CALL FOR PAPERS
Posted on 3 weeks agoCall for PapersClassics and/in AfricaKing’s College LondonJuly 3-4, 2025
The research group Classics at the Crossroads: Partnership, Mobility, and Exchange Between Ghana, Nigeria, and Canada is pleased to announce the call for papers for a conference on Classics and/in Africa at King’s College London, July 3-4, 2025. This conference has two aims: to explore classical antiquity’s presence in and intersections with Africa, ancient and modern, and to provide a venue for current research in the field of Classics pursued by scholars in African countries.
Recent scholarship in Classics has redirected the exclusive focus on ancient Greece and Rome to study of the broader ancient Mediterranean as a space of diversity and connectivity, and at the same time, traced the transmission of classical antiquity in cultures and regions beyond the West. Such work includes the study of ancient African cultures, representations of Africa by Greco-Roman authors, and African receptions of the Classics. At the same time, classicists working in African countries may or may not choose to thematize an African connection to the Classics. This conference is intended to facilitate a flexible and open-ended dialogue, where Africa is at once the focus of research and the site of current disciplinary praxis—it both invites contributions on Classics and Africa and on lines of research currently pursued in Africa. Scholars at all career stages from around the world are invited to submit abstracts. Topics may include but are not limited to:
· Classical representations of Africa
· Africa in the ancient Mediterranean
· African antiquity
· Comparative antiquities
· African receptions of the Classics, including theatrical adaptations
· The global discipline of Classics
· Post-colonial classical receptions
· Research in any sub-field of Classics, including ancient Philosophy, pursued by scholars working in African countries
Confirmed keynote speaker: Nigerian playwright Femi Osofisan will offer a reading from his classical adaptation Medaayé with introductory remarks.
Papers will be 20 minutes in length. Abstracts of no more than 400 words should be submitted to Luke Roman (romanl@mun.ca) by November 8. We plan to send notifications of acceptance by January 2025.
Organizing Committee: Hasskei Majeed (U. Ghana, Legon); Justine McConnell (KCL); Olakunbi Olasope (U. Ibadan, Nigeria); Daniel Orrells (KCL); Luke Roman (Memorial University, Canada)
Classics at the Crossroads: Partnership, Mobility, and Exchange Between Ghana, Nigeria, and Canada, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada Partnership Development Grant (Co-directors: Olakunbi Olasope, Hasskei Majeed, and Luke Roman)