Theme: Africa: Multiple (Inter)Actions, Movements, Worlds
The Moi University African Cluster Centre, a partner in the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, is pleased to announce its Second International Conference on African Studies, to be held at Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya, from 20th to 21st November 2025.
This year’s conference comes at a pivotal moment as we mark the conclusion of the first research cycle of the Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies (Africa Multiple) initiative. Over the past six and a half years, this transcontinental collaboration—anchored by the University of Bayreuth and including as partners, the University of Lagos, Nigeria, Rhodes University, South Africa, Université Joseph Ki–Zerbo, Burkina Faso, and Moi University, Kenya—has worked to critically reframe the study of Africa through fresh epistemologies and grounded, interconnected perspectives.
Rooted in the guiding vision of Africa Multiple, this conference foregrounds the idea that Africa is not a singular narrative but a constellation of worlds forged through the interactions of peoples, objects, and ideas—both within the continent and among its diasporas. We invite scholarly conversations that revisit, interrogate, and reimagine intellectual, artistic, religious, cultural, social, and political movements that, inspired by ideas of Africa, have emerged in Africa and its diasporic spaces, and which continue to influence the way Africa is conceptualized, represented, and lived.
Suggested Areas of Focus
We welcome critical papers that explore historical and contemporary engagements with, but are not limited to:
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Pan-Africanism and diasporic connections
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African nationalism and postcolonial state-building
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Negritude and Other African literary modernities
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The African Renaissance: revival and innovation
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African-Initiated Churches and indigenous spiritualities
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Rastafarianism, identity, and resistance
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Neo–traditionalism and radical politics
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Decolonial aesthetics and artistic practices—past and present
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Epistemic disobedience and the restructuring of knowledge
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Language, orature, and African knowledge systems
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Contemporary social movements and digital Pan-Africanism
Contributions from diverse disciplines—including but not limited to history, literature, religious studies, political science, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, cultural studies, and art—are strongly encouraged.
