York University’s Resource Centre for Public Sociology in collaboration with Founders College, the African Studies program and Queen’s University’s Canada Research Chair in Youth and African Urban Futures, presents “(Dis)Content Futures?: The Politics of Insecurity and Inequality in Africa” on April 6 from 2 to 4 p.m. via Zoom.
Recently, various African countries have experienced political instability, including new civil wars, terrorist insurgencies, coup d’états, civil unrest and mass protests. Meanwhile, some African citizens have resorted to dangerous journeys to the shores of Europe for “greener pastures.”
A panel discussion centering on frameworks for understanding current realities and methodologies for mapping the (dis)continuities of the colonial present in African affairs will kick off with Pablo Idahosa, head of Founders College, who has been teaching African Studies and Development Studies for more than 25 years. He has written on the politics of AIDS and disease in Africa and has published on African modernities, African political thought and development, development ethics, development displacements and inequalities in Africa, national development, and African diasporas.
The panel will include guest speakers Thomas K. Tieku, an African Canadian international relations and negotiation expert and an associate professor of Political Science at King's University College at the University of Western Ontario; Aminata Cécile Mbaye, a postdoctoral research fellow at Queen’s University; Temitope Oriola, a joint editor in chief of African Security journal and associate professor at the University of Alberta; and York University PhD candidates Bahlelisiwe (Liswa) Luhlanga and Yousif Hassan.
This panel discussion will question whether these political issues are an expression of unresolved underlying discontent and inequality, or a reversal of gains made in democratization processes. The panel will also explore the role of social movements and young people in framing (in)justice and seeking alternatives and how this moment presents an opportunity to engage questions around resistance, African futurities, and imagination in an era of renewed hopes in transformative decolonization.
To participate in the event, access the Zoom link. Further information about the panel is available online.