CfP „Technologies of Care and Control: Welfare and Social Protection in the Prism of African Post/colonial Statistical Trajectories“

Call for Papers
11th European Conference of African Studies, Lisbon (30 June-3 July 2027)
Session: “Technologies of Care and Control: Welfare and Social Protection in the Prism of African Post/colonial Statistical Trajectories”
Convenors: Alena Thiel (Copenhagen) and Léa Renard (Heidelberg)

This panel invites interdisciplinary contributions on the socio-history of statistics in post/colonial Africa, connecting historical and contemporary perspectives on how welfare and social protection are imagined, classified, and governed through numbers. We are seeking papers from the fields of history, social sciences, ethnology and anthropology and beyond with an empirical and/or theoretical approach to contemporary and historical debates in the role played by quantification and statistics in African social policies. When selecting papers, we will aim for geographic balance across North, West, East, and Southern Africa.

We accept paper proposals (title, short abstract of 300 characters, long abstract of 250 words) via the dedicated platform until 4 January 2027 (23:59 Lisbon time).

Submit your proposal here: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/ecas2027/p/20542