African Agency in a Changing World: Embracing Opportunities and Navigating Challenges

In 2024, Melbourne Social Equity Institute is pleased to again be supporting the African Studies Group's annual conference.

Please direct all enquiries to africanstudiesgroup@gmail.com.

The three-day conference will bring together scholars (students, faculty, and researchers), advocates, practitioners, policymakers, and community members within and outside Australia for a conversation around African Agency in a world that is currently undergoing geopolitical shifts.

The conference is hinged on Africa's historical portrayal as a passive participant in global progress and the ongoing narratives of the continent’s dependency. It, therefore, seeks to highlight the various ways in which Africans assert their agency in historical and contemporary terms within and outside the continent.

The conference features:

Wednesday 2 October

• Public Lecture: 'The Continuing Quest for Pax Africana: African Agency in a Changing World Order' by Professor Adekeye Adebajo, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
• Masterclass: ' After School What Next? Enhancing Agency through Personal Branding, Investment and Wealth Creation’ by Gracious Masuka (Mortgage and Finance broker), Associate Professor Samuelson Appau, and Dr Samuel Swanzy Impriam of the University of Melbourne Business.
• African Agency Debate: 'African Solutions to African Problems' is a convenient platitude with limited potential for real world deliverables' between Dr Moses Mensah and Kofi Bediako.
• By the Fireside Conversation: ‘Preserving Indigeneity Amidst Reimagining Agency’. Panellists will be confirmed later.

Thursday 3 October

• Academic Presentations 

Friday 4 October

• Community Presentations (Individuals and Community-Based Organisations)
• Celebration of African culture (Art, Fashion, Music, and Cuisines)
• Conference Dinner 

Early Bird registration deadline: Tuesday 17 September 2024

Final registration deadline: Tuesday 1 October 2024

Entry is between $50 and $200 depending on one’s circumstances and the time of your registration (click the registration link for details).

ASG student members, and other students interested in attending are encouraged to reach out for registration fee waiver coupons. Some of these waivers are also available to community members on a first-come, first-served basis. Registration is required for catering and logistical purposes.