USA: African Studies Association 55th Annual Meeting

The 55th African Studies Association (ASA) Annual Meeting took place in Philadelphia from November 29th to December 1st 2012. Among the thousands of participants, scholars, professors, and students from many parts of the world. The principal theme was: Research Frontiers in the Study of Africa.
Many roundtables and panels have been organized on different subjects: education, development policy, health, cultures, gender and women’s issues, relationships between Africa and Cina, governance, literature, arts, cinema and so one. Papers have been presented with critical analysis in a dialogue context with participants.

The Awards Ceremony

Another important moment of the Meeting was the Awards Ceremony in the  Hall H at the Marriott Hotel, November 29th 2012. Among the Awardees some scholars, Africanists, writers and the ASA Presidential Fellows who are this year 2012: Gbemisola Adeoti from Nigeria, Jamima Anderson from Ghana and Jean-Baptiste Sourou from Benin/Tanzania. They have been selected among the African Humanities Program Post Doctoral Fellows of the American Council of Learned Societies. Each of the three ASA Presidential Fellows presented a paper during the Meeting.

Visiting New York

Before arriving in Philadelphia, the Fellows visited the Carnegie Foundation in New York where during a very informal presentation to the staff they talked about their field of research and academic projects for the future. Later, they visited the ACLS office in New York, and spoke about the promotion of humanities in Africa through their own experiences and research into the field. Participants showed their interests asking many questions.

Last step of the Academic Tour in the States

The last step of the “American Academic Tour” has been within different institutions. Gbemisola has been hosted by the Wisconsin University, Jemima Anderson at the James Madison University and Jean-Baptiste Sourou went to the Center of African Studies at Rutgers University in New Jersey.