find out more about topics such as “Political”, “Performative”, “Religious”, “Ecological”, “Digital”, “Gendered” or “Entangled Spaces”, or listen to presentations on topics like “Panafricanism”, “History and Space” or “Necropolitanism”, among others, and discuss them with the panellists afterwards.

Programme highlights:

Three keynotes

The programme highlights of the four-day conference were undoubtedly the three keynote lectures, which were delivered by heavyweights of academia. Prof. Dr. Patricia Daley, Professor of Human Geography of Africa at Oxford University, England, kicked off the conference on Wednesday evening (11.10.). In her opening lecture “Learning Disobedience in African Studies: Producing Defiant Scholarship on Migration and Refugees”, the renowned scholar pointed out the ongoing decades-long dehumanisation of refugees and migrants and called on all scholars to stand up against existing racist structures of knowledge production in research and teaching. On Thursday evening (12.10.), Prof. Dr. Tendayi Sithole followed up on the keynote from the previous evening with a look at "Black Radical Thought", in particular "The Somatic thought of Mabago P. More". he addressed the question of what it is like to be "black in an anti-black world" and also called for a commitment to freedom, both academically and socially. As part of the dialogue-based keynote, he discussed black radical thinking and how such a place of freedom could be created with Prof. Dr. Bruce Janz from the University of South Florida. The last keynote on Friday afternoon (13.10.) was given by Prof. Dr. Katherine McKittrick. In her lecture “A Black Sense of Place”, the well-known feminist geographer from Queens University, Canada, shed light on processes of knowledge production and research practices from the perspective of a Black woman scholar.

Networking and academic exchange

All through the conference the participants could be seen in lively exchange with each other during the breaks: they discussed what they had heard or exchanged contact details for further collaboration. On Friday evening, during the performance of the band Gaya Verse at Iwalewahaus, which swept the audience away with reggae music under the direction of Prof. Tanya Garnett from the University of Liberia, the informal networking of the international visitors continued. As participants said their goodbyes on Saturday afternoon, they were enthusiastic about the diverse programme and good organisation of the fourth Cluster conference. The co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence, Prof. Dr. Ute Fendler, also draws a positive conclusion: “We are very pleased that the Cluster of Excellence’s conference on ‘Spatialities’ has not only theoretically but also literally created a unique ‘space’ for fruitful debates and intellectual exchange around our overarching motto ‘Reconfiguring African Studies’. The event itself, but also the positive feedback and immense interest of the participants in our work, greatly inspires us for the next months, which are all about the Cluster’s reapplication.” The Cluster of Excellence will run until the end of 2025, and the course for another potential seven-year phase will be set next year.

All images were taken by Robert Götze /Fabrica Lux.
https://fabricalux.picflow.com/africamultiple

https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de