Call for papers: Pax Academica Journal of Academic Freedom, Gender and Academic Freedom in Africa

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About two and half decades after the Kampala Declaration on Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility (1990) the situation of academic freedom in African universities, especially as issues of gender and academic engagement is more perilous. As institutions broadened access to women; as students and academics, new developments have emerged that threaten erode any gains achieved thus far. The deepening of neo-liberal cultures in African universities, with their deep emphasis of market mechanisms has subordinated issues of gender equity and academic freedom to new margins within the academy. The evolving institutional and intellectual cultures have appropriated a new discourse of knowledge and power in ways that have deepened gender inequalities in intellectual discourse and knowledge production. This emerging trends in gender inequality and associated authoritarian developments, adopted as requisites for the penetration of neo-liberal cultures clearly show that universities are still places of knowledge production articulated through powers that reproduce new forms of femininities and masculinities. Academic freedom is one of the standards of the local order that should guarantee community members a work environment free of the constraints of external interference other than ethics and responsibility.

As the Canadian Association of professors of Higher education have pointed out,"Academic freedom must fully apply to faculty whose job is teaching, research, creation and participation in various university bodies and services to the community. It allows them to accomplish these tasks without being subject to pressure or censorship, whatever the direction of their thinking, their lifestyle, ethnicity, language, gender, sexual orientation, physical disability, opinions and political or religious actions, age, marital status "(FQPPU 2001). The advantage of this approach is that it identifies some elements of discrimination, including gender, which can hinder the enjoyment of academic freedom. How such discrimination actually operates in African universities? Has there been a change in the status of women in African universities, and if so, in what direction / measure? These are the central questions that this call for papers would like to provide some answers.

For this issue of the Journal, we are inviting academics based in African universities and the African academic Diaspora to submit articles that interrogate the emerging trends regarding gender and academic freedom in African. Articles should be based on empirical works or synthesized from existing literature. The focus of the articles should revolve around the following themes.

1-     Harassment (moral, intellectual, etc.) within the academic space;

2-      Hegemonic masculinities and academic freedom;

3-      Practices and logics of visibilizing and invisibilizing of women in higher education;

4-      Academic Guidelines, gendered pathways and social reproduction;

5-      Corporeity, knowledge and gender;

6-      Gender and socio-professional stratification within the university;

7-     Gender, promotion and academic freedom;

8-      "Gender Studies" and African universities.

This issue of Pax Academica is coordinated by Flora Amabiamina (Professor at the University of Douala, Cameroon) and Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi (Professor at Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya). Articles and Interviews (10 to 15 pages, Times New Roman, Font Size: 12, line spacing 1,5) are expected for October 30, 2014 at the latest. The publication by CODESRIA is scheduled for December 2014.

Pax Academica is an international electronic peer reviewed journal.

Please send your proposal to the email address of the Pax Academica journal:[e-mail]  by also copying the following individuals: Professor Ibrahim Oanda Ogachi to the following email address: [e-mail]; Professor Flora Amabiamina to the following email address: [e-mail]

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