In the spring of 2009, the Harvard African Language Program (ALP) convened a meeting at which the African Languages in the Disciplines (ALD) Consortium was formed. In attendance were the faculty of the African Language programs of Boston University, Brown University, and Northeastern University. The Consortium aims to hold annual meetings to engage scholars and African heritage communities in New England and nationally in serious discussion about the contributions of African languages to the disciplines. We hope that you will join us for the Consortium’s inaugural conference on April 22 and 23, 2010.

Indigenous African languages are vital to comprehending how sub-Saharan Africans understand, organize, and transmit essential knowledge to successive generations, both through oral and written traditions and through aesthetic practices. Additionally, African languages serve as road maps for identifying how social, political, and economic institutions and processes develop, from kinship structures, trade networks, and the law, to medical, educational, and agricultural sectors.

This conference aims to bring together a diverse range of scholars across a variety of disciplines. Possible themes include, but are not limited to, the role of African languages in the study of literature, music, film, performance, visual arts, media studies, history, philosophy, religion, anthropology, sociology, gender studies, political science, psychology, economics, education, geography, environmental science, legal studies, and public health.

Please apply online via our website at www.alp.fas.harvard.edu by March 19, 2010. We ask for a 250-word abstract outlining either a 10- or 20-minute presentation as well a brief biography.

This conference is sponsored by the Harvard Committee on African Studies and the Harvard African Language Program under the auspices of the Department of African and African American Studies.

Please contact the conference organizers with any questions at alp@fas.harvard.edu.