African borderlands are among the continent’s most creative and most rapidly changing social spaces. Borderlands are the theatre for identity formation and cultural exchange, for violent conflicts and regional integration, for economic growth and sudden stagnation, for state building and state failure. Because their unique position at the margins of two (or more) social and legal spaces offers more flexibility to social actors, borderlands reflect changes on the national level more quickly and more radically than most inland places. This turns borderlands into hotspots of social activity and, on an academic level, into ideal places to study social, political and economic change. In the African context, they are relatively under-studied.

The Center for African Studies at The Ohio State University will sponsor a conference on the territorial origins of African civil conflict and conflict-alleviating institutions that integrate localities into national political and economic development processes. The conference will take place at the Pietermaritzburg campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, January 29-30, 2010. The University of Kwazulu-Natal will cosponsor the conference.

The transformation of US/African relations since 9/11, with particular attention to West Africa, will be the subject of study for this conference to be held at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at OSU on October 30-31, 2009. See the project description [PDF] for more information about this event.

Volunteers can participate in both reconnaissance surveys and excavations, although more commonly participate in the former. No experience of archaeology or desert travel is required in order to volunteer for reconnaissance survey work. Excavation work can incorporate both experienced and inexperienced volunteers. See below for more details, for requirements for specific seasons of fieldwork (currently October 2009), and for general information about future field seasons.

On 25-27 September the Middle East Centre at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, will host an international conference entitled “Libya: Legacy of the Past, Prospects for the Future.” The conference will provide a forum to reflect upon Libya’s recent history and current politics. It will bring together leading academics, as well as analysts and diplomats, in order to discuss some central issues that the limited literature on Libya has so far ignored.