Announcing AIMS Annual Conference 2013

AIMS: American Institute for Maghrib Studies

American Institute of Maghrib Studies

Annual Conference 2013

Saharan Crossroads: Views from the Desert-Edge
An AIMS-WARA Conference, in collaboration with the CRASC

Ghardaïa, Algeria

June 22-24, 2013

Mapping Information Flows Within and Across the Sahara

2013 Call for Papers (PDF)
2013 Call for Papers in French (PDF)

Call for Papers due December 30th, 2012

Context

This conference is part of a series of activities organized by the West African Research Association (WARA) and the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) aimed at strengthening the cultural, artistic and historical links among the peoples living within and across the Sahara Desert.

The 3rd international conference « Saharan Crossroads: Views from the Desert-Edge » is planned to be held in Ghardaïa, Algeria June 22-24, 2013. The Centre d'études maghrébines en Algérie (CEMA) is partnering with the Centre National de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle (CRASC) in planning this conference to be held at the University of Ghardaïa.

Conference objectives

This conference's theme is "Mapping information flows within and across the Sahara." Throughout the ages, Africans circulating in Saharan regions engaged in cultural, intellectual, religious and political exchanges. Through oral and scriptural media, and by way of foot, caravan, truck and other traffic, people conveyed information and ideas that transformed and connected societies across distances. The committee is interested in studies focused on Saharan and trans-Saharan exchanges of information and ideas, past and present. Ghardaïa, in the heart of the Mzab region, is a propitious locale to hold this conference. This ethnically and religiously diverse oasis town was once a major center of exchange, and a northern terminus of caravans originating from markets such as Timbuktu, Agadez and Kano.

Submissions

Proposals for papers and panels are invited for the following suggested themes:

Circulation routes and information nodes
Art, music and stylistic trends
Cultures and ritual traditions
Centers of learning and scholarly circuits
Religious and Sufi networks
Legal opinions and jurisprudence
Political movements and ideological waves
Evolution of communication technologies
Migration and information flows
Water management technologies and oasis agriculture
Urban and architectural design
Comparative Saharan archaeology

Applications and Abstracts of no more than 200 words should be submitted by December 30th, 2012 at the following website: http://fs9.formsite.com/westafricanresearchassociation/form10/index.html. For further enquiries, you may contact the conference organizers at aimswara@gmail.com.

Organizers:
Ghislaine Lydon (University of California, Los Angeles)
Robert Parks (Director, CEMA-Oran)
Jennifer Yanco (Director, WARA)
Aomar Boum (Vice-President AIMS, University of Arizona)
Sidi Mohamed Trache (Université d'Oran et associé CRASC)

This conference is partially funded by a grant through the US Dept of State Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs.