Dear colleagues,
I would like to invite you to consider joining our panel at the May 4-6, 2018 Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) conference. The Conference theme is Transformations in African Environments. It is scheduled to take place at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Panel topic: The Formal, the Informal, Governmentality and Survival in Africa
Conveners: Nduka Otiono (Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada:nduka.otiono@carleton.ca) and Adeshina Afolayan (Department of Philosophy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria: adeshinaafolayan@gmail.com)
The formality-informality distinction in governance and statehood is often construed in terms of socioeconomic differentiation. However, its essence rests on how a state evolves its nationhood. If formality is defined as the sphere of socioeconomic activities governed by state regulation, then the very evolution of informality already hints at its kinship with the notion of "black markets",loopholes to state laws, and even criminal enterprise that lies outside the margins of state supervision. This interpretation is especially apt for the African continent where informality in its modern incarnation grew out of failure of the postcolonial on the one hand, and on the other, the creative energies of Africans to institute existential parameters for survival. The formal and informal distinction therefore provides a critical conceptual and empirical framework by which we can understand the various manifestations of the social contract that binds the governed to their government in everyday life. This distinction also provides a prism through which the development equation of most African states can be refracted and unraveled. In most cases, the negative and criminal perception of informality in African development discourse often occludes a robust discussion of the reality of how Africans engage in both the informal and formal economy simultaneously (Guha-Khasnobis, Kanbur, and Ostrom 2006). These ideas are best explored through the postcolonial urban state in Africa (Hansen and Vaa 2004) where the "informal" is often criminalized without any thought as to how it could be integrated positively into institutional formality.
The objective of this panel is to interrogate the slippery formality-informality characterization as a critical category that enables the understanding of nationhood in Africa beyond the traditional "dual economy" dichotomy. The composition and methodology of the proposed panel will be such that sheds light on the subject-matter from multiple disciplinary perspectives and discourses. Amongst others, panelists will address questions such as: What is informality? What are the sociological conditions for its evolution in the postcolonial state? How does it relate to formality? How is formality and informality performed in a postcolonial context? How does the formality-informality distinction configure the being of individuals and of nations, and what are its empirical, sociological and existential conditions? How does the understanding of the concept of formality-informality undermine or strengthen nationalism? How is the distinction re-presented in cinematic and literary forms? The panelists will investigate the critical distinction conceptually and empirically, from economics, philosophy, sociology, political science, history, to cultural studies, literature and performance studies.
Panel sub-themes include but are not limited to:
- Informality and Patriotism in the Postcolony
- Citizenship at the Margin: History and the Socio-Political Conditions for Informality in Africa
- Gender and Informality
- Literature and the Formal/Informal economy in Africa
- Performing Informality in Africa
- Formality and Informality Distinction in Africa: Challenges and Possibilities
- Representations of Informality in African cinema
- The formal and the informal continuum in urban Africa
and adeshinaafolayan@gmail.com Please include full name of the author, institutional affiliation, email address, and paper title.
We plan to have a discussant so that all presenters will get some critical feedback for their efforts to enable them to develop the presentation into a journal paper.
Deadline for Abstract Submission
The deadline for submitting Abstract/paper proposals is December 10, 2017. Decisions on Abstracts will be taken on December 13. List of accepted abstracts will be sent to CAAS conference organizers on December 15, which is CAAS final deadline.
I look forward to receiving your Abstract soonest.
Best wishes,
Nduka Otiono, PhD
Assistant Professor & Graduate Program Coordinator
Institute of African Studies | Department of English
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
435 Paterson Hall
Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6
Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive
435 Paterson Hall
Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6
Email: nduka.otiono@carleton.ca
Tel.: 613 520 2600 ext. 2410
Fax: 613 520 2363
Fax: 613 520 2363
Adeshina Afolayan, PhD
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
+23480-3928-8429
Department of Philosophy
University of Ibadan
+23480-3928-8429
No comments:
Post a Comment