SUBMISSION GUIDELINES FOR ASA PROPOSALS

66th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association
African Presences: Envisioning Africa in Text and Deed

FINAL DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: April 2, 2023 11:59 Eastern

PROGRAM CHAIRS: Claudia Gastrow (University of Johannesburg) and Shobana Shankar (Stony Brook University)
INQUIRIES: members@africanstudies.org 
 

Please note that the CFP Submission Site will only be accessible to those who have already registered for the 2023 Annual Meeting. Please click here to join or renew your membership and pre-register for the 66th ASA Annual Meeting!

CFP OVERVIEW

The African Studies Association (ASA) invites proposals for panels, papers, and roundtables that examine current scholarship and debates in all areas of African Studies. The Program Committee welcomes submissions from Africanist professionals and scholars at all stages in their careers. Proposals are particularly encouraged that focus on this year’s theme of “African Presences: Envisioning Africa in Text and Deed.”

All proposals must be submitted on or before April 2, 2023.  Proposals will be provisionally accepted or rejected within 8-10 weeks by the Program Committee and notices will be sent out by email, with acceptance contingent on receipt of pre-registration fees.

Everyone who submits a proposal MUST pre-register by the April 2 submission deadline in order for the proposal to be reviewed. (The presenters included on the proposal must pre-register for the annual meeting by April 2. Please note that pre-registration is refundable if your submission is rejected by the Program Committee or a presenter is denied a visa.

We are only able to accept credit cards, PayPal, and PayPal partner services such as MPESA at this time. For a full list of PayPal services available on the continent, please see their official list. Check payments are unavailable. Onsite registration will only be available for presenters on a case-by-case basis.

Accepted proposals will be listed in the Preliminary Program. Notification that the Preliminary Program has been posted will be sent via email. Please be sure you can receive notification emails from members@africanstudies.org and secretariat@africanstudies.org.

PARTICIPATION RULES 

Each individual may only submit one Individual Paper Proposal per Annual Meeting. Individuals may participate in multiple panels, roundtables, and Author Meets Critic sessions as long as the work presented at each session is different from the research presented in another. If a participant is listed in multiple sessions with an identical presentation, they will be removed from sessions to ensure adherence to the ASA participation policy. Submissions to AfricaNow! do not count towards participations limits.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURES

The Program Committee will review only complete proposals. Incomplete proposals will be automatically rejected.  All proposals must be submitted online. We are unable to accept proposals sent by email, hard copy, or fax. Proposals must be submitted in English, but presentations may be in any language. Diversity in gender, race, and institution must be incorporated in panel and roundtable submissions.

INDIVIDUAL PAPER PROPOSALS

Individual paper proposals have the highest rate of rejection. Potential presenters are strongly encouraged to utilize the Call for Co-Panelists on the ASA website to solicit other presenters to create a full session proposal.

Individual proposals for presenting a paper should only be submitted if you are not presenting that paper as part of a pre-organized panel. The paper abstract should consist of a statement about the topic, the nature, and extent of the research on which the paper is based, and a brief summary of the main argument(s) (a maximum of 200 words). The quality of the paper abstract is the main criterion for acceptance. The Program Committee will create panels from individual submissions with common themes and identify a panel chair and a discussant. Please note: individual paper submissions may not be categorized as “Special Topics” and any individual submission categorized as such will not be considered.
Paper presenters must be pre-registered for the meeting by April 2 for their paper proposals to be reviewed.

ORGANIZED PANEL PROPOSALS

A panel has a chair, no more than four paper presenters, and a discussant. A panel proposal consists of 1) the panel title and abstract; 2) names, email address, phone number, and institutional affiliation for each participant on the panel; 3) paper titles and an abstract for each of the papers. The panel organizers submit information about all the participants in the panel using the online form. Emails submitted on behalf of co-panelists must be unique, accurate emails, and not duplicative of another panelists’ contact information. Panelists on organized panels should not submit individually.

If you wish to submit a multi-part series in order to include more than four presenters on a given subject, please title them similarly, submit each panel to the same subtheme, and identify them in the order you’d like them scheduled using Part I, Part II, Part III, etc. If you are organizing a multi-part series, you are not required to chair each panel, but you must identify the participants and their roles for each and communicate any pertinent information from the ASA to all your participants once submitted.

Ex: African Masculinities in the Modern World, Part I
      African Masculinities in the Modern World, Part II

OR

Ex: New Africa-China Research, Part I: Contested Framings of Africa-China Relations
       New Africa-China Research, Part II: African Agency in Theory and Practice
       New Africa-China Research, Part III: Centering Mobility in Africa-China Relations

The panel abstract should consist of a statement about the topic and a brief summary of the main argument(s) to be explored (approximately 250 words). The quality of the panel abstracts is the main criterion for acceptance; a panel with a weak abstract or with two or more weak paper abstracts is unlikely to be accepted.  All participants on a panel, including the chair and discussant, must be pre-registered by April 2 to be accepted and listed in the program.

ICAADS Note: Panels that wish to be included in the 6^th International Congress of African and African Diaspora Studies program can do so by checking the box during their submission. This is an agreement that if your panel is selected by the Program Committee, your panel will co-author and present a draft white paper based on your proposed panel content. Participants will be asked to engage the audience to finalize the white paper during or immediately following the conference and submit it to the ASA for inclusion in the ICAADS online archive.

ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS

A roundtable consists of a chair and no more than five presenters. A roundtable proposal consists of a title, abstract, and the proposed roundtable participants. The chair organizes the roundtable and submits information for all roundtable participants using the online form. There is no discussant on a roundtable as all participants are considered ‘discussants.’ There are no paper titles in this format.

The roundtable abstract should consist of a statement about the topic and a brief summary of the main issues to be explored (approximately 250 words). The quality of the roundtable abstract is the main criterion for acceptance. A roundtable with a weak abstract is unlikely to be accepted.

All participants on a roundtable, including the chair, must be pre-registered by April 2 to be accepted and listed in the program.

ICAADS Note: Roundtables that wish to be included in the 6^th International Congress of African and African Diaspora Studies program can do so by checking the box during their submission. This is an agreement that if your roundtable is selected by the Program Committee, your roundtable will co-author and present a draft white paper based on your proposed roundtable content. Participants will be asked to engage the audience to finalize the white paper during or immediately following the conference and submit it to the ASA for inclusion in the ICAADS online archive.

AUTHOR MEETS CRITIC ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS 

An Author Meets Critic Roundtable consists of a chair and no more than five presenters. One of the five presenters must be the author of the work being discussed. The author is not expected to chair the panel, but may choose to if they so wish. If someone other than the author is submitting the roundtable, they must confirm that the author will participate if the roundtable is accepted. An Author Meets Critic Roundtable proposal must include the name and affiliation of the book’s author(s), the complete title of the book, the publication date and name of publisher, a brief statement on the significance of the book to African studies, and the names and affiliations of confirmed roundtable participants, and justification for why they were chosen. The words “Author Meets Critic” should not be included in your submitted roundtable title.

All participants on a roundtable, including the chair, must be pre-registered by April 2 to be accepted and listed in the program. Author Meets Critic sessions will not be placed under consideration for Board Sponsorship.

DISCUSSANTS AND CHAIRS

We are always in need of scholars who are willing to serve as discussants and chairs. Please indicate your willingness to serve in that capacity either 1) on your submission form for a paper, panel or roundtable or 2) or via email to members@africanstudies.org. Be as specific as you can when you list your areas of expertise so that the Program Committee can best take advantage of your expertise.

INDICATING A SUBMISSION CATEGORY

All proposals should designate the sub-theme for which the proposal is most appropriate. Please note that some sub-themes are specific to the conference theme, and others are general categories. All proposals are reviewed by the Section Chair(s), who, together with the Program Chairs, constitute the Program Committee.

COORDINATE ORGANIZATION PANELS

ASA Coordinate Organizations may submit one proposal for a panel or roundtable to be accepted without review by the Program Committee. Coordinate organizations may also submit additional proposals that will be evaluated by the Program Committee along with other submissions. All proposals must be submitted on or before the Call for Proposals deadline of April 2.

ASA POLICY ON PROPOSAL ACCEPTANCES

The Program Chairs, working with the Program Committee, have final responsibility for accepting or declining Annual Meeting proposals in accordance with guidelines that have been established by the ASA Board of Directors. All paper proposals will be reviewed separately, whether they have been submitted individually or as part of a panel.

“NO SHOW” POLICY

Your participation in the ASA Annual Meeting is a major commitment to your colleagues, to the African Studies community, and to the Association. Individuals may be seriously inconvenienced and disappointed when they attend sessions, only to find that persons they looked forward to hearing and seeing failed to appear. The Program Committee works hard to create a cohesive program and “no-shows” detract from the success of the conference. Please avoid being a “no show,” since this may have implications for future acceptance to participate in the program. Those with medical or other emergency situations are exempted.

WITHDRAWALS

Presenters should notify the Secretariat in writing as soon as possible if they know they are unable to attend the meeting. The information will be reflected in the Final Program if the Secretariat receives it before the program goes to print.

REPLACEMENT CHAIRS

If a person who is assigned as a Panel or Roundtable Chair cannot attend the Annual Meeting, the replacement chair will be selected from the other panel/roundtable presenters on the basis of alphabetical order by last name. Efforts will be made to contact the chair of the panel affected by a change when it is made.

REFUND POLICY

Annual Meeting pre-registration fee refunds will only be processed for:
– an individual whose proposal has been declined, and only upon written request
– an individual whose proposal has been accepted, and had requested a letter of invitation from the ASA, but has been denied a visa; proof of the denial must be provided.
Requests for refunds should be sent to members@africanstudies.org and will be issued in the same way that the payment was made. Refunds for registration and/or membership will not be processed under any other circumstance.

ACCESS POLICY

The African Studies Association is committed to ensuring that its services and meetings are accessible to all. If you have any special needs or require special assistance to participate in an ASA event, please contact the Secretariat via email at members@africanstudies.org.

GRADUATE STUDENT PAPER PRIZE

The ASA Board of Directors established the Graduate Student Paper Prize in 2001 to recognize the best graduate student paper presented at the previous year’s Annual Meeting. All papers presented by graduate students at the Annual Meeting are eligible for the prize, which is awarded at the subsequent Annual Meeting. The editors of the African Studies Review will coordinate an expedited peer-review process for possible publication of the prize-winning paper. Graduate students may submit their paper with a letter of recommendation from the advisor on or before March 15 of the year following the current year’s Annual Meeting. More information can be found on the ASA website.