Call for papers: ICA Regional Conference - ICA in Africa
Cape Town & Stellenbosch, South Africa
16-18 NOV 2023
(Knowledge Exchange Preconference 15 NOV)
Hosted by the University of Cape Town & Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Conference theme: "De-centering international communication studies: African
perspectives".
The conference theme builds on the imperative to de-Westernize communication studies that has been
a concern in global communication scholarship for over a decade. This imperative has intensified in
recent years as a result of calls to 'decolonize' communication scholarship by engaging with historical
and contemporary power asymmetries in knowledge production.
The theme invites contributions that will prompt participants to think through these imperatives from an
African vantage point. The rationale is not to merely provide a platform for research on communication
practices, norms and ideologies (as these are found on the African continent), but rather to use African
viewpoints and experiences as a lens on global debates. Thus, the conference will seek to provide a
platform from where global communication scholarship is interrogated and African scholars can 'speak
back' to and disrupt the metropolitan centres of knowledge production.
The act of 'looking back' at the European and colonial is not only looking back at but also looking back
into the past. How can African scholars reorient the idea of Africa being the ground of case studies to
test European theories? How can historical materials – archival or 'rediscovered' texts – support future
research and innovation, and how can the reflective align with the prospective? How can new theories
and models from Africa and the diaspora influence global perspectives?
This reflection on African viewpoints on global issues takes place at the juncture of several contemporary
moments of crisis. Africa and the rest of the Global South are disproportionately impacted by the
climate crisis and pandemics. Geopolitical tensions reverberate through African economies while armed
conflicts on the continent often go unnoticed or neglected in news media discourses. The COVID-19
pandemic affected the Global South disproportionately due to vaccine nationalism and maximalist
approaches to intellectual property, while theoretical models seeking to explain the mitigation of
disinformation and the development of health communication strategies often remain rooted in the
contextual conditions of the Global North.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) and Stellenbosch University (SU) are appropriate locations from
which to interrogate questions of decoloniality in communication scholarship. UCT is the site of the
#RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall student protests, which sparked an international student protest
movement calling for the decolonization of curricula and the broadening of access to higher education.
Likewise, at SU the #OpenStellenbosch movement opened up debates about the role of public
universities in a transforming democracy. A great deal of this activism was mediated. At Stellenbosch
University the fallist movement also generated a lot of support and helped to initiate change. However,
racist human rights abuses that occurred on campus in 2022 opened up wounds and led to the
constitution of a commission led by Justice Sisi Khampepe to conduct an independent enquiry into
allegations of racism at Stellenbosch University (SU), serving as a reminder of the incomplete work
of decolonisation at Higher Education institutions. The ICA in Africa regional conference offers
opportunities for engagement with scholars, students and public intellectuals from around the continent
to debate these important and topical issues.
Papers and panels could address the following themes:
• Theories and praxis of decolonisation
• Decolonising pedagogy
• Political economy of knowledge production
• Intellectual property, platforms and access to knowledge
• African perspectives on internationalising communication studies
• The African archive
• Journalism in Africa
• Digital media ecologies & practices in Africa
• African screen cultures
• Streaming platforms and African audiences/texts
• Representations of Africa (including branding, marketing, etc)
• Social change communication, social justice and activism
• Africa and the climate crisis
• Freedom of expression
• Attacks on and threats to journalism
• Trolling, cyber misogyny and doxxing
• Disinformation, populism and xenophobia
SUBMISSION DEADLINES
Abstract submission (250 words): Submit here
Enquiries: Chair of LOC, Herman Wasserman: via roxanne.adams@uct.ac.za
Deadline for submission of abstracts: 30 APR 2023
Notification of abstract acceptance: 15 JUN 2023
Early bird registration opens: 15 MAR 2023
Early bird Registration closes: 15 AUG 2023
Late registration opens: 16 AUG 2023
Late registration closes: 06 NOV 2023
A pre-conference for emerging scholars will be held. Details will follow. For enquiries
about this preconference, contact Brian Ekdale: brian-ekdale@uiowa.edu
CONFERENCE FEES
Full conference (early): ZAR3 500
Full conference (late): ZAR3 700
------------------------------
Herman Wasserman
Professor of Journalism
Stellenbosch University
Stellenbosch
South Africa
------------------------------