5th Annual Lagos Studies Association Conference
Theme: Postcolonial African Cities at 60: Continuities and Discontinuities
LSA 2020 Canceled
Dear LSA Community:
I write to you today with the devastating, but by now inevitable news that the Lagos Studies Association Conference scheduled to hold between June 25 and 27, 2020 has been canceled.
Our association was founded in 2017 and we have a remarkable track record of holding a conference every single year since then. This year, 2020, was meant to be our 5th conference and our 4th at the University of Lagos. During these years we have grown to become one of the most exciting conferences in the international academic calendar, with scholars from across the globe interested in knowing the recipe of our success and wanting to take part.
Our success is, we know, due to the energy and brilliance of our members and the strength of our collegial and friendship networks. We have invested in mentoring schemes, we collaborate with journal editors and we have a commitment to the professional development of younger scholars. These activities carry on throughout the year, as members work hard on getting publications ready to submit to journals. All of this work will continue.
One of the features of LSA that makes our community so vibrant is the conference’s ability to attract scholars from outside Nigeria. Given the fact that Nigeria is unlikely to issue any visas due to the global pandemic, and that international travel is severely curtailed or non-existent, it would not be possible for us to organize a conference in this spirit for 2020. We have therefore taken the difficult decision to break with our annual pattern and to hold our next conference in 2021.
We thank members who have paid their annual fees, we thank those who have shown their commitment to LSA to take out life memberships, and we thank those of you who have paid your conference registration. We shall come up with ways of continuing the work of the LSA over the next year. Some ideas we have include organizing reading groups, more mentoring opportunities, WhatsApp or Skype discussions, through departmental seminars, through occasional on-line lectures and through the continued work of the Publications Committee.
We shall not, sadly, gather together this year in the MTN foyer and enjoy the familiar sociality of the LSA. But as an association we remain connected, and we remain committed to each other. Anyone who has had a paper accepted this year will have an automatic acceptance for 2021, and we encourage all participants to refine and work on their papers. Panel organizers will be in touch to provide resources and to arrange discussion. There is a lot we can do, because of our strong networks and the commitment of senior scholars.
Please be careful and stay safe.
Sincerely,
Saheed Aderinto
LSA President
- Promoting cutting-edge scholarship and access to key debates in Lagos studies.
- Forming sustained cross-disciplinary conversations among scholars who are working on Lagos from different topical and methodological standpoints.
- Encouraging sustained intellectual exchanges between scholarly theorizations of issues in Lagos studies and the work of non-academic practitioners working in related fields.
- Facilitating exchanges between scholars and practitioners to deepen the rigor of contemporary scholarship on Lagos.
- Encouraging the network of scholars and practitioners through our annual conference and other avenues such as workshops, seminars, and roundtables.
- Through professionalization workshops for graduate students, shape and support the development of emerging scholars.
- Collaborating with institutions and similar associations across the world to promote the study of cities through conferences, seminars, symposia, and other professional avenues.
- Aiding research of members by awarding research and travel grants.
- Publishing a yearly electronic Bulletin/Newsletter highlighting the works of academic and non-academic practitioners of Lagos.
