On February 7 and 8 the UF Center for African Studies hosted the South East Regional Seminar in African Studies (SERSAS) and Southeast Africanist Network (SEAN) 2020 Annual Meeting, The meeting, Visions 2020: The Past and Present of Afrofutures was co-sponsored by the African Studies Center at UNC-Chapel-Hill and the Center for African Studies at University of Florida. On Friday February 7, the meeting started off with the Emerging Scholar Publishing Workshop. Following this was the opening reception. On Saturday, the meeting held four sessions.
During the first session, two panels ran concurrently. Modernity, Music, Prosperity was chaired by Emily Burrill (UNC–Chapel Hill) and included presentations by Alice R. Burmeister (Winthrop University), George Dor (University of Mississippi), and Sarah Politz (University of Florida). Conflict, Justice, Healing was chaired by Brenda Chalfin (University of Florida) and included presentations by Holly Dunn (University of South Florida), Letha Victor (UNC–Charlotte), and Justin Schon (University of Florida).
Session Two also had two simultaneous panels. Visions of Independence was chaired by Hunt Davis (University of Florida) and included presentations by John Cropper (College of Charleston), Ashley Parcells (Jacksonville University), and Catherine Porter (Hampton University). Politics and International Relations I was chaired by Christopher Day (College of Charleston) and included presentations by Romy Rajan (University of Florida) and Godfrey Vincent (Tuskegee University).
Following lunch, the SERSAS business and planning session took place. Next was Session Three with Politics and International Relations II chaired by Jack Parson (College of Charleston) and presentations by Stephan Magu (Hampton University) and Joseph Njoroge (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College). The Past and Present of Wildlife Authorities in Uganda was chaired by Abe Goldman (University of Florida) and included presentations by Christopher Day (College of Charleston) and Riley Ravary (University of Florida).
The fourth session only included one panel, Slavery, Colonialism, Independence and Crypto-Colonialism. This panel was chaired by Agnes Leslie (University of Florida) and included presentations by Bill F. Ndi (Tuskegee University), Adaku T. Ankumah (Tuskegee University), Richard Evans (Tuskegee University), Benjamin Fishkin (Tuskegee University), and Yvette Essounga Njan (Tuskegee University). Following the last session, attendees met at Reggae Shack downtown to enjoy a nice dinner and celebrate everyone’s hard work!
Additional photos and coverage of the event can be found on Twitter (@africa_uf).