The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in Williamsburg, Virginia, and the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions, and Economic Enterprise in Accra, Ghana, invite applications to participate in a two-week workshop, to be held 12–26 July 2009 in Accra, Ghana. The purpose of the workshop is to expand and deepen the connections among scholars from sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and the Americas begun at the Omohundro Institute conference,"The bloody Writing is for ever torn": Domestic and International Consequences of the First Governmental Efforts to Abolish the Atlantic Slave Trade, that took place in August 2007, at Accra and Elmina. Applicants to the 2009 workshop may be advanced graduate students or faculty working on any aspect of the theme “Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1500–1700.” Spaces have been reserved for twelve scholars based in sub-Saharan Africa and eight located in other parts of the world.

 

The workshop will provide the cost of travel from the participants’ home institutions to Accra and return. All local expenses will be covered, including accommodations, meals, and brief excursions to Kumasi and Elmina, Ghana. The workshop is sponsored by the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University, the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and the International Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions, and Economic Enterprise.

 

Professor Irene K. Odotei of the University of Ghana and Professor Joseph C. Miller of the University of Virginia in the United States will lead the workshop. Professor Ronald Hoffman, Director of the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture and Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong of Harvard University and Senior Fellow, International Institute for the Advanced Study of Cultures, Institutions, and Economic Enterprise will also participate. Professors Odotei and Miller will chair twice daily discussions of a wide range of current scholarship, based on materials to be circulated and considered in advance by all workshop participants. The first week will be devoted to readings and discussions along two tracks: (1) regional perspectives on the Atlantic from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean, and Europe, and (2) African regions’ particular histories and cultures. The aim is to acquaint non-Africanist Atlanticists with African regional components of the field, including an emphasis on local sources and issues unfamiliar to non-specialists, and to allow Africa-based scholars to embed their regionally oriented scholarship in broader Atlantic contexts. The directors of the workshop will determine the final list of readings based on the interests of the workshop participants, and it is expected that the dialogue between African and Atlantic scholarship will enrich both sides in equal measure.

 

In the workshop’s second week, participants will discuss the ongoing research projects presented by their workshop colleagues, within the framework of issues developed during the preceding week of readings. It is expected that all participants will be substantively engaged in research and/or teaching subjects related to Atlantic history and that the draft versions of their scholarship that they will submit for pre-circulation among the invited members of the workshop will be sufficiently robust to benefit from the cross-regional and cross-disciplinary discussions.

Applicants should submit a one-page letter of intent, a short professional c.v. (no more than three pages), and a 500-word outline of the research they intend to contribute, taking care to specify the sources being used, the current state of the project, and the potential gains that they envision from participation in the workshop. Applicants should also arrange for two substantive letters of reference, to be submitted on institutional or official letterhead.

 

The deadline for receipt of these materials at the Omohundro Institute is 27 December 2008.

 

Travel funding for participants invited to the workshop will be authorized upon receipt of the research paper that they intend to circulate for discussion. A paper of at least 8–10 pages must be received at the Omohundro Institute by 1 June 2009. Timely advance circulation of members’ research is intended to enable all participants to acquaint themselves with the scholarship of their colleagues before arriving in Ghana, thus to maximize the prospects for informed and substantive discussions around the readings to be selected. Workshop participants who are based in sub-Saharan Africa will receive packets containing all the reading materials to be discussed. Everyone accepted into the workshop will receive copies of the draft research papers.

Application materials and letters of reference may be posted as digital attachments to http://oieahc.wm.edu/conferences/african_seminar/application/apply.cfm or by mail to:

African Seminar, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture,

P.O. Box 8781, Williamsburg,

VA 23187-8781.

_{Instructions for submission of the research paper will be sent to each applicant accepted for the workshop.}

 

A selection committee composed of the directors of the workshop, university faculty in Ghana, and representatives of the Omohundro Institute will assess all complete applications with respect to, (1) the intellectual, research, or methodological substance of the proposed project and its relevance to the theme (“Africa, Europe, and the Americas, 1500–1700”) of the workshop; (2) its potential for productive collaboration with other projects proposed; and (3) the academic qualifications of the applicant. Invited participants will be notified by email on 2 February 2009. They must accept, or decline, the invitation by 16 February.

 

Please submit your scholarship application by December 27, 2008.
If you have questions, please contact Ted Maris-Wolf, Coordinator, African Seminar, Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, at 757-645-6356 or edmari@wm.edu. Workshop organizers will review the applications in January. Scholarship recipients will be notified by February 2, 2009.