Gender and Sexuality in Africa
Nairobi, Kenya
April 24th and 25th, 2025
The Program on African Social Research (PASR), the Feminist Centre for Racial Justice (FCRJ) and the African Leadership Centre (ALC) invite proposals to participate in a Junior Scholars Workshop on “Gender and Sexuality in Africa” to be held April 24th and 25th in Nairobi, Kenya. PASR will cover all travel-related expenses, including food and lodging during the workshop.
African feminist scholarship and the wider field of gender and sexuality studies has evolved over the last two decades in response to at least three internal and external forces. The first is the shrinking or closure of women and gender studies centres and an increasing demand that they focus on issues linked to a development agenda. The second is a global environment in which we are witnessing the rise of religious fundamentalisms that are closely aligned to the rise of far-right nationalist movements and political parties. Finally, movement led work through national mobilisations such as #TotalShutdownSA, #ArewaMeToo and #EndFemicideKE have emerged as sites of public debate on the state of gender and sexual relations across African countries.
We invite proposals on the broad theme of the Gender and Sexuality in Africa that are attuned to these dynamics. We are particularly interested in understandings of gender and sexuality that focus on marginalized groups or understudied aspects of gender and sexuality. We are also interested in analyses that advance our understanding of contemporary manifestations of older struggles such as gender and the nation-state, violence against women and sexual politics.
Gender and Sexuality studies is a trans- and inter-disciplinary field. Therefore, the call is open to all disciplines, including political science, law, economics, history, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, public health and cultural studies.
This workshop aims to showcase the research of junior scholars (defined as PhD students and pre-tenure assistant professors or the equivalent). Preference will be given to scholars based at African institutions, but all proposals will be considered for inclusion. Participants are required to contribute original papers of approximately 3000 words that will be discussed at the workshop and then revised for publication in our open access journal African Social Research.
To apply, please send a 300-word proposal including your current affiliation and academic level to africansocialresearch@gmail.com by January 25th, 2025.
