July 29, 2016
Table of Contents:

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPT CHAPTERS
Sub-Saharan African Migrations: Challenges, Failures, and Coping Strategies

We are seeking original chapters for a collection tentatively titled "Sub-Saharan African Migrations: Challenges, Failures, and Coping Strategies". While there are numerous examples of successful migration experiences, the aim of this collection is to explore the nature and frequency of the lack of success that too many sub-Saharan Africans encounter once they make the decision to emigrate. The amount of empirical research focusing on the link between migration and integration in the destination countries rose significantly in recent years. The variety of empirical methods that researchers employ is impressive, ranging from qualitative interviews to diverse questionnaire surveys with highly sophisticated statistical methods. However, apart from some isolated studies (Colomb & Ayats, 1962; Breuvart & Danvers, 1998; Chomentowski, 2010; Sfm, 2005, Thorsen, 2009; Zeleza, 2009), little is known about the lack of success in African migration dynamics.

Most studies on African migration report on the migration benefits, but leave out the social disappointment of migrants on economic, psychological, and political levels. We now know that the inability to achieve goals in a migration context can have different adverse impacts on individuals and the family group. Finally, structural racism in the countries of destination, in particular against African migrants, can significantly impede their professional, educational and personal development and have severe psychopathological impacts. The old "immigration culture" of Africans must be placed in the local and international contexts in which several factors overlap: social and economic disruption, conflicts of various kinds, dissatisfaction in conflict with aspirations towards new horizons that arise every day.

Possible topics might include:
  • Modern Diaspora out of Sub-Saharan Africa and into a specific region of the World and the problems that migrants encounter. These regions would include Europe, Asia, Middle East, all of the Americas --including the USA, Canada, and Latin America--where there is a growing population of Africans now choosing to immigrate directly to countries like Brazil and Argentina;
  • Internal migration within the continent of Africa;
  • Representations of migration failures in performance such as popular culture, movies, literature, art, and exhibitions;
  • Symbolic and emotional elements related to migrant lack of success as well as narratives and representations linked to the central topic;
  • Disillusionment with the migration effort and its related psychopathologies, mental health and trauma due to any number of factors like: structural, institutional and individual racism or other causes in the destination country";
  • Further consequences of the migrant experience in the form of linguistic isolation, lack of harmony or integration within the destination country;
  • The ways in which these elements are narrated, visualized and often politicized;
  • "The self-interested actions of politicians, pundits, and bureaucrats" (Massey, 2015);
  • Gender and Migration;
  • The Syrian effect on Sub-Saharan African migration;
  • The inter-linkages between African migrations, identity, citizenship and social inadequacy;
  • Papers that address possible solutions to any of the problems that appear above or that the author cares to address.
This list of suggestions is not restrictive, and we encourage likely participants to consider their own topics for a chapter.

Book description and Chapter Details:

The book will have two major sections: one descriptive and the other prescriptive. The first section will concentrate on the broad overview of the subjects tied together as one the greatest population movements out of Africa since the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade. The second section suggests alternatives to what currently happens and provides a pro-active stance towards the problems that receive attention in Section One.

All chapters must be in English and should not have been published previously. Authors should follow the APSA guidelines for writing book chapters. Each final chapter will be between 6,000-7500 words, including references. Images with previous written authorizations and rights for publication are welcome. Authors are responsible for obtaining the rights of any images as well as research interviews that appear in the text. Editors will provide forms later including a contract upon acceptance of the manuscript. 

Interested scholars and practitioners of migration efforts should submit the following materials by July 30, 2016:
A) An abstract of no more than 300 words;
B) A biographical sketch of no more than two pages, including complete contact information;
C) An example of previously published work in the case of scholars or a sample of field work in the case of practitioners.

Timeline:

July 30, 2016: Send abstracts of no more than 300 words, together with a short bio including contact details, and one example of previously published work in a relevant field. In the case of practitioners, an example of the field work will suffice.
October 20, 2016: Acceptance letters will be sent to authors after selection.
April 28, 2017: Submission of chapters.

Please submit all expressions of interest, abstracts and bios to ProjectMigration17@gmail.com Preferably with the subject line: "African Migration"

About the Editors:

Professor Yvonne Captain: Prof. Captain is an Associate Professor of Latin American and International Affairs at George Washington University. In addition to her expertise on Africa and its Diaspora, she researches and integrates into her teaching the relationships of South-South nations in Africa and Latin America. Her publications reflect these two areas of focus.

Doctor Papa Sow: Dr. Sow is a senior researcher at the Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn, Germany. He is currently working on the WASCAL project - West African Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use - funded by the German Ministry of Education. His research focuses on population dynamics issues with special links to African migrations (Senegal, The Gambia, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Morocco) and climate variability and uncertainties.

Dr. Elina Marmer: Dr. Marmer is a researcher, author and lecturer at the University of Hamburg, Institute of Intercultural Education and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Department of Social Work. She is mainly concerned with the nexus of racism and education, specifically focusing on hegemonic knowledge production and its impact on students of African descent in Germany.




