ASAA encourages conveners (those proposing/organising a panel) to reflect on the conference theme and address issues outlined in the theme description. Please read the information and then click the button below to submit your proposal on our dedicated online portal.
! Submission deadline extended to 31 Jan 2022
The decisions of the Scientific Committee will be communicated on 11th July 2021. The call for abstracts will open on 14th July 2021.
Panel formats
ASAA would like to encourage the submission of various panel formats:
- Traditional Panel: five (5) papers per one 105-minute session.
- Roundtable Panel: a group of scholars (no more than five) would discuss themes/issues of general scholarly interest in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. While a roundtable can include short (5–10 min) provocations/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, not to focus on any one presenter. In the roundtable proposal, convenors can list/name the participants in the long abstract, or convenors can leave the list open and take in ‘provocation/presentation’ proposals during the Call for Papers and choose five of those to be on the roundtable. N.B. Please append the format to the title of the proposal, e.g. “Gender and the Ethics of Technology in Africa [Roundtable]”.
- Pecha Kucha Panel: fast-paced presentation using Pecha Kucha, Ignite or Lightning Talks type of formats. N.B. Please append the format to the title of the proposal, e.g. “Dancing with Machines in Chinua Achebe [Pecha Kucha].”
Rules
- All accepted panels must be open to paper proposals through the website: panels should not be organised as ‘closed’ sessions.
- Special panels should be submitted with a complete list of papers and panelists.
- Panels should have at least two co-convenors (panel organisers) from different institutions and ideally from other countries.
- Delegates (those attending the conference) may only make one presentation each (please note that roundtable participation counts as being a discussant, not a presenter). It is allowed to be a co-author on multiple papers if he/she/they is/are not the one presenting them. In addition, a delegate may also convene once (be that a plenary, panel, or roundtable); and be a discussant or a chair in one plenary session, panel, or roundtable.
- All convenors and presenters must be or register as members of ASAA and have paid their subscription before the conference. They need not conform to this rule when submitting the proposal but must address it after their proposal is accepted.
- All attending the conference, including discussants and chairs, will need to register and pay to attend.
Criteria for Acceptance
- ASAA2022 can host a maximum of 500 delegates, which suggests approximately 100 panels.
- The Scientific Committee will decide which proposals to accept; the likely acceptance rate will be ~50%. The decision will be based on:
- compliance with the rules stated above
- clarity, cohesion, reliability and academic rigour (quality)
- The Scientific Committee will pay attention to different disciplinary traditions and topics.
Submission of proposals
All proposals must be made via the online form. Proposals should consist of a panel title, a short description of max. 300 characters, and an abstract of 250 words. The proposal may also include the names of any chairs or discussants, although these can be added subsequently. Please use the convention of Firstname Lastname (Institution). (Where convenors will take these roles, you need not re-enter their names.)
On submission of the proposal, the proposing convenor (not the co-convenors) will receive an automated email confirming receipt. If he/she/they do not receive this email, please first check the login environment (click login on the left) to see if the proposal is listed there. If it is, it simply means the confirmation email got spammed or was not successfully delivered; and if it is not listed, it means the proposal needs to re-submit.
Proposals will be marked as “Pending” until the Scientific Committee decisions are publicised on 14th September 2021. On that date, proposals will be marked as “Accepted” or “Rejected”, and the conference administrators will inform you of the decision via email.
Duration of panel sessions
Given the competition over resources (panel proposals outweighing available time slots) and the stated desire by many members to be able to attend more panels than just the ones they are active in (convening/speaking), ASAA2022 will have panel sessions of 105 minutes. The panels will be limited to a maximum of TWO consecutive 105-minute sessions, each of which can accommodate a maximum of five papers. This allows the conference to accept more shorter panel giving more choice to both paper proposers and delegates. Consequently, panel convenors may accept a maximum of ten papers in their panel. However, accepting four papers per session will be acceptable.
Convenor responsibilities
It is the convenors’ responsibility to ensure that all panel participants are well briefed and that the panel continues to meet the ASAA2020 requirements. To that end, convenors should communicate their decisions over proposals as detailed below, and – later in the process – email the panelists to: inform them of the speaking order (albeit this is displayed on the public panel page), inform them as to how much time they have been allocated, remind them to register (the registration status can be seen in the login environment), inform them of any late changes or additional chairs/discussants, and give any other information related to the panel. If panelists withdraw, convenors should inform the organisers.
Timing of presentations
How convenors allocate the time of their sessions is largely their decision. The ASAA norm is to allot each presenter a maximum of 25 minutes (for presentation and questions/discussion). The key is to respect the fact that many presenters have travelled a long way in order to be able to contribute and clearly need time to set out their argument. The particular panel sessions will be indicated in the conference programme, and papers are ordered within these sessions. While convenors may wish to amalgamate discussion time, where possible, they should adhere to the published session.
Pre-circulation of papers
ASAA has no rule about this; however, many convenors opt to pre-circulate completed papers. To facilitate this and lessen email traffic, authors can upload their papers as PDFs on the conference management platform. It is the author’s choice whether to instruct the presenters to make use of this offer.
Contact
For any queries with the above, please email: as-aa2022.org@uct.ac.za