ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, CENTRE OF AFRICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

21-22 May 2003

REMAKING LAW IN AFRICA TRANSNATIONALISM, PERSONS AND RIGHTS

Overall Rationale
In 2003, the Centre's annual international conference will examine the ways that law is embedded in and shaped by processes that have an impact upon political, economic, and social development in Africa.

Scholars have observed that law represented the cutting edge of colonialism in its attempts to control and govern its subjects while bringing about their transformation and that of the societies in which they lived. Its role continued to have a powerful presence in the postcolonial period when many newly independent countries turned to law as a form of social engineering within the nation-state. In recent years attention has focused on globalisation as a phenomenon and local communities' responses to it. This has led to a growing recognition of the importance of transnational forms of law and ordering derived from diverse sources, including the World Bank, the European Convention on Human Rights, the WTO, the WHO, the IMF, the African Union, and religious movements. The success or failure of polities and persons' access to, and use of, law raises questions about the power and authority to construct meaning at multiple levels, including, local, regional, national and international domains that intersect with one another in a variety of ways. This conference aims to explore the ways in which law operates in different places at different levels and at different moments in the historical record, in order to gain a more informed view of the processes that underpin continuity, transformation, and change.

In the tradition of the Centre it is hoped that participants will be drawn from a number of academic disciplines including history, social anthropology, politics, economics, health, education and law, as well as from international agencies, state institutions, NGOs and development actors.

Themes include
Human Rights; Constitutional Issues; Tribunals and other forms of Justice; Law, Development and Gender; Resource Entitlement; Rights to Health, Education and Intellectual Property

Speakers at the conference will include: Abdullah An-Naim (Emory University); Yash Ghai (Hong Kong University); Issa G. Shivji (University of Dar es Salaam); Hon Aloysea Inyumba (Governor of Kigali, Rwanda); Catherine Jenkins (SOAS); Hon Winnie Byanyima (MP and Chairperson of Forum for Women in Development, Uganda); Anne Stewart (University of Warwick); Albert Barume (Democratic Republic of Congo); Fareda Banda (SOAS); Anne Hellum (University of Oslo); Charles Clift (Department for International Development); Chidi Odinkalu (Interrights); Fr. Matthew Hassan Kukah (Nigeria); Patrick Watt (ActionAid); Olive Shisana (Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria); Zackie Achmat (Treatment Action Campaign, Cape Town).

The Steering Committee for the Conference includes: Dr. Anne Griffiths, School of Law; Dr. Paul Nugent, School of History; Dr. Stephen Neff, School of Law; Professor Alan Barnard, School of Social and Political Studies; Pravina King, Centre of African Studies; Jude Murison, Centre of African Studies; and Professor Kenneth King, Centre of African Studies

The conference will include a keynote Royal African Society lecture on Wednesday evening by Prof Issa Shivji (Dar es Salaam), and another RAS lecture on Thursday lunchtime by Zackie Achmat (Cape Town).

REGISTRATION FORM

You may return the completed registration form by email to: [email][email protected] [2] or return to the address below.

A full conference programme will be available nearer the date of the conference.

The conference will begin at 1.30 on May 21 and finish at 6.00 on May 22.

On the evening of Wed 21 there will be a Royal African Society Scotland Lecture and a conference dinner.

Full conference Fee: £ 60.00
Edinburgh Staff: £ 40.00
Student: £25.00
Dinner: £15.00
[the Conference fee, whether for students, Edinburgh staff or other participants, includes a full set of the conference papers, teas, coffees and a reception. The conference dinner is
extra.]

REMAKING LAW IN AFRICA: TRANSNATIONALISM, PERSONS, AND RIGHTS
Conference Registration
Centre of African Studies
University of Edinburgh
21 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD, Scotland.

Tel. +44 (0)131 650 3878; Fax: +44 (0)131 650 6535; Email: [email][email protected] [3]

PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING

REMAKING LAW IN AFRICA
May 21-22, 2003

Name
Organisation

Address

Phone
Fax
E-mail

I enclose a cheque, made payable to the Centre of African Studies, for £ ___. Please register me for the CAS conference under the following category:

Full conference fee q
Edinburgh staff q
Student q
(evidence of status required)

I do / do not wish to attend the conference dinner on May 21. delete as applicable

I am / am not a vegetarian. Delete as applicable

On registration more information about the conference and accommodation in Edinburgh will be sent.

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New Research in the Great Lakes Region
Working Group

Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh

20-21st May 2003

The working group will begin at 13h00 on Tuesday May 20th and finish at 13h30 on Wednesday May 21st. The close coincides with the opening of the Centre of African Studies Annual Conference on 21-22 May on Remaking Law in Africa: Transnationalism, Persons, and Rights, which will feature papers on the Great Lakes Region.

REGISTRATION FORM

Please return the completed registration form to: [email][email protected] [4] or by mail to Rachel Hayman, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, 10 Buccleuch Place (2nd Floor), Edinburgh, EH8 9LW

Name:

Address:

Phone:

E-mail:

Research Topic / Title:

Institution:

Year:

I am / am not a vegetarian. Delete as applicable (we intend to organise a dinner for the evening of the 20th so this information would be useful)

On registration more information about accommodation and practical details will be sent.

Please also send us an abstract of your thesis by email, preferably in .rtf format, of maximum 1500 words by the end of April.