Spaces4fututre
Spaces 4 Future
- Spaces 4 Future
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Welcome!
Summer School:
Spaces for Future: Processes of Rural and Urban Transformation in Southern Africa
21st- 25th of February 2022
Windhoek, Namibia
Spaces for Future is a joint project by Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, the Namibia University of Science and Technology and University of
Vienna, funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung.
The summer school’s goal is to offer an interdisciplinary space for researchers coming from the humanities, social sciences and natural
sciences in order to discuss the future aspiration to transform rural-urban relations in Southern Africa with a particular focus on the
impact of migration and climate change.
With warm regards,
Dr. Lameck Mwewa, Namibia University of Science and Technology
Dr. Antje Daniel & Prof. Dr. Kirsten Rüther, University of Vienna
Prof. Dr. Reimer Gronemeyer & Dr. Jonas Metzger, Justus-Liebig-University Gießen
What it is about
- What it is about
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Societies in Southern Africa are in the process of a major transition from rural to urban-based societies (Bickford-Smith 2016; Pieterse/Parnell 2014). These developments increase the already existing challenges in the provision of urban infrastructure, transportation, social services and housing. The situation furthermore raises questions with regard to the development of social and spatial inequalities that follow in the wake of the expansion of urban centers (Pieterse/Parnell 2014; Obrist et al. 2013; Myers 2011).
Moreover, land reforms to overcome the strains of apartheid and colonialism and to address its spatial structures of inequality remain one of the most pressing issues in Southern Africa. The land question in Southern Africa cannot be reduced to agrarian change or production (du Toit 2018) as it is politically re-formulated as a question of belonging, citizenship and indigeneity (Koot/Hitchcock/Gressier 2019). The unresolved land question in rural and urban spaces in Southern Africa significantly has an impact on societies' capacities for cohesion or severe social conflict (e.g. Melber 2019; Aliber/Cousins 2013; Sapignoli/Hitchcock 2013; Anseeuv/Alden 2010).
The summer school Spaces for Future: Processes of Rural and Urban Transformation in Southern Africa will be held on 21st to 25th of February, 2022. Spaces for Future is a joint project by Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) and University of Vienna, funded by the VolkswagenStiftung.
The summer school’s goal is to offer an interdisciplinary space for researchers coming from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences in order to discuss the future aspiration to transform rural-urban relations in Southern Africa with a particular focus on the impact of migration and climate change.
While research mostly either focuses on rural or urban challenges, the summer school seeks to combine rural and urban studies for a new understanding by highlighting the connectivity, linkages, and circulation processes between urban and rural transformation and future aspiration from a Southern perspective and how they have become ingrained in Southern African societies in history and over longer time periods.
The summer school also seeks to include a perspective on the agents of transformation (social movements and civil society) and their social, cultural political mobility, as they are developing imaginations for the future and offering guidance on how to cope with emerging challenges.
Besides addressing a relevant societal issue, the summer school's aim is to make a contribution to the further qualification of young researchers from Africa.
In sum, Spaces for Future will
- provide a platform for early career researchers, especially if based at universities in Africa, who are interested in the field of rural-urban transformation. Not only will this format give early career researchers the opportunity to present and discuss their research with peers but further develop and enhance their research in method and content with the support of experienced senior researchers;
- facilitate an interdisciplinary as well as international academic engagement and discussion;
- generate knowledge through the novel approach of combining rural and urban perspectives in thinking about societal transformations;
- be made accessible to a wider academic audience through the publication of a journal and/or a book publication;
- generate exciting and edifying presentations and discussions, both as part of the keynote addresses, panel debates, workshops and research talks.
Literature
Aliber, M./Cousins, B. (2013): Livelihoods after Land Reform in South Africa, in: Journal of Agrarian Change, 13 (1), pp. 140–165.
Anseeuv, W./Alden, C. (eds.) (2010): The Struggle over Land in Africa. Conflicts, Politics & Change. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
Bickford-Smith, V. (2016): The Emergence of the South African Metropolis. Cities and Identities in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Du Toit, Andries (2018): Without the blanket of the land: agrarian change and biopolitics in post–Apartheid South Africa, in: The Journal of Peasant Studies, 45 (2), pp. 1086-1107.
Koot, S./Hitchcock, R./Gressier, C. (2019): Belonging, Indigeneity, Land and Nature in Southern Africa under Neoliberal Capitalism: An Overview, in: Journal of Southern African Studies, 45(2), pp. 341-355.
Melber, H. (2019): Colonialism, Land, and Class: Namibia after the Second National Land Conference, in: Africa Spectrum, 54 (1), pp. 73–86.
