"The Forgotten Pan-Africanism: Re-Mapping North Africa onto the Pan-African World"

The conference will be held from June 23–25, 2026, at the Faculty of Languages, Arts, and Humanities at Ibn Zohr University in Ait Melloul, Agadir, Morocco.

A Conference organized by the Center for Maghrib Studies at Arizona State University and
Culture, Language, Arts, and Society Laboratory of Research (CLAS), and
hosted by University Ibn Zohr (Agadir, Morocco)

Sponsored by Stanford University, the office of the Dean of Humanities at Arizona State
University, The Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS), and Ibn Zohr University

Coordinated by:
Chouki El Hamel and Curtis Austin (Arizona State University)
Vaugh Rasberry (Stanford University)
Mounir Sanhaji (Ibn Zohr University)

Scholars have long acknowledged that, during the 1960s and 1970s, North Atlantic conceptions of Pan-Africanism gained traction in southern Africa, particularly through the Black Consciousness movement led by Steve Biko. However, what has been less thoroughly examined is how these North Atlantic Pan-Africanist ideas also resonated on the northern shores of the continent. Pan-Africanists transcended religious identities, including the Christian origins of the movement, to forge solidarity based on a shared notion of Africanity, one that empowered collective advancement for people of African descent. This conference seeks to integrate North Africa more fully into the broader historical narrative of Pan-Africanism. By examining the diverse intellectual and cultural exchanges of the mid-twentieth century, we will explore how trans-Atlantic intellectuals of African descent engaged with and shaped North African perspectives on Pan-Africanism.
Pan-Africanism, as a multifaceted solidarity movement, is rooted in ideals of African autonomy and the dignity of African peoples. The concept of "Black Power," for instance, originally emerged to signify freedom and development for both African Americans and broader Pan-African communities. Among its key objectives were cultural revivalism and fostering dialogue across the African diaspora. This conference aims to uncover overlooked dimensions of Black Power in North Africa by tracing its intellectual genealogies and challenging the epistemological and pedagogical constraints within traditional African diaspora studies. Additionally, we intend to establish a local research cluster on this theme as a foundational step leading up to the conference.
This conference builds on the traditions of Pan-Africanism initiated on the African continent by leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere, as well as within the global diaspora by intellectuals such as W. E. B. and Shirley Graham Du Bois, C. L. R. James, George Padmore, and members of the Black Panthers, among many others. It focuses on the understudied role of North Africa to challenge the longstanding, racialized bifurcation of the continent into "Black Africa" and "Arab Africa," a division that continues to dominate scholarly and mainstream discourse. In this way, the conference aspires to heal the divisions fomented by this false binary.
This conference is structured around key themes designed to explore Pan-Africanism’s intellectual, cultural, and political dimensions. We welcome contributions both within and beyond these themes to encourage context-specific discussions:

• Historical Foundations of Pan-Africanism: Roots, Ideologies, and Contradictions
• Cultural Pan-Africanism: Aesthetics of Resistance
• Global Marronage: Freedom Beyond Borders
• Political Pan-Africanism: Power, Policy, and Unfinished Battles
• Intersectional Identities and Layered Liberation: Pan-African Perspectives.

Panel Format: 25-minute presentations, with immediate 10 minutes of discussion, a 15- minute break after the second presentation and discussion, and a 30-minute group discussion at the end of the three presentations. So, each panel is 2 hours & 30 minutes, including the 15-minute break.

We invite scholars, researchers, and practitioners to submit abstracts of their work relevant to the conference theme and objectives.

Please submit an abstract (300 words) and a brief academic biography (100 words) to panafricanism.renaissance@gmail.com by October 30, 2025. The selection committee will meet by the end of October, and applicants will receive notification of their decision by mid-November.

In keeping with our tradition, lodging and meals will be provided for all participants. Participants are, however, responsible for their own travel expenses.
N.B, we plan to publish a selection of the proceedings with a reputable academic press.