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Welcome to the homepage of the Annual Africa Conference at Tennessee State University, Nashville, Tennessee.

The Annual Africa conference is an international, interdisciplinary academic gathering that brings together scholars and independent researchers, activists, policymakers, professionals, and graduate students engaged in research and scholarship across African/Africana Studies, History, Anthropology, Sociology, Political Science, Literature, Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Geography, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and other related fields.

The conference welcomes submissions from scholars and researchers whose work engages with the theme of each year’s conference. Interested participants are invited to submit abstracts that contribute to the conference theme and promote interdisciplinary dialogue on the diverse histories, cultures, societies, and contemporary issues of Africa and the African Diaspora.

CALL FOR PAPERS
The 13th Annual Africa Conference (2027)

Conference Theme
Conceptualizing the Black Atlantic: Migrations, Connections, Memories, and Identities in African and African Diasporan Experience

Conference Dates: April 14-16, 2027
Format: Virtual (Via Zoom)

The conveners invite submission of abstracts for and panel proposals for the 12th Annual Africa Conference on the theme indicated above. The conference will provide an opportunity for critical dialogue on the lived experiences of women, youth, and children in global African contexts. Papers will interrogate historical and evolving perspectives on these groups, the complex forces that have shaped their identities, voices, roles, representations, challenges, and agencies in diverse African and Diasporan settings. The conference will also explore how historical movements and structures have impacted these groups and how they have responded with their own imaginations of the contemporary world.

Introduction
The study of the Black Atlantic offers a unique framework for understanding the complex histories and contemporary realities connecting Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, the Americas, and other diasporan spaces. From the forced trans-Atlantic migrations to contemporary migration patterns, trans-Atlantic movements have profoundly influenced the global Black world.

But migration is not simply movements between and across geographic spaces. It entails the circulation of memories, languages, religions, political ideas, cultural forms, and other variables. The result of this is the creation of new identities at multiple levels, including notions of belonging, citizenship, race, ethnicity, gender, and class and labor.

The 13^th edition of the Annual Africa Conference seeks to conceptualize the Black Atlantic in the terms articulated above. The conference thus invites papers that engage in critical discourse on how Africans and their diasporian counterparts negotiate multiple forms of belonging, and how identities are constructed, contested, and transformed across geographic and cultural boundaries.

Suggested Sub-Themes:
The conference welcomes submissions that address, but are not limited to the following:

The Black Atlantic: Definitions, Epistemologies, and Theories
- Methodologies of African and African Diasporan histories
- Black Atlantic Studies: historiography, epistemology, and theory building
- Afrocentricity and other decolonizing Africana Studies’ projects
- Digital archives and African diaspora research
Africa and the Making of the African Diaspora
- Pre-Colombian America and Black presence
- The new African diaspora in America
- Immigrants and the question of home, belonging, identity, and citizenship
- African American and African immigrant encounters
The Atlantic Enslavement of Africans: New Histories and Perspectives
- Enduring legacies of the Atlantic Slave systems
- Roles of African states, communities, and individuals in the Atlantic trade
- Memory, memorialization, and the legacy of enslavement
Black Atlantic Migrations: Voluntary and Forced
- Historical and contemporary African migration
- Refugees, exiles, students, professionals, and tourists
- Migration and transnational identities
- Return migration and connections to the African homeland
Religion and Spirituality Across the Black Atlantic
- African indigenous religions and traditions in the diaspora
- Pentecostalism and transnational religious networks
- Religion, identity, and community formation
- “Reverse Evangelism:” African churches in the diaspora
Pan-Africanism, Black Intellectuals, and Black Internationalism
- W. E. B. Du Bois, Marcus Garvey, Kwame Nkrumah, and others
- The Harlem Renaissance
- Historical and contemporary Pan-African movements
- Pan-African and transnational political movements and organizations
Popular Culture in Africa and the African Diaspora
- African influences on diasporan music and dance, fashion, and visual arts
- Jazz, blues, rap, reggae, hip-hop, Afrobeats, and Afropop
- Transnational youth culture and networks
- Social media and transnational identities
Women, Gender, and Black Atlantic Histories
- African and diasporan women’s historical experiences
- African feminist and diasporan feminist perspectives
- Gender, sexuality in Africa and the African diaspora
- Forced migration, sex trafficking of African women in Europe
The Black Atlantic and the Politics of Consciousness and Resistance
- The Négritude Movement
- Anti-colonial movements, civil rights, and Black Power
- Reparations and contemporary movements for racial justice
- Africa–diaspora solidarity movements
Economics, Labor, and the Black Atlantic
- African labor migration
- African and diasporan entrepreneurship
- African remittances and transnational economies
- Africa–diaspora economic partnerships
Memory, Heritage, and the Black Atlantic
- Museums, monuments, and memorial sites
- Slave routes and heritage tourism
- Sites of memory in Africa and the Americas
- Reconstructing historical memory across generations

Abstract Submission Guidelines
We invite submissions of both individual and panel proposals.

Individual Proposals:
An individual proposal should include a 250–300-word abstract and the following information:

First and last name of the presenter
Title of the paper
Institutional affiliation
Email address

Panel Proposals:

A panel should consist of 3–5 presenters and include:
Title of the panel
A 250–300-word abstract for each presentation
First and last name of each presenter
Institutional affiliation of each presenter
Email address of each presenter

SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT

Note that the submission of an abstract automatically grants conference organizers the right to publish it in the conference program and website.

Registration
Mandatory non-refundable registration fees for presenters are as follows:

Regular: $50 by Jan. 31, 2026; late: $100 by Mar. 15, 2027
Graduate Students: $25 by Jan. 31, 2027; late: $50 by Mar. 15, 2027

REGISTER HERE
Follow the instructions on the link to make your payment.

Conference Program
TBA

Keynote Speakers
Andrea Ringer, PhD., Associate Professor of History, Tennessee State University
Felix Kumah-Abiwu, PhD., Professor & Director, Center for African Studies, Kent State University

Conveners
Adebayo Oyebade, PhD., Professor of History
aoyebade@tnstate.edu

Gashawbeza Bekele, PhD., Professor of Geography
gbekele@tnstate.edu

Conference Venue
Note: Virtual (for the 2027 conference)

Avon Williams Off-Campus Instructional Site
330 10th Avenue North
Nashville, TN 37203

Hotel Accomodation
Not applicabe for the 2027 conference

Publication of Selected Papers
Conference papers will be eligible for consideration to be published in the bi-annual international academic journal, Global Africa: Journal of African and African Diaspora Studies. All submitted articles are subject to peer review. You are welcomed to review the inaugural issue of the journal at: https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/gajaads/

Questions
Please, direct all questions to tsuafricaconference@tnstate.edu