Celebrating Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo in gender studies conference at NAU, Awka in October

* Author of The Cut Across, play on female genital mutilation, Mabel Evwierhoma, is keynote speaker

By Editor

THE Ist Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo International Conference 2024 will be held at Nnamdi Azikiwe University (NAU), Awka, the Anambra State capital on October 17 & 18. It will be a hybrid event and has as theme ‘Gender Dynamics in African and African Diaspora Literature, Education, Visual Arts and Performance’. Centre for Gender Studies is collaborating with Centre for Migration Studies of the university (CMS-NAU) to organise the conference. To deliver the conference keynote will be Prof. Mabel Evwierhoma of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Abuja, Abuja, while lead paper presenters will be Prof. Patrick Oloko, Department of English, University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos, and Dr. Izuu Nwankwọ of Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies, University of Toronto, Canada.

According to the organisers, “We are excited to announce the 1st Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo International Conference on ‘Gender Dynamics in African Literature, Visual Arts and Performance’ 2024. This conference is one of the efforts of scholars to celebrate Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo —one of the distinguished literary icons in Nigeria who has contributed enormously to creativity, literary artistry, academic leadership and scholarship in the areas of literature and gender discourse. The theme of this conference is designed to explore the ideological inclinations, critical interpretations and codification of gender in African and African diaspora literature, education, visual arts and performance.

“This conference, through its specialized theme, has the capacity and propensity to impart unparalleled knowledge and provide a scholarly platform for academics, writers, researchers, activists and scholars to discuss the growing complexities of gender in Africa with greater significance. A survey of gender issues and trends in Africa has explicitly exposed different, consistent and contemporary patterns of inequality, stereotype, war, identity crisis, liminality in space, intersectional nuances, displacement, resistance/revolution, suppression/repression, discrimination, and critical issues surrounding human mobility. Typically, these contemporary patterns have posed a great challenge to African cultural settlement, unity and growth in different spheres. Specifically, the idea of this conference is to bring together intellectuals of distinct background to offer new critical insights into the nature, scope and contexts of gender in contemporary African discourse.

“Thus, the 1st Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo International Conference on ‘Gender Dynamics in African Literature, Education, Visual Arts and Performance’ 2024 is an intellectual effort towards celebrating Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s prolific contributions to African literary discourse and gender studies.”

Proponent of ‘Snail-Sense Feminism’ theory, Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo

The organisers are also concerned about new complexities that nwo shape gender studies away from the age-old binary concepts to fluid and contextual contexts.

As they put it, “Over the past decades, perspectives on gender have not ceased to attract efforts from scholars who have tried to articulate ideas that would redress gender issues in Africa and globally. Notably, the discursive sites on gender studies have mainly centred on inequality and injustice—the conceptual models for exploring tensions through established signification. However, the predominance of diversity in identity, multifaceted academic discipline, variety of approaches and methodological gaps have given room to new analytical interpretations and critical innovations within existing canons. Currently, the central concern has shifted argument from the traditional social construction with a binary concept to understanding gender as a fluid and contextual concept. The manner in which the compositional dimensions of gender have been contextually mediated upon depends on a variety of factors such as cultural milieu and historical perspectives wrapped around inherent power dynamics.

“The implication is that gender with its fluidity and problematics of context-based factors poses new challenges begging for conceptual, methodological and analytical approaches. The variation in terms of gender perceptions gives room to sociolinguistic perspectives, dominance/visual approaches, cultural differences, psychological interpretations, behaviourial expectations and other critical stances. Significantly, this international conference seeks knowledge production and collaboration on different specialized areas on gender studies.”

Sub-theme scholar could also explore include Gender and Violence, Gender and Education, Gender and Mental Health, Gender and Liminality, Gender and Sexuality, Sexuality and the Cartology of African Realities, Gender Versus Cultural Syncretism and Policy Challenges, Gender and the Politics of self, Gender and Ideology, Gender and Globalization, Gender and Inequalities, Gender Roles in Literature and Media, Gender Discrimination and Sexism, Gender and Power, Gender and Religion, Gender and Leadership, Gender and Migration and Gender and Human Rights. Others are Gender and Digital Humanities, Gender and Theatre, Gender and Literature, Gender and Visual Arts, Gender and Performance, Gender and Culture, Gender and Black Studies, Gender and Identity, Gender and Theory, Gender and Law, Gender and Society, Gender and Childhood Studies, Gender and Disability, Gender and Spirituality, Gender and Orality, Gender and Diversity, Gender and Music, Gender and Communication, Gender and Language, and Gender and Displacement.

The Ist Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo International Conference 2024 is being convened by the Director of Centre for Gender Studies (CGS- NAU), Prof. Lilian-Rita Akudolu and assisted by the Director of Centre for Migration Studies (CMS-NAU), Professor Tracie Utoh-Ezeajugh and CMS-NAU’s deputy director, Dr. Ifeoma Odinye who will both serve as local organising committee chairperson and secretary respectively.