Dates: February 14-16, 2024
Location : University of Pretoria
In collaboration with the Centre for Asian Studies in Africa, University of Pretoria.
Contact :
Mapping Democratic Decline, Imaging Democratic Futures : Transregional Dialogues Across Asia and Africa
In collaboration with the Center for Asian Studies in Africa (University of Pretoria), the Innovation Foundation for Democracy is hosting the symposium Mapping Democratic Decline, Imagining Democratic Futures: Transregional Dialogues Across Asia and Africa from 14 to 16 February 2024 at the University of Pretoria.
The symposium’s objective is to foster critical and comparative dialogues about the forces fuelling processes of autocratization across Asia and Africa, and conversely, the prospects for imagining and building democratic futures in and across the two continents.
Three events taking place in the afternoon across the three days of the symposium:
- Keynote lecture: Prof Adam Hanieh (University of Exeter) will open the symposium with the keynote lecture Democratic Struggles at a Time of Global Crises: What Can We Learn from the Middle East? Prof Hanieh will reflect on what democratic futures might look like in the MENA region some ten years after the Arab uprising and in the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Venue: The Javett Arts Centre – Date/time: 14 February, 4:00 pm
- Book panel: Prof Nivedita Menon (Jawaharlal Nehru University) will discuss her new book, Secularism as Misdirection: Critical Thought from the Global South (Duke University Press, 2023).In her book, Prof Menon put contemporary Indian discussions on secularism and democracy in a comparative perspective with wider debates in the global South. Venue: The Lounge, Old College House – Date/time: 15 February, 2:00 pm
- Film Screening: Sri Lankan filmmaker Sulochana Peiris will screen her documentary #GoHomeGota – The Story Behind Sri Lanka’s Hashtagged Protest Movement. Centred on interviews with several key activists, the film provides unique insights into the popular protests that overthrew the Rajapaksa regime in 2022. The film will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.Venue: Javett Arts Centre – Date/time: 16 February, 2:30 pm
Please RSVP here
