MAAAS 2025 Conference
About MAAAS
The Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS) is an organization for the promotion of African Studies in mid-America, including in particular the region between the Mississippi River and the frontal range of the Rocky Mountains. Founded at the University of Kansas in 1995, MAAAS seeks to encourage scholarship and teaching in African Studies regionally and sub-regionally through conferences, seminars, workshops, consortia, faculty and student exchanges, cooperative relations between libraries, and promotion of African language teaching, among other endeavors. MAAAS is open to all with an interest in scholarship and teaching within an African Studies focus, and it seeks especially to provide a forum for far-flung Africanists in the middle of the U.S., where great distances exist between relatively small pockets of African Studies enthusiasts.
Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS) Conference 2025
Call for Proposals
MAAAS 2025: Democracy and Environmental Justice
October 10-11, 2025
Lincoln University
Jefferson City, MO
The Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS) in collaboration with the Kansas African Studies Center at the University of Kansas, will hold its 2025 conference at Lincoln University in Jefferson City, MO on October 10-11. Although we invite scholars to submit proposals for individual papers or panels on any topic, we especially welcome contributions that address the conference theme of Democracy and Environmental Justice.
How do struggles for environmental justice intersect with concerns about democracy? Among other intersections, both face threats from the inordinate power that multinational and transnational corporations have exercised over African communities, from representative councils to nation state and regional government bodies. These corporations and neo-colonial governments deploy their power to undermine any regulation, such as environmental protection via democratic process, that would impede their exploitation of natural resources. What are the impacts of and responses to this ongoing attack on Africa and the Diaspora? We invite scholars interested in Africana Studies from all disciplines to participant at this conference.
Interested scholars should submit a 250-word abstract or panel description by July 31st to MAAAS at MAAASpp@gmail.com.
For additional information, please contact:
Elizabeth Chunda, MAAAS President (2025)
Call for Papers:
Ken Lohrentz Graduate Paper Award
Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS)
We invite graduate students from any field in African Studies to submit a paper for the Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS) Ken Lohrentz Graduate Paper Award.
Guidelines for Graduate Paper Submission:
- Papers should engage the conference theme
- Due date for consideration is 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC) on Friday, October 25, 2024. Submit papers in MS Word or Adobe pdf format to the Kansas African Studies Center at kasc@ku.edu.
- Include your full name, contact information and graduate program name on the title page.
- Faculty sponsor signature required: Your faculty sponsor’s signature should appear on the title page with his/her name typed below it along with your institution's name and date. (Note: The faculty sponsor does NOT need to attend the conference or even be a member of MAAAS.)
- Papers may be no more than 30 pages, double spaced using size 12 font minimum.
- Presentation at the conference is mandatory to receive this award.
- The winner of the award will receive a cash prize of USD $100.00.
- We will announce the winner at the MAAAS conference.