Africa Specialty Group - AAG

Dear esteemed colleagues, we trust you are doing well. The ASG is still collecting news over the past year from our wonderful Africa Specialty Group members for the annual newsletter – please consider submitting awards, travel, and other pertinent news to Pearl ([email protected]) or Matthew ([email protected]) to be featured in the newsletter.

Photos, bios, updates, promotions, awards, travel - all are welcome! Please consider submitting a photo with your submissions. We look forward to seeing everybody in Hawai'i!

Pearl & Matthew

A message to our community about the Annual Meeting in Denver

AAG acknowledges the important public health considerations caused by the diffusion of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). We are currently proceeding with our plans for the meeting in Denver as scheduled, working with Denver public health officials and following World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for preparing for large gatherings.

While the media has been awash in alarming stories, we still know little about incidence rate, diffusion, and the risks to those people who contract COVID-19. We have even less knowledge about how the disease will progress in five weeks’ time, when our meeting is scheduled.

The AAG is committed to the health and safety of our participants. We realize how difficult this virus has been on your own planning for the AAG annual meeting, a yearly highlight for many of us. Rest assured that staff are working hard to ensure we have the best available information to inform our decision about the meeting. Up-to-date meeting status and information can be found on the Annual Meeting site. In addition, our cancellation and refund policy can be found here.

In the meantime, we are working on a case-by-case basis with each of our members and participants who have specific travel issues due to the virus. Please submit your request on our Cancellations page here with a description of your circumstances. We appreciate your patience as we respond to the volume of queries and requests.

Signed
Gary M. Langham
David H. Kaplan

My fellow Geographers,

Our one and only journal, the African Geographical Review (AGR), is making more waves. As the editor reported during our last business meeting in DC, people are reading and downloading articles from the AGR like never before. As such, our path to receiving a strong impact factor now appears as smooth as a wine glass! Nonetheless, we must not relent in our promotion effort. Here is the BIG NEWS and what you need to do ASAP:

The NEWS: The AGR now has a twitter account- the handle is .

What should you do? Start following the AGR on twitter immediately. We need to do this as a duty to further promote the journal.

What if you don't have a twitter account? Please borrow one, or sell a textbook to buy one!!! All that matters is that someone is following us on twitter. More seriously though, you can easily create an account if you haven't one, it's free with your computer and keyboard, or your cell phone with internet data. Let's do it guys. Failure to follow the AGR on twitter could potentially get you excommunicated from this learned group (ha ha!).

Lest I forget, many thanks to our dedicated member and past winner of the Florence Margai Student Paper Competition, Michael Strong, who has helped to create the twitter account for us and has also accepted to be our designated AGR social media editor! Many thanks also to the editorial team of Julie Ann Silva and Godwin Arku for their hardwork towards repositioning the AGR.

As long as you are willing to be a faithful follower of AGR on twitter, have a fantastic summer, otherwise, just have a great summer.

Thank You.

The AAG is one week from now. All pumped up for New Orleans 2018?? Please share this page so that other geographers in the Africa Specialty Group (ASG) can connect with us.
Also, please feel free to arrange social events on this page!

See you all in 7...6...5...

2018 Florence Margai Student Paper Competition

Call for Submissions (Deadline; December 30th, 2017)

The Africa Specialty Group (ASG) invites submissions to its Florence Margai Student Paper Competition.

This award, which recognizes scholarship potential by a student, is given in honor of the late Dr. Florence Margai, an excellent teacher, scholar, and mentor, who was an exemplary ASG/AAG member and leader. Florence passed on in January of 2015. She was Associate Dean and Professor of Geography at Binghamton University, NY at the time of her death.

The ASG will award one or more awards of $150 in recognition of outstanding student paper(s) in any area of geography focused on Africa. This award will be presented during the ASG business meeting at the 2018 AAG annual meeting in New Orleans. Winner(s) will also have the opportunity to have their paper(s) considered for publication in the African Geographical Review, the refereed journal published by the African Specialty Group.

Eligibility: This competition is open to full-time students, who are currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at a duly accredited and recognized college, university or other higher educational institution. The paper must be based on original work, conducted by an undergraduate or graduate student, which is to be presented at the 2017 AAG meeting. Preference will be given to single-authored papers. In the case of more than one author the lead author must be a registered undergraduate or graduate student from an accredited college or university and must also be the presenter of the paper. Student participants do not have to be members of the ASG to enter the competition.

Application Requirements: Please include in your application:

An advanced copy of the full paper to be presented at the conference in MS Word or RTF or PDF format;
• A letter requesting consideration for the award and indicating the applicant's present status as a student as well as the following:

(a) Applicant's name,

(b) Address,

(c) School (College),

(d) Current degree sought (i.e., PhD, MA, BA),

(e) Advisor,

(f) Advisor's Phone #

(g) Title of Paper

Submissions: Digital submissions are encouraged. Please submit a complete application with the above items with the "ASG Student Paper Award" as the Subject line.

Please send it as an email attachment by December 30th, 2017 to me ([email protected])

And or,

Andrea Rishworth at [email protected]

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact me or Andrea.

2018 Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar Award in African Geography

Call for Nominations

Fellow Geographers,

The Africa Specialty Group (ASG) is seeking nominations for its Kwadwo Konadu-Agyeman Distinguished Scholar in African Geography Award for the year 2018.

The highest honor bestowed on anyone by the ASG, the Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguished Scholar Award recognizes scholars, whose body of work advances any subfield of geography on the African continent in a significant way. The award recipient will receive a plaque and shall be recognized at three different avenues: the ASG business meeting, the AAG annual awards luncheon, and in the AAG newsletter. The award will be granted to only one individual per calendar year and may not be granted in some years if there is no worthy candidate. This year's award will be presented during the 2018 AAG annual meeting in New Orleans.

Eligibility: While scholarship is the primary criteria