Extension - CFA: Student conference on exploring situatedness in approaches to philosophy in Europe and Southern Africa

[Nine-Marie Van Veijeren]

Dear colleagues

Please share this opportunity with your students: we have issued an extension for the abstract submission for our Student conference on exploring situatedness in approaches to philosophy in Europe and Southern Africa

The purpose of this conference is to give our own students the opportunity to present their work and to receive feedback from their colleagues and from fellow student philosophers from institutions across the globe. The theme of situatedness will be pervasive throughout our discussions as we approach the different papers from our different social locations. It is thus not necessary that situatedness be an explicit topic of your presentation. If you have any questions regarding the suitability of your work for the conference, please reach out. 

 

Call for abstracts:

Student conference on exploring situatedness in approaches to philosophy in Europe and Southern Africa

Hosted by Stellenbosch University, The University of the Western Cape, and University of Groningen

29-31 January 2026

Hosted at Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

Keynotes: TBC

Speaking about situatedness calls upon us to reckon with our assumptions that are forged in our social, political, and cultural contexts. While work on situatedness is most prevalent in the sub-fields of the philosophy of race, feminism, and intersectionality, authors often seek to demonstrate the importance of thinking about situatedness for us all. In almost all corners of the academic philosophical world, we have seen an increased contemplation about how situatedness influences the way we philosophise and what we choose to philosophise about. It follows that conversations between scholars in different contexts can allow us to unpack assumptions which may be informing our philosophical work across a range of sub-fields.

We hope to further the conversation on situatedness and contextual values by highlighting some of the assumptions that fade into the background of dominant Western approaches and which perhaps go unconsidered. This involves considering the role of Western universalism in informing what counts as valid knowledge. We also seek to question the applicability and usefulness of Western-dominant assumptions in Southern African (and other) contexts, where histories of struggle make a more radical approach to issues of race, gender, and sexuality are more appealing. Finally, we wish to consider the possibility of a more equal exchange in the theoretical foundations of these seemingly divergent approaches.

From these considerations, a number of questions emerge, including: Are Western approaches to philosophy truly helpful in Southern African contexts? Could European approaches be strengthened by including African lenses in areas such as epistemology, political philosophy, and ethics? Or is the effect of our contextually determined values on our philosophy exaggerated, undermining universally valuable insights made within a Western framework?

The topic thus invites contributions from a broad theoretical range, and we encourage submissions from all subdisciplines, including, but not limited to:

• Social and political theory
• Decolonialism, anti-colonialism, and post-colonialism
• Philosophy on public discourse, including philosophy of argumentation
• Critical theory,  feminist theory, race theory, and black radical thought
• Social epistemology – in particular work relating to epistemic injustice and ignorance
• African and Africana philosophy
• Phenomenological and existential questions relating to political and social existence

The aim of this conference is to share perspectives between young academics from across the world to aid us in understanding the assumptions that come with our geographical context, and the impact that our situatedness has on our philosophy, social theories, and our approaches to social change. By inviting our European partners into a Southern African conversation, we hope to collectively think through the assumptions that may arise from our respective contexts.

Please submit a 300-word abstract to: situated...@gmail.com by 29 September 2025