HUMA-ASAA Thinking the human through Africa: Epistemological Debates
Speakers: Robbie Shilliam and Sabatho Nyamsenda
Robbie Shilliam researches the political and intellectual complicities of colonialism and race in the global order. He is co-editor of the Rowman & Littlefield book series, Kilombo: International Relations and Colonial Questions. Robbie was a co-founder of the Colonial / Postcolonial / Decolonial Working Group of the British International Studies Association and is a long-standing active member of the Global Development Section of the International Studies Association. Over the past six years, Robbie has co-curated with community intellectuals and elders a series of exhibitions in Ethiopia, Jamaica and the UK, which have brought to light the histories and significance of the Rastafari movement for contemporary politics. Based on original, primary research in British imperial and postcolonial history, this work now enjoys an online presence as a teaching aid on Rastafari in Motion. Robbie is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at John Hopkins University, United States.
Sabatho Nyamsenda is a Pan-Africanist and socialist activist based in Tanzania. He is an assistant lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and a research associate at the Society, Work and Politics Institute (SWOP), University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. He is also a member of the Land Rights Research and Resources Institute (HakiArdhi) and the Tanzania Socialist Forum. Sabatho writes for and appears regularly in local and international media. Between 2017 and 2019, he coordinated a newspaper column called “Sauti ya Mshikamano” (Voice of Solidarity), which published articles written or dictated by working-class activists. He later compiled the pieces into an edited book, titled Wavujajasho dhidi ya Soko Huria (The Working People Against the Free Market, 2019).
About the series
HUMA-ASAA Thinking the human through Africa: Epistemological Debates
Which ideas and/or concepts are vital for thinking the human through Africa? If modern histories of colonialism exposed the contradictions at the core of Enlightenment affirmations of a shared human nature, late (post)modernity have also blighted efforts to establish peaceful, dignified and mutually respectful modes of living. What does it mean to be human in Africa and/or African in the world? What alternatives remain to imagine the human from Africa, and how can African epistemologies contribute to thinking the human globally?
This HUMA-ASAA series of debates leading up to the ASAA 2022 Biennial Conference aims to provoke pertinent questions and stir ideological debates about the ethics of being human in Africa and being African in the world today. The discussions are organised around key pillars that allow us to move from everyday ideas to analytical concepts.
Format: The seminars are being held once a month, convening two scholars in conversation around an epistemological question, followed by a Q&A session.
