The Advancing Critical University Studies Across Africa (ACUSAfrica) network held its 2023 conference on the theme “Charging Towards Critical Canons of Knowledge Production in the African University” in Accra, Ghana from the 11th to the 13th of October.
The rich programme can be found below:
The conference was co-hosted by the University of Ghana, Queen’s University Belfast, Nelson Mandela University and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), with funding support from the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS).
Day 1 of the Conference opened with a keynote by Takyiwaa Manuh from the University of Ghana on "Creating Spaces for Emancipatory Imaginaries for 21st Century African Students". "Africanising and Decolonising Research Methodologies for the Global South" were explored in the first plenary panel of the conference, along with the introduction of the HSRC's Photovoice Academy for early-career researchers and emerging academics. The parallel panels engaged with African theories and Southern epistemes in relation to various issues, including gender. The day closed with a documentary screening about indigenous architecture.
Day 2 of the conference had an invigorating start with Simon Kofi Appiah, from the University of Cape Coast, tackling the question of religion and knowledge. This day was packed with parallel sessions hosting discussions about canons and registers across disciplines, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, taken-for-granted concepts, decolonisation of knowledge, and critical pedagogical praxes. The day closed with an exhibition entitled "At the Interstices of Authorial Agency: Academics and Artists in Dialogue about the University".
The final day of the conference was set in motion with a panel presentation by delegates from Makerere University and the Uganda Management Institute about the impact of ranking systems in East African higher education. The final parallel sessions explored higher education ecologies; and languages, literacies and agency. Once again, the day closed on a creative note with an exhibition of the photographs taken by early-career researchers and emerging academics over the three days of the Photovoice Academy, which was woven into the conference.
The 2023 conference located the network’s formative questions within the context of critical thought surrounding canons and registers of knowledge production in the African university. The conference sought to set the pace for leveraging location and sources of teaching and learning to programmatically advance CUS across the continent.