Northwestern University Libraries
Melville J Herskovits Library of African Studies
African Studies Librarian

Workgroup: Distinctive Collections

Reports to: Curator, Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies

Summary:
Northwestern University Library seeks an experienced dynamic and creative individual to provide subject expertise and scholarship in the field of African Studies. Northwestern University supports undergraduate and graduate level research and teaching through the Program of African Studies and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program. The African Studies Librarian will select resources in all formats, provide instruction and research consultations to students and scholars at all academic levels, create LibGuides, web pages, tutorials and other instructional materials, and seek opportunities for collaboration within the library and university communities. The African Studies Librarian is part of a team of librarians within the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies.

Responsibilities:
Reporting to the Curator of the Herskovits Library, the African Studies Librarian will contribute to the Library's strategic goals; supporting a suite of activities which include teaching and instruction, research, outreach to the Northwestern University and wider communities, digital initiatives, scholarly communications and collection development. The successful candidate will:
  • Manage an acquisitions budget, identify and work with vendors.
  • Serve as a liaison to the Program of African Studies, and other related programs and disciplines.
  • Provide reference, instruction and scholarly services to faculty and students with an interest in African Studies.
  • Develop and maintain website content, and effectively use instructional technology and social media in order to promote the subject area and reach online users.
  • Establish and maintain relationships with colleagues, other libraries and institutions in the field.
  • Contribute to the collaborative collection development programs within the African Studies community and in which the University Library participates.
  • Work collaboratively with Acquisitions and other library units on issues related to acquisitions, bibliographic control, cataloguing and creation of metadata, etc.
  • Serve on Library or University committees, task forces and working groups, contribute to the intellectual life on campus and within the profession.
Qualifications:
Required:
  • ALA accredited Master's Degree in Library and Information Science (or international equivalent) and an advanced degree in an African Studies discipline.
  • Oral and written proficiency in a European language relevant to Africa's colonial past - French, German, Portuguese or Italian.
  • Reading knowledge of at least one African language.
  • Demonstrated record of working with an acquisitions budget and approval plans. Experience in collection development and managing publisher and vendor relationships with knowledge of the publishing industry in various African countries.
  • Demonstrated record of instruction, collaboration with faculty and public outreach; initiative and proactive engagement in a university environment and potential for scholarship in a relevant discipline;
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Preferred:
  • Additional coursework in public health, economic development, peace building and governance.
  • Experience with Scholarly Communications and the Digital Humanities.
  • Experience with collection assessment.
The successful candidate should possess organizational skills and enjoy working in a rapidly changing, supportive, and engaged team environment.

Environment:
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, is a major private university with an extensive library system. This includes the Northwestern University Libraries, two branch libraries on the Evanston Campus, and three libraries on the Chicago Campus. Northwestern University Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and participates in programs of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC). Northwestern University Libraries participates in area studies initiatives of the Center for Research Libraries and Global Resources Network. The holdings of Northwestern University Libraries total over 4 million volumes.

To Apply:
Send a single, PDF-formatted file containing letter of application, resume or vita, and names of three references to the attention of Jan Hayes, Director of Organizational Development, to libsearches@northwestern.edu. Applications received by July 25, 2016 will receive first consideration.

More information is located below:
Northwestern University Libraries : http://www.library.northwestern.edu
Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/africana
Program of African Studies: http://www.africanstudies.northwestern.edu/
Middle East and North Africa Program: http://buffett.northwestern.edu/programs/mena/




URGENT Call for Book Chapters in the US and African Americans

URGENT Call for book chapters - in the US, and on African Americans or any other Black diaspora group in US This is a call for authors to do a chapter capturing the US experience. The book is titled: 'The Black Social Economy: Diverse community economies in the Americas' and a contract has been signed with Palgrave. Given, what is going on in the US, I want to make sure there are at least 2 chapters on the US.

We welcome a variety of disciplines but the authors must be engaged in community economies and the social economy of persons of African descent. We want stories about the ways the Black diaspora engages with the social economy and this ranges from informal groups, cooperatives, non-profits and other organizations in the third sector. Ideally the work should draw on contemporary examples.

This work is to be 8,000 words maximum and can be re-worked from an older piece to merge with ideas of Du Bois, Garvey or Gordon-Nembhard. Deadline is  August 30  as this is an extended deadline. Please send an email and abstract/draft to Caroline Hossein at  chossein@yorku.ca




Tenure-Track Assistant Professor Position in Sociology - Binghamton University

The department is seeking to recruit a tenure-track assistant professor beginning in Fall 2017 who can contribute to one or more of our  key areas of interest:  1) critical political economy and world-systems analysis 2) critical labor and migration studies 3) carceral and surveillance studies and 4) the politics of resistance. 
 
The Sociology Department at Binghamton has gained an international reputation for world-historical studies that cut across disciplinary boundaries.  We encourage applicants with degrees from any related discipline who can complement our existing strengths to apply.
 
Applicants should send a letter of application, research statement, curriculum vitae, three letters of reference, and one or two writing samples (articles or book chapters) that are representative of your work.  Send all application materials to the sociology folder at  http://binghamton.interviewexchange.com/ . Screening of applications will begin on October 17, 2016 and continue until the position is filled.  Binghamton University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer.



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