INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR
On
“CONTEMPORARY AFRICA: ISSUES AND CHALLENGES”
African states are in a process of finding a common denominator through which it can reinvent itself. They have been actively trying to contend with the changing socio-political and economic challenges of the global system. Contemporary Africa is facing many challenges including conflicts, HIV and AIDS; health and sanitation; migration; lack of good governance, peace and security; unemployment, sluggish trade; food insecurity; adverse impact of climate change; high maternal and infant mortality rates: gender inequality and other related issues. In the present scenario, Africa has to play a proactive role to deal with its multiple problems. Our belief is that for Africa to get out of the entrapment, it needs to de-link its dependency on the western powers and reconstitute its system of independent states.
The European colonial powers in the 1884-85 Berlin conference divided much of Africa amongst themselves. In its aftermath, a small army of adventurers, explorers, missionaries, traders and empire-seekers descended on the continent. The so called dark continent has the richest depository of mineral wealth in the entire world. After independence, African states recognised that without social-economic development political independence was meaningless. Recently, there has been a realization that strong governments play an important role in stimulating economic growth, addressing the imperfections of purely market forces, and ensuring that the economic processes promote social and political stability to achieve non-economic goals highly desired by society. The link between economic development, good governance and democracy is important and imperative. It is important to understand that liberal democracy is associated with and causally related to the emergence of capitalism and market economies. This process has been facilitated and made possible by the earlier emergence of strong states, which actively encouraged the rise of capitalism. The strong states that arose from feudalism, and the capitalist and liberal economies which they promoted, were in turn powerful forces in the building of national cohesion and the emergence of nation-states. Finally, a developed state in Africa can strengthen the local community-based system of production and marketing. This will enable the state to control local resources and take them away from the clutches of globalizing international corporations. Economic policy, with regard to distribution in particular, should not be dictated by economic globalization but be subjected to political decisions at home. That is, the state should maintain its ability to protect national interest against further encroachment on its sovereignty implied in globalisation’s aggression. Without these, it will be difficult, if not totally impossible, for Africa and Africans to talk about political and economic integration, improvement and, above all, emancipative sustained development in the twenty-first century.
The Department of African Studies requests you to present a paper that can contribute to a better understanding of issues and challenges of contemporary Africa. However, the following main areas have been indentified for discussion, but this is meant only to serve as general guidelines and not as a restriction for the debate.
Following are the sub-themes
1. Africa's development goals in the 21st century and its role in world economy,
2. India and Africa: South-South Cooperation
3. New Actors in Africa, the external debt, employment, markets and trade.
4. Issues of gender equality, empowerment of women, violence against women and child labor in contemporary Africa.
5. Education, training and skills development in Africa
6. Indian Diaspora in Africa, ethnic and socio-cultural issues of Indian Diaspora in Africa.
7. Population, food security, land and property rights in Africa.
8. Conflicts, peace, security and human rights issues in Africa.
9. Environment, climate change, water, sanitation and energy issues in Africa.
10. Health, HIV and AIDS issues in Africa.
11. Good governance, politics and development issues in Africa.
Please send your consent and abstract of the paper at theearliest.
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