Confirmed speakers include: Bing Zhao, Monika Udvardy, Chapuruhka Kusimba, Thomas Hakansson, Kathryn De Luna, Daniel Branch, Sarah Longair, Pamila Gupta, Gerard McCann, Salvatory Nyanto

This conference will explore the place of Eastern Africa within global approaches to the study of the region's past and present. The fields of history, archaeology, anthropology and literature have all witnessed a global turn in recent years. The global paradigm is fast became a common point of entry to study of the region, particularly among European and North American scholars. This conference will include discussion of such research, but also consider the methodological and intellectual challenges presented by this approach to the study of Eastern African societies in the past and present.

The conference will be organised around four key and overlapping themes in the existing global studies literature: exchange; power and politics; communication; and mobility. Exchange will consider the subjects of commodities, trade and currency. Power and politics will look at the ways in which global networks of power in its various forms have shaped the ordinary lives of the peoples of Eastern Africa. Communication will explore the forms by which language, media and cultural performance have been inflected with a global discourse. Mobility will consider the implications for Eastern Africa of the global movement of peoples, ideas and objects. The papers will discuss connections and disconnections under these headings.

Eastern Africa will also be discussed in comparative terms, with contributions from papers considering similar questions from elsewhere in the region.

Papers across all four themes will consider four questions:

Panels will be comprised of four speakers and a chair. There will be no discussant in the interests of encouraging participation from the floor. Papers will not be pre-circulated, but a 3 page abstract will be required from all speakers two weeks in advance of the conference. Abstracts should be sent to d.p.branch@warwick.ac.uk