One of the challenges confronting the world of social research today is engaging in research practice that balances the response to global crisis without losing local relevance or vice-versa. This is despite the fact that there is always a connection between global and local challenges. Hence, there is a need for research practices that respond to global developments using the lenses of local challenges. For example, the Russian-Ukraine War and the Israel-Palestine conflict in the Middle East, among other events within the modern world today, have shown that global events can adversely affect local developments in ways that were never predicted. The theme for the 2024 Department of Anthropology and Development Studies International Conference at the University of Zululand is Decolonizing Research Practice for
Global and Local Challenges in the 21st Century. 

The theme is inspired by the quest to make research practice in social sciences and humanities such as Development Studies and Anthropology, among others, engage in endeavors that balance global and local relevance. Several global-local endeavours such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Agenda 2063, and the National Development Plan
(NDP) have sought to harmonise and mainstream the priorities that solve contemporary challenges. The Department of Anthropology and Development Studies, therefore, invites academic papers and poster presentations on several sub-themes related to decolonizing research practice for solving local and global challenges. We have listed several themes that researchers may wish to consider for their participation in the conference, but the participants are free to engage in any topical issues of either an international nature or local significance.

In this call for papers, we seek individual and panel contributions that speak to African thought on the subject of decolonizing research. By African thought, we mean centering on African thinking patterns, experiences, knowledge, ways of knowing, and identities in matters of decolonizing research, methods, practice, and knowledge production in general. The idea is to stimulate a serious conversation among African scholars, intellectuals and progressive Africanists on the contentious and emotive subject of decolonizing research practice for global and local challenges within modern/colonial university institutions, sharing ideas on prospects and challenges. We welcome contributions from senior scholars,
mid-career, junior scholars, community-based partners (NGOs, CBOs, Civil Society organisations, etc.), private sector, government entities and postgraduate students from different disciplinary backgrounds,
including those from interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary transdisciplinary non-disciplinary, and postdisciplinary backgrounds.
The following is a list of themes that contributors may wish to consider and/or expand on in their
submissions:

• African histories and experiences of decolonizing university research administration
• African histories and experiences of decolonizing university research ethics
• Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
• Prospects and Challenges in decolonizing views on plagiarism
• African intellectuals in decolonizing knowledge production
• Afrocentric approaches to decolonizing research
• Theories of the Global South in research and community engagement
• Africanization of knowledge, research, and community engagement
• Politics of knowledge in decolonizing knowledge production
• Indigenous knowledge in knowledge production and practice
• African identities in knowledge production and community engagement
• The role of African diaspora in decolonizing knowledge production
• The role of African institutions in decolonizing research practice
• Decolonising the tools of analyzing knowledge on international crises
• Liberation history and decolonisation
• The contribution of Black Radical Tradition to decolonising knowledge production
• The role of African activism in decolonizing knowledge production and practice
• The question of gender in the decolonization of knowledge
• Language in decolonizing knowledge production
• University experiences in decolonizing language policies
• Blackness and black epistemologies in decolonizing knowledge production
• Science and technology in decolonizing knowledge production
• Student movements in decolonizing knowledge production
• Reflections on student experiences in engaging knowledge in higher education
• Decolonizing global and local research funding
• The legacy of African knowledge production institutions/organizations
• Decolonial reflections on SDGs, Agenda 2063, and the NDPs’ roles and contributions to solving global and local challenges in the 21st century

The above list is not exhaustive and as such, contributors can come up with other themes of their own as long as they are within the remit of decolonizing research practice for global and local challenges in the 21st Century. A selected number of papers will be published in accredited journals, edited books and conference proceeding