Conference format, agenda and sub-themes
Conference format and agenda
The Conference will take place during 4 days: from 25th to 28th November 2009 . However delegates will be encouraged to arrive one or two days earlier and leave South Africa one or two days after the Conference in order to have the opportunity of partaking in the cultural component of the programme: visits, forums and panel discussions, media interviews, extra-mural seminars and work-shops in schools and grass-roots communities, exhibitions, film screening and other cultural events.
The format will include plenaries and break-away sessions. The preparatory work will be facilitated within thematic groups; whereas the various themes to be explored will be organised in pillars. Each pillar will be introduced by one or two lead papers to be presented by prominent scholars of high international calibre and profile.
Focus areas and thematic issues
International bodies exist to support a broad range of study of the Sudan as a whole. The multi-, inter- and trans-disciplinarity of the Conference will open up participation from a wide range of disciplines and areas of competence that include: archaeology, history, anthropology, linguistics, culture, economics, political studies, natural and environmental sciences, etc.
The scope of participation will thus be broadened to accommodate a great diversity of academic contributions insofar as papers to be presented speak to the main theme. The final list of themes will be compiled by the Conference Organising and Scientific Committees and re-organised according to thematic clusters and working groups. The following are only indicative of the proposed sub-themes and pillars
Pillar One: The CPA: Achievements, Challenges and Threats for its Implementation
- Power-sharing
- Wealth-sharing
- Border-demarcation
- Integration of armies and security forces
- Normalisation of life in Abyei, Southern Blue Nile, Nuba Mountains and Darfur
- Is unity being made attractive?
- Sudan’s futures: a united Sudan or a two-state scenario?
Pillar Two: Darfur as Epitome of the Sudan Situation?
- Migration patterns, population settlement trends and history of social formations
- Race and ethnic identities: African-Arab relations
- Human and peoples’ rights violations and serious international crimes
- Resource allocation and governance
- Context and challenges of aid
- Global imaging (of Darfur)
Pillar Three: Governance, Electoral Processes, Democracy and Human and People's Rights
- From liberation movement to party in power: institution and capacity-building and governance challenges for the SPLM and GOSS
- Prospects for the February 2010 general elections
- Challenges and stakes for the upcoming referenda in Southern Sudan and Abiyei, and popular consultations in Southern Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains
- Human and peoples' rights, democracy and the rule of law in Sudan
- Slavery, captivity, serfdom, child abduction and human trafficking
- Cultural identity and politics and gender dimensions of peace, stability and social justice
Pillar Four: Issues of Statehood and Nation-Building
- Energy and infrastructure building and threats to the environment
- Management of cultural diversity and social cohesion
- Censuses and demographics in the history and politics of Sudan
- Political ideology and social classification and stratification (ethnicity, race, religion, gender and class) in the history, political economy and social dynamics of Sudan
- Archetypes, stereotypes and ethnotypes: an archaeology, sociology and political economy of conflicting images of self and other in Sudan
Pillar Five: History, Culture, Identity and Human Development
- Epistemic and methodological challenges and stakes in the history and historiography of Sudan and Nile Valley civilisations
- Linguistic diversity, language policies and socio-linguistic situation
- Art and literature
- Resource endowment, rural development and industrialisation
- Education and knowledge production and application
- Health policies and public health systems
- Peace-building, resettlement, rehabilitation and social re-integration
Pillar Six: Regional and International Correlations and Dimensions of the Sudan Situation: Role of the African Union, the Arab League and External Factors
- Empowerment of the AU and its coordination with the Arab League for a viable and sustainable solution in the Sudan
- The ICC and Sudan
- Arms race, scramble for resources and issues of global safety and security
- Sudan and the Nile as common patrimony for Eastern Africa: major stakes, challenges and threats
- Sudan: opportunities and challenges for its emergence as a regional driver for Africa’s future
- Bilateral and multilateral engagements with Sudan (South Africa and other countries)
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