BICAID 2025: Africa at the Crossroads of Global Politics

The University of Georgia African Studies Institute presents the Ninth Biennial International Conference on Africa and its Diaspora, or BICAID 2025, Nov. 5 – 7, 2025 in the Tate Student Center. 

The theme of this year’s conference is, “Africa at the Crossroads of Global Politics: Indigenous Knowledge, Youth Agency, and Diaspora Partnerships.” The three-day international conference is being held in a hybrid format with registered participants for the conference expected from across the US, Europe, the Americas, and Africa (including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe). 

Featured plenary speakers at the international conference will include Esther Lisanza, professor of African Studies at Howard University, Washington, DC; Bhekuyise Zungu, lecturer in the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa; Emmanuel Okoro, Professor of Medicine, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, Helene Banoun, Pharmacist and Biologist (Retired), French Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), Paris, France; and Nehemiah A. Ikoba, Senior Lecturer in Statistics at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. 

BICAID 2025 conference builds upon two major exploratory elements, including a reflection on the deliberations and published findings surrounding the subjects of the past eight international conferences, and recent scholarly engagements by members and affiliates of the University of Georgia African Studies Institute (UGA–ASI) concerning five key Afrocentric topics: the significance of Africa’s ascending youth demographic (over 60% under age 25), the impactful remittances and return migrations from Africa’s Diaspora populations, the role of African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS) in policy, education, sustainability, and wellness on the African continent and its Diaspora, Africa’s entanglement in global crises and its potential leadership role, and Africa’s position in relation to shifting Western foreign policy and global governance norms.

“Africa is not merely reacting to global politics—it is redefining it. Through the strength of our indigenous knowledge and the creativity of our youth, Africa is shaping a new global dialogue rooted in dignity, reciprocity, and shared futures” said David Olali, Assistant Director and Academic Professional Associate in the African Studies Institute, and this year’s conference co-convener. “Hopefully, the outcomes of the 9^th BICAID result in reconsiderations on the significance of indigenous knowledge systems, youth agency in Africa as well as forging, exploring, and converting diaspora-based opportunities for the reclamation of Afrocentric heritage praxes in the areas of community peacebuilding, and sustainable global governance, to further strengthen collaborative research and policy engagements across continents.”

Lisanza, the keynote speaker, is an assistant professor of African Studies in the department of African Studies, Howard University, Vice President and President Elect of African Languages Teachers Association and Immediate Past President of the Southeastern African Languages and Literature Forum will deliver the keynote address, “Intergenerational Transmission of African Indigenous Knowledge and Languages” on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 8am in the Tate Center Theater. The opening ceremony will feature institute directors and administrators from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the University. The conference lead panel on the topic, “Why Are Countries in Africa not following Africa CDC’s Research on COVID-19 Vaccination in the Post-Pandemic Era?” will be on Friday, November 7, 2025 at 8:30am in 141 Tate Center. The panel will feature two University of Ilorin, Nigeria faculty members, Professor Emmanuel Okoro, and Dr. Nehmiah A. Ikoba, and Dr. Helene Banoun, Institut Gustave Roussy, France. 

The conference lead paper will be presented by Dr. Bhekuyise Zungu, Studies in Education lecturer in the School of Education, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. A UGA Early College of Education Alum, he will be speaking on the topic, “Decolonizing Teacher Education: Habitus and Capital in the Professional Learning of Student Teachers in South Africa” on Friday, November 7 at 2:00pm in Room 141 Tate Center.  

“In the current era marked by dynamic global power shifts, Africa stands at a historic junction where it must navigate urgent political, economic, cultural, and environmental conjunctions. BICAID 2025 is an opportunity for Africanist scholars to explore Africa's ascending role in global politics, the transformational power of its youth population, the resilient knowledge embedded in its indigenous traditions, and the strategic interventions of its diaspora communities” said Akinloye Ojo, professor in the department of comparative literature and Intercultural Studies in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and Director of the African Studies Institute. "Enthusiastically, this international conference will continue the established tradition of intensive exchanges between scholars, researchers and technocrats working on the continent, in the African Diaspora and the rest of the World." 

BICAID 2025 is made possible by support from the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, the Office of Global Engagement, School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute, Institute for African American Studies, Institute of Women’s and Gender Studies, Department of Anthropology, Department of Communication Studies, Department of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies, and Department of History.

Damilola Adebonojo, PhD candidate in the department of Comparative Literature and Intercultural Studies is the BICAID 2025 conference Coordinator. 

Registration is open and free for UGA students, faculty and staff.  For more information, see https://asi.uga.edu/bicaid2025

Image: Keynote speaker Esther Lisanza, professor of African Studies at Howard University