Myers, G. (2011): African Cities. Alternative Visions of Urban Theory and Practice. New York: Zed Books.
Obrist, B./Arlt, V./Macamo, E. (eds.) (2013): Living the City in Africa. Basel: Schweizerische Afrikastudien.
Pieterse, E./Parnell, S. (2014): Africa's Urban Revolution. New York: Zed Books.
Sapignoli, M./Hitchcock, R. K. (2013): Development and dispossession: impacts of land reform in Botswana, in: Evers, S. J.T.M./Seagle, C./Krijtenburg, F. (eds.): Africa for Sale? Positioning the State, Land and Society in Foreign Large-Scale Land Acquisitions in Africa. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 131-158.
How to participate
- How to participate
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Open call to apply for the Summer School
Eligibility:
Successful applicants will be PhD researchers as well as recently graduated doctorates who have begun drafting a manuscript for publication.
Spaces for Future invites early career researchers with an interest in discussions on the entanglements of political, economic and social dynamics with ecological changes to submit proposals pertaining to research on rural-urban transformation in Southern Africa.
Proposals should be situated in one of the following fields:
- Urbanity
- Rural Development
- Climate Change
- Migration
- Actors of Transformation
- Future
Application and Deadline:
Prospective participants are encouraged to contribute high-quality original papers to this conference. All submitted papers must be unpublished and not considered elsewhere for publication. The papers should be written in English and electronically submitted for peer-review in pdf format.
Proposals for papers should include the title, an abstract of maximum 500 words, and a short CV of the applicant. Please send proposals to jonas.metzger@sowi.uni-giessen.de by 15th of September. Notification of acceptance will be announced shortly after the deadline has passed, latest end of September. Participants are expected to submit a written paper by 20th of December, 2021.
Funding and Travel Arrangements:
The Summer School is funded with the generous support of the Volkswagen Stiftung. Travel expenses, cost of accommodation among others associated with participation in the summer school will be covered.
Publication of the papers presented at the Summer School
There will be the possibility to publish outstanding presentations and related papers either in a Special Issue of Stichproben - Vienna Journal of African Studies or as a print and eBook in the publication series Sociological Approaches to Southern Africa. The publication process will be connected to a regular peer review process.
Here you find the call as pdf
Please feel free to forward the call to interested people
For further information please email:
jonas.metzger@sowi.uni-giessen.de
Important Dates
- Submission Deadline for the Proposal for the Summer School Paper
15th of September, 2021 - Summer School Acceptance Notification
30th of September, 2021 - Submission Deadline for the Summer School Paper
20th of December, 2021
- Summer School Dates
21st - 25th of February, 2022
Programme
- Programme
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Tentative Programme:
- Day 1 (half a day): Introduction to the topic (open to public)
Registration
Opening Keynote on “Transforming the urban-rural in Southern Africa”
Artists performance
Reception- Day 2: Structural challenges of the Rural in Southern Africa
I. The Relation between the Urban and the Rural
Morning Session (9-10:30): panel discussion on rural-urban relations with a focus on migration and climate change in Southern Africa with senior researchers
Morning Session (11-12:30): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on urban-rural relation (each junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
II. Structural Challenges in Rural Areas
Afternoon Session (13.30-15:00): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on migration (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Afternoon Session (15.30-17:00): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on climate change (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Afternoon Session (17:30-18:30): reporting back to the plenum (40-60 minutes): fishbowl method
- Day 3: Structural Challenges of the Urban in Southern Africa
Morning Session (9-12:00): 2 simultaneous Lernissage for junior fellows: they can choose between an interactive workshop on methods or workshop on academic writing (2 experts)
Afternoon Session (13-14:30): 2 simultaneous panels on migration (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Afternoon Session (15-16:30): 2 simultaneous panels on climate change (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Afternoon Session (17-18:30): reporting back to the plenum (40-60 minutes): fishbowl method
Evening (open to public): Science meet activists: Movie with discussion (Namibia Housing Action Group and Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia)
- Day 4: Actors transforming Southern Africa
Morning Session (9-10:30): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on migration (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Morning Session (11-12:30): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on climate change (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Morning Session (12:30-13:30): reporting back to the plenum (40-60 minutes): fishbowl method
Afternoon Session (14.30-17:00) Science meet activists: Exchange with Fridays for Future Namibia (open to public)
Evening: Farewell dinner
- Day 5: Future visions for urban-rural relations in Southern Africa
Morning Session (9-10:30): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on migration (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Morning Session (11-12:30): 2 simultaneous panels on researches on climate change (each 2 junior fellows presenting, input and comments by a senior researcher)
Afternoon Session (12.30-13:30): Conceptualizing the ways forward / publication