Accra, Ghana— The Social Science Research Council’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa program will sponsor three panels at the African Studies Association of Africa biannual conference. The panels consist of current and former fellows from across cohorts, disciplines, and institutions. Panels will address topics ranging from the future of peacebuilding, to nation-building and the youth question, to natural resources and livelihood.

Read about the SSRC- sponsored panels below:

The Future of Peacebuilding: Security, Governance, and Transitional Justice in Post-Colonial Africa

Chair/ Discussant: Charles Ukeje, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife.

Mbete, Sithembile. University of Pretoria. The Politics of global governance and the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture 

Minde, Nicodemus. United States International University, Nairobi. Peacebuilding through Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in South Sudan: Challenges and Prospects

Murambadoro, Ruth Raidzai. University of Pretoria. Revisiting transitional justice: Options for Zimbabwe.

Mwangi, John. United States International University, Nairobi. Rethinking the Local Turn in Peace-building: Re (visiting) Preventative Stances in Violent Extremism: The Case of Likoni Cub-County, South Coast, Kenya.

Nation-Building and Tomorrow’s Leaders Today: Revisiting the Youth Question in Contemporary Africa 

Chair/ Discussant: Akosua Adomako Ampofo

Mguzulwa, Sisanda. University of Cape Town. New Insights into the proglem of youth violence in post-apartheid South African townshops: The case of gangs in Khayelitsha, South Africa 

Longi, Felix. University for Development Studies. Can the university take over national youth service? Lessons from Ghana’s University for Development Studies 

Kanyamurwa, John Mary. Kyambogo University, Contextualizing globalization and employment returns to youth in Africa: Has the state abandoned its responsibilities?

Oshodi, Tobi. KU Leuben, Belgium. “But see what the NYSC programme did to him:” Nation-building, violent conflicts and the dilemma of national youth service in Nigeria

Natural Resources and Livelihood in Africa 

Chair/ Discussant: Tadesse Mengistu Bamlaku. Haramaya University

Ojambo, Robert. Kyambogo University. The state versus the people: socio-political conflicts in land tenure rights in Mt. Elgon National Park in Eastern Uganda.

Mbunda, Richard. University of Dar es Salaam. Tanzania’s GMO Pandora Box: Implications of the Impending Release of GM Seeds to the Peasantry.

Addo, Patience. University of Ghana. The sea is no longer: Gender and kinship relations in Anomubu in times of dwindling fish stock.

Mabumbo, Decide. University of Pretoria. Large scale land based investments, smallholder farmers and land rights in Zimbabwe.

Inalegwu, Peter Awodi. University of Ibadan. Constraining livelihood: Large scale land acquisitions and the economic plight of smallholder women farmers in North-Central Nigeri