Founded at the University of Florida in 2000, the SEAN mission is to promote cooperation and collaboration amongst Africanist scholars in expanding the presence of African Studies programs at colleges and universities throughout the Southeast region. In 2010, SEAN partnered with the Southeastern Regional Seminar on African Studies (SERSAS) (opens in new tab) for a joint conference and the two groups have co-sponsored an annual meeting ever since.
2025 SERSAS-SEAN Annual Joint Spring Meeting
New Directions in African Studies (opens in new tab)
With support from the University of Florida Center for African Studies and the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill African Studies Center.
Previous SEAN Meetings
2019 African Technologies and Creativity: Innovation in Times of Uncertainty (opens in new tab)
2017 21st Century Resiliency: Sustainable Development and US – Africa Relations
2016 What’s in Play? Sport, Leisure, and Culture in Africa (opens in new tab)
2015 Journeys of Reconciliation: The New South, the New South Africa, and Nelson Mandela
2014 Memory and Imagination in the Making of African Identities
2013 Africa Looks Back: Reflections, Constructions, Imaginations (opens in new tab)
2012 Border Crossings, Migrations, and Interventions
2011 Africa Connected: Movement, Flow, and Change
2010 Faith, Culture, and the Politics of Belonging
2009 Africana Studies: the Search for Methodologies
2008 Africa and the Americas: Cultural Representations and Social Movements
2007 Cinema and the Construction of Gender in Africa
2006 The African Experience in Europe through Cinema
2005 The Dynamics of African Governance, Society, and Culture in the Context of Globalization
2004 Africa 1994-2004: A Decade in Retrospective
2003 Africa Beyond 3-D: Altering Images & Changing Perceptions for the 21st Century
2002 African Studies after 9/11: Challenges & Priorities