Announcement

WEST AFRICA REVIEW

West Africa Review is seeking submissions for its Fall/Winter 2000 issue on the topic: "Gender Matters or Gender Confuses: Examining the Relevance of Gender in ECOWAS region." Especially welcome are papers that are either examining the relevance of gender as an appropriate analytic category for interpreting cultures (broadly defined), or its impact in understanding contemporary phenomena. Contributors are encouraged to radically and imaginatively engage the topic but to pay close attention to issues of historicity. All submission must adhere to submission guidelines and copyright requirement of W.A.R. The deadline is March 30, 2000.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

University College Northampton (UCN) U.K. announces
COMMON GROUNDS: THEATRE AND INTERCULTURALISM
An international conference, 14 - 16 APRIL 2000.
Organised and hosted by the Division of Performance Studies, Avenue Campus.

The conference is an extension of a period of experimental collaborative work between the Nigerian playwright, Femi Osofisan, the Performance Studies Division at UCN, choreographer / dancer and director of Badejo Arts, Peter Badejo and a host of others. It will foreground interculturalism both as theory and as practice in a programme that will include workshops, demonstrations, discussions and presentations aimed at artists, directors, scholars, researchers, teachers and critics with eminent keynote speakers from across the continents. They include the following: Biodun Jeyifo, Sandra Richards, Yvonne Brewster (Talawa Theatre Company), David George, Kriszta Badonyi, Baz Kershaw, John Martin and Malika Saravhai (Pan Project Intercultural Arts), Clive Barker, Anuradha Kapur, Roberta Uno (New WORLD Theatre), Femi Osofisan, Ian Watson, SuAndi and Femi Euba.

As practice the roots of interculturalism in theatre are deep and its history goes back in antiquity. Contemporary theatre practice, Patrice Pavis argues, is moving more and more towards a theatre of cultures. No doubt the 20th century will go down as a milestone in the history and development of interculturalism. It has witnessed, for example in the West, some highly innovative works from the likes of Antonin Artaud, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, Eugenio Barba, Ariane Mnouchkine, Robert Wilson as well as the rise of young directors and experimental theatre companies. However, while the West appears to be the most visible in the attempt to consciously and voluntarily appropriate other cultures, it is obvious that interculturalism is a world wide phenomenon. Therefore, it is the intention of the conference to make visible the wide range of practices, from across the world, their complex and varied forms ranging from the adaptation of foreign classics to different levels of exchange of performance traditions, conventions, techniques and styles across cultures.

It will provide a forum for the sharing of skills and for continuing and extending debates around issues of appropriation, ownership, authenticity / integrity, motives, boundaries, identity, power relations, aesthetic, cultural context, relevance and even definition. Thus while the theme and anticipated scope of the conference lend themselves to a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, the focus will remain the interrogation of interculturalism from a diverse range of perspectives under the following sub themes: Creation and Devising; Presentation and Documentation; Audiences; Analysis and Criticism; The Politics of Interculturalism; Interculturalism and Theatre: What Possibilities? Which Directions? What Future?

Conference Fee: An inclusive package covering conference fee, all meals(on site),conference dinner, live theatre and entertainments: 215.00 pounds sterling (Concessionary and day rates will be available).

En suite accommodation will be available in three bands: under 20.00 pounds sterling per night in students halls of residence (UCN)under 40.00 pounds sterling per night in Sunley Management Centre (UCN) Under 70.00 pounds sterling per night in a local hotel.

To register interest please email: Jumai.Ewu@Northampton.ac.uk Fax: +44 (0) 1604 717813 Telephone: +44 (0)1604 735500 Ext.3166 or Ext. 3170 or Ext.3171

Postal address: The Organising Committee International Conference on Theatre and Interculturalism Performance Studies Division, Avenue Campus University College Northampton NN2 6JD United Kingdom

THE INTERNATIONAL QUARTERLY CONFERENCE
(An Internatioanl Review of Social Thought & Development)

Call for Paper.

Theme: The State and Democracy in Africa
Sub-themes:

i) Democracy and the colonial hangover
ii) Liberal Democratic aspiration and the siege of traditional institution
iii) The state, the media and democracy
iv) Democracy and the multinational states
v) Democracy and religious pluralism
vi) Democracy, law, order, and social justice
vii) Democracy and the military question
viii) Democracy and Economic empowerment
ix) Democracy and the Women question
x) The future of Democracy in Africa

Articles to be published in The International Quarterly Conference must be original--the articles must be thought-provoking and should not have been published elsewhere. Being a multidisciplinary journal empirical studies are accepted in so far as they are incisive and rigorous in their analyses.

Dates and tables are to be avoided as much as possible. Where they are unavoidable, they should illuminate the theoretical framework of the issues in discourse.

Because the journal is focussed on general-interest issues, to be read and comprehended by people with diverse educational backgrounds, competence, and specialty, issues to be discussed must be written in clear and jargon-free language. Contribution should accommodate a small number of footnotes where considered absolutely necessary.

Style and Format
i)Manuscripts for publication in The Quarterly International Conference should be forwarded in duplicate copies, not exceeding 18 pages of A4-size paper. Articles should be typed on one side of the paper, double-spaced, with ample margins, and bear the title of the contribution. Each article should be accompanied by an abstract/summary of not more than 200 words. All pages should be numbered.

ii) Name(s) of the author(s) and the address where the work was carried out should only appear on a separate sheet apart from the title page. The full postal address of the author who will check proofs and receive correspondence and offprints should be included.

i)Unused articles will not normally be returned by this journal. Authors who wish to retrieve such manuscripts should endeavour to include self-addressed envelope with appropriate postal stamps when sending his/her work.

iv) The International Quarterly Journal will pay a token honorarium for administrative and postal services involved in the preparation of any published essay.

Address
All correspondence with The International Quarterly Conference to: The Editor
The International Quarterly Conference
Department of Philosophy, Ogun State University
P.M.B. 2002, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.
Or
Akinyemi Onigbinde, P.O. Box 24537, Mapo, Ibadan, Nigeria.

JOURNAL EDUCACION SUPERIOR, (Mexico)

Professor Roberto Rodríguez seeks contributions for a special issue of the Journal Educación Superior on "Higher Education reforms in decade of the 90s. An international perspective". Articles and monographs that describe and analyze current reforms (academic, organizational etc.) on national higher education systems in any African nation are especially welcome. Regional and Africa-wide perspective are also welcome to complement contributions from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Rusia, Spain, France, UK, Canada and The Caribbean. Questions and submission should be sent by email to Professor Roberto Rodríguez at roberto@servidor.unam.mx.

AFRICANS IN THE AMERICAS: PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE
Dates: May 4 - 6, 2000