This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
Nairobi is playing host to the African Studies Association of Africa (ASAA) conference, which began on Wednesday, October 23, 2019, at the United States International University-Africa and will conclude on Saturday, October 26, 2019.
This is the first time the conference has been convened in East Africa, following two successful events in West Africa.
The conference's theme, 'African and Africana Knowledges: Past Representations, Current Discourses, Future Communities,' aimed to take stock of knowledge produced by Africans in Africa and the Diaspora.
Despite Africa's significant contributions to global welfare, the continent remains intellectually and materially impoverished, a situation attributed to past representations and the production of knowledge that portrays Africa as hopeless, poor, and devoid of knowledge.
Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo, the President of ASAA, emphasized the importance of investing in knowledge produced by Africans on the continent and beyond.
"The knowledge we share should empower our teaching, research, advocacy, art, performance, and politics," she said.
Professor Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, the Vice Chancellor, challenged scholars and researchers to foster a culture of research in African universities and increase the continent's research output.
"In 2013, researchers from Africa were estimated to be at 2.4 percent, and by 2014, research publications from Africa were still at an all-time low at 2.6 percent," he said.
