Call for Papers
The international conference Arabic in Africa: Historical and Sociolinguistic Perspectives brings together scholars interested in the study of Arabic in Africa. The Arabic language in Africa represents at one and the same time remarkable similarities in terms of language structure and socio-cultural status as well as well-profiled contrasts. Both of these coincide only partially with contemporary political, economic and geographic demarcations, such as have become established in MENA or Maghreb studies. The current conference focuses on Arabic in Africa within a holistic linguistic framework defined by sociolinguistic, descriptive, geo-linguistic, political linguistic and historical parameters.
“Arabic in Africa” will consider Arabic from different approaches, perspectives and disciplinary frameworks and in quite different sociolinguistic situations. Parameters include demographic weight (e.g. “national nonstandard standard” or very local small variety), institutional status (e.g. official language, national language, minority with no state support) and historical provenance.
We welcome contributions that approach Arabic in Africa from historical, descriptive and sociolinguistic perspectives. Topics include but are not limited to:
- Basic descriptive and theoretical linguistic perspectives on Arabic in Africa.
- Variation, prestige, unbalanced power in Arabic varieties in Africa
- Language contact involving Arabic, Arabic-based pidgins and creoles in Africa
- Arabic as L2, Arabic as lingua franca in Africa
- Arabic in Africa - Arabic in the Middle East: comparative historical and sociolinguistic perspectives
- Language politics and policies involving Arabic in Africa
- Ajami script, Arabic script in non-Arabic-speaking areas in Africa
- Arabic and Islam in Africa
During the coffee breaks there will be poster sessions where the conference participants will be able to interact with the presenters and discuss their research.
The conference will close with a roundtable discussion where distinguished scholars will synthesize the various ideas and research directions which have been presented and propose the state of the art on Arabic in Africa according to their own perspective. We are honored to count among our invited Raporteurs Prof. Jeffrey Heath (University of Michigan), Prof. Catherine Miller (CNRS, IREMAM), Prof. Fiona Mc Laughlin (University of Florida) and Prof. Stephan Prochazka (University of Vienna) and to have Prof. Jonathan Owens (University of Bayreuth) chairing the discussion.
The conference is funded by the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence and the Chair of Arabic Studies of the University of Bayreuth. We will contribute to the accommodation expenses of all participants with an accepted presentation and to the accommodation and travel costs of participants with an accepted presentation who are based in Africa.
Abstract Submission Guidelines
We invite the submission of abstracts for full papers (30 minutes presentation + 10 minutes discussion) and for posters. Abstracts of 400-500 words, excluding references, should be submitted in PDF-format by email to arabic_in_africa@uni-bayreuth.de. The abstract should indicate whether the work is to be presented as a talk or as a poster. The deadline for abstract submission is December 1, 2022 postponed to December 15, 2022.
Notification of acceptance will be sent out within January 10, 2023 January 31, 2023.
Download the Call for Papers here