Concept Note and Panels
Nigeria, Africa's demographic giant, can rightly appropriate Dalby's description of Central Nigeria as "sub-Saharan African fragmentation Belt." With over 200 ethnic/cultural groups and languages, and even more dialects, various religions, numerous political traditions, various sub-regional spaces and geo-political divides, numerous administrative units, States and Local Government Areas, the country presents an endless opportunity for extending academic conversations about identities in furtherance of the continent-wide 2019 UT Africa conference on this important theme. Specifically, therefore, the conference will examine the scope of this fragmentation or diversity in terms of identity formation, construction, manifestations, expressions, as well as its contestations, negotiations and reconfigurations in the dynamic Nigerian history, cultures, politics and intergroup relations.
The conference offers scholars an opportunity to interrogate the empirical contexts within which identities are formulated, how they operate or are used or abused in Nigeria in terms of how they empower or marginalize communities across the broad spectrum of the historical experiences and contemporary realities. The academia are, therefore, hereby invited to examine the various dimensions of identity in Nigeria by engaging or probing issues such as the scope and manifestations of the country's identities (ethnic, religious, gender, occupational, geo-spatial, administrative, political, racial, sexual, generational etc), why Nigeria is an epitome of multiple identities, the dynamics of Nigeria's identities in the evolving nation and in globalization, and the empowering and marginalizing contexts of identities in Nigeria.
The conference, which is multidisciplinary in orientation, will accommodate scholars across different academic fields locally and globally as they interact/exchange ideas while engaging the conference theme. The hybrid mode of presentation will be offered at the conference, as opportunities for either physical or virtual presentation will be available. Papers accepted for presentation will be discussed in assigned panels based on their thematic focus, disciplinary peculiarity or spatial focus. Faculty and graduate students are, therefore, encouraged to attend and present papers on any topic of their choice which relates to the theme. After the conference, successful peer-reviewed papers will be published in volume for wider circulation and reach.
Papers are invited on the following sub-themes:
• Identities – Concept, Theories: Change and Continuity
• Ethnic identities in Nigeria
• Religious identities in Nigeria
• Occupational identities in Nigeria
• Gender and women identities in Nigeria
• New/Emerging identities in Nigeria
• Identity politics in Nigeria
• Majority-Minority relations in the politics of States in Nigeria
• Indigene-Settler phenomenon and identity politics in Nigeria
• Politics of place names in Nigeria
• Identity Politics and the changing security architecture
• Urban and rural identities in Nigeria
• Festivals and identities in Nigeria
• Food/cuisines and identities in Nigeria
• Material cultures and identities in Nigeria
• Traditional institutions in Nigeria
• Language and identities
• Origins and migrations and identities in Nigeria
• Globalization, glocalization and new identities in Nigeria
• Religious minorities in Nigeria
• Entertainment, Cultural Appropriation and Identities in Nigeria
• Fashion and identities in Nigeria
Interested scholars and researchers are to send their abstracts of 250 words that include the following information: title of papers, name(s) of author(s), institutional affiliation, functional email address(es), phone number(s), and keywords. Proposals for panels on any of the sub-themes are also welcome. Such proposals should include the name, institutional and email addresses, phone numbers, title of panel, list of panelists, and titles of their Abstracts should be sent to tofac2026@gmail.com, copied to fwatshaks@unijos.edu.ng; sfwatshak@gmail.com by November 30, 2025.
A non-refundable conference registration fee of N20,000 for Nigeria-based scholars and N10,000 for Nigeria-based graduate students should be paid as soon as the abstract is accepted. Registered panelists/presenters will be entitled to a conference bag, t-shirt, subsidised lunch, and local transportation within Jos from and to their hotels.
CONFERENCE FEES AND SUPPORT
Account Number: 4110191954
Bank: Fidelity Bank
Account Name: Jos History and Culture Society
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