AJIS Volume 3: Humanities and the Democracy Project in Africa: Challenges and Prospects
Publisher: SIVIO Institute
Volume Editor: Dr Pauline Mateveke
Expected date of publication: 31 October 2023
The humanities are under siege! In its 3rd volume, AJIS aims to bring together papers within the broad area of the humanities and to illustrate the interconnections of the humanities and democracy in Africa. In this volume, the humanities are broadly defined as that branch of knowledge which is exclusively concerned with humanity, human cultures and the critical methods of inquiry which are derived from human value. Branches of humanities may include but are not limited to languages, philosophy, religion, media, arts and culture. The contemporary knowledge making milieu is consistently faced with the waning value of humanities subjects. In addition, humanist scholars, researchers, activists and practitioners continually have to defend their value and relevance. It is this volume’s purpose to bring together papers that re-center the humanities by illustrating their particular role in the democratization of Africa. The volume theme is dictated by a firm belief in the significance of the humanities’ ability to achieve sustainable democracy projects in Africa. This significance is particularly located in the ways in which the humanities are closely related to societal concerns and how they seamlessly intermesh the personal and the political. The volume takes a cue from the emancipatory potential of the humanities and seeks contributions which theoretically and practically tap into this emancipatory potential. Human voice, self-expression and dialogue are values that are at the core of humanities and the same values are equally integral to the achievement of democracy. The volume emphasizes the importance of intracontinental and transnational conversations by encouraging dialogue among African scholars, researchers, cultural activists and practitioners and for them to use the symbiotic relationship between the humanities and democracy to develop innovative practices and to set an invigorated agenda for the future of the humanities and democracy in Africa.
It is in this context that contributors are encouraged to submit papers that provide unique perspectives and knowledge on these topics:
- 1. The humanities and democracy: theories and methods
- 2. The role of humanities in the attainment of an inclusive society
- 3. The impact of the humanities on accountability and transparency processes
- 4. Digital humanities and the civic space
- 5. The influence of arts and culture on citizen engagement
*The review board will select only one article from each of the sub-themes.
Abstract Guidelines
Deadline: Abstracts to be submitted by Friday 23 June 2023, 11:59 PM GMT+2.
Note: Any submissions after this time will not be considered for this volume.
African researchers, cultural activists and practitioners, are invited to submit an abstract addressing one of the sub-topics. The abstract should be 500 words (maximum) and must be submitted on our online form. Contributors must indicate the topic which their paper will address, their affiliation and their data source. All abstracts must be submitted using this form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BG9825S
Selected authors will be informed by the 7th of July 2023 and will be required to submit their completed article by the 31st of August 2023. Any enquiries about the application process must be directed to SIVIO Institute via the email: info@sivioinstitute.org
What we offer
Selected papers will be published in AJIS a peer-reviewed journal. Once the article is published, it is indexed in Crossref and hosted on the website: https://si-ajis.org/. Publishing in AJIS contributes to the amount of scholarly work published by an author by connecting their work to their ORCID and/or Google Scholar profile. Contributors will each be granted a commission of US$500 upon the completion and publication of their article.