CFP: PANDEMICS AND POLITICS IN AFRICA
Aribiah Attoe
Dear Colleagues,
Please find below details of a call for papers for a Special Issue of the Journal of Contemporary African Philosophy (JOCAP), titled: Pandemics and Politics in Africa. I have also attached the CFP flyer.
PANDEMICS AND POLITICS IN AFRICA
The Covid-19 pandemic, scientists say, is just the beginning of a wave of similar or more aggressive pandemics that will besiege humanity in the near future. In order to avoid the occurrence of these pandemics, there is a need for wholesale change in human attitudes and behaviours in their interactions with nature. Sadly, humanity appears unable or unwilling to make necessary adjustments that will forestall future epidemics. Thus, we can be sure that Covid-19 is a foretaste of things to come.
If the scale and devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic is going to be replicated in the near future, not only will health systems either be put under tremendous strain or crash, but other facets of life will be adversely affected. Covid-19 has necessitated adjustments to people’s lives that have gone beyond medical precautions. The most obvious impact that Covid-19 has had, on ordinary people, is their ability to earn a living. However, a less visible, albeit debilitating, impact has been on politics. Governments’ attempts at curbing the spread of the virus led to the introduction of a number of interventions that tended to tamper with the freedoms and rights of the population. While the justification for restrictions was justifiable, what is open for debate is whether such limitations provided an opportunity to stifle expression and activities associated with legitimate dissent. In some places demonstrations, public rallies, and gatherings to express dissatisfaction were outlawed in the name of curbing the spread of the virus. On the face of it, what cannot be denied, is that Covid-19 enabled repressive regimes to tamper with institutions that protect freedoms and the people’s ability to access such institutions. The use of armed forces to either keep people at home or monitor their movements meant that the Covid-19 pandemic inadvertently promoted control of people at a scale that even the worst dictator would have never imagined possible. The pandemic was a perfect gift for those with power but no inclination to promote and protect the populace’s freedoms.
If pandemics of this sort were to become a regular feature of our reality, what cumulative effect would they have on democracy and individual political entitlements on the continent? What sort of relationship can be conceived between pandemics and the state of democracy? How will future pandemics be handled in ways that ensure that democracy is not under threat? We invite papers that seek to reflect on the relationship between pandemics and democracy. We encourage contributors to think about what the future of democracy will be like, in Africa, if the occurrence of pandemics like Covid-19 will be a regular feature of our existence. Topics may include (but are not limited to):
· Pandemics and the state of democracy
· Relationship between pandemics and democracy
· Suspension of political rights during pandemics
· The state of democracy in the aftermath of lockdowns
· How pandemics (of the sort of Covid-19) undermine democratic gains
· Future pandemics and democracy
· The future of democracy under pandemics
· Science of pandemics and democracy
Interested contributors should take note of the following important points:
· Interested authors should submit a 150-word abstract (MS Word format) on or before 22 April 2021 to jo...@domuni.eu
· Abstract review decisions would be communicated to the Authors on or before the 15th of May 2021.
· The full paper must NOT be longer than 8000 words.
· The deadline for submission of the full paper is 22 September 2021, after which the review process would immediately begin.
This special issue would be guest-edited by Dr Aribiah David AttoeMember, The Conversational School of Philosophy, Calabar, Nigeria