Notes for Keynote Speakers, Chairs of
Sessions and Presenters
Keynote Speakers:
Three keynote
speakers, eminent individuals who have contributed a great deal
to the development of scholarship in Africa and whose examples
have inspired at least three generations of scholars, have been
lined up for the CODESRIA 30th anniversary
conference. As indicated on the programme, the speakers are:
Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Ali Mazrui, and Ngugi wa Thiongo. Each of the
plenary sessions in which they will be delivering their
addresses will last for a combined total of 90 minutes. Out of
this, they are expected to speak for a maximum of 45 minutes, to
be followed by an interactive session comprising questions,
comments and contributions from the audience of scholars,
diplomats, and students present. Each interactive session is
expected to last 30 minutes. The remaining time will be devoted
to a citation in honour of each keynote speaker and the
presentation of the special award conferring honorary life
membership of CODESRIA on them.
Chairs
of Sessions:
Each session,
plenary and parallel, is chaired by an eminent member of the
African social research community. For those who have been
requested to chair the plenary sessions where the keynote
addresses will be delivered, we request that they note the time
allocation that has been suggested in the preceding paragraph on
“Keynote speakers”. For the chairs of other plenary sessions,
with the exception of the opening and closing ceremonies, we
request that they keep each presentation at 15 minutes in order
to allow for time for discussion and debate. Similarly, for the
chairs of parallel sessions, it should be noted that each
presentation will have to be limited to between 10 and 15
minutes in order to allow time for discussion.
Presenters
of Papers:
None keynote
paper presenters who are listed to speak in the plenary sessions
will have 15 minutes to make their point. For those who are
listed in the parallel sessions, they will be offered 10 minutes
for their presentation. This time allocation is tight – and we
apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused – but it is
the only way that a decent amount of time can be available for
discussion and debate. We are therefore counting strongly on the
cooperation of all presenters, hoping that they will be able to
prepare themselves well in advance to be direct and succinct in
making their arguments. The chairs of the different sessions
have been requested to ensure strict adherence to the time
allocation so that the conference can be interesting for all
participants.
