The African metropolis represents one of the most challenging and important spaces of our time. Insight on African cities has driven some of the most innovative and provocative recent scholarly debates considering development, the nature of citizenship, and the postcolonial urban condition. In contrast with a familiar, sometimes apocalyptic reading of "failed" African cities which characterizes them as dysfunctional, chaotic and decaying, there is a burgeoning scholarship which explores the way that African cities actually work and the very orderly, dynamic, and creative processes which animate them. This is part of a larger literature emphasizing the need to incorporate African political systems into more cosmopolitan urban and development theories. In line with this larger enterprise, this conference highlights research at the cutting edge of African studies seeking to re-conceptualize the nature and contours of citizenship in African cities. It advances budding scholarship re-framing urban citizenship through showcasing emergent and historic practices through which urban Africans enact and reconfigure their cities, while asking some hard questions about the implications of these strategies and their limits.

Panels include: The Arts of Representation, The Politics of Infrastructure, Environment and Public Health Discourses, Sacred Cities, Community/Membership/Belonging.

Panelists include: Hannah Appel, Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga, Ndiouga Benga, Emily Brownell, Andy Clarno, Catherine Cole, Claire Laurier Decoteau, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Thomas Fouquet, Rosalind Fredericks, Rudolph Gaudio, Peter Geschiere, Joanna Grabski, Cheikh Guèye, Christine Ludl, Mokena Makeka, Gregory Mann, Ruth Marshall, Mohamed Mbodj, Mike McGovern, Ramah McKay, Martin Murray, Garth Myers, Kenda Mutongi, Abdoulaye Niang, Juan Obarrio, Giles Omezi, Adedamola Osinulu, Jinny Prais, Leslie Rabine, Michael Ralph, Edward Ramsamy, Ciraj Rassool, Allen Roberts, Janet Roitman, Eric Ross, David Simon, Abdoumaliq Simone, Antina von Schnitzler, and Mabel Wilson. Convened by Mamadou Diouf (Columbia University) and Rosalind Fredericks
(Columbia/NYU).

Co-sponsors:
Department of Anthropology * Gallatin School of Individualized Study, NYU * Global Health Initiative * Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation * Institute for African Studies * Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life * MESAAS (Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies) * School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.