09/19/2013

The African Association for Rhetoric and Partners

5th International Colloquium - July 2-4 2014

On the Theme
Transitions and Transformative Rhetoric (s)

One salient construct has received significant definition in most discourses on Africa: that of a continent perpetually in a state of transition. What, however, has received little attention is the supposed object of transition – that is, the transformation that transition promises. A cursory examination of rhetoric(s) of transformation on the African continent reveals a deeply contest-ed field. In East and some parts of West Africa, where rhetoric(s) of transformation are often invoked within the context of de-velopmental politics, specifically, political promises of infrastructural and modernist futures. In Southern Africa, calls for trans-formation have emerged often in emotive debates over the need to address historical racial injustices. In Northern Africa, transformation is now the site of mortal conflict over democracy, religion, and imperialism. The 5th conference of the African Association for Rhetoric (AAR) seeks precisely to contribute to the current dialectic between transition and transformation.

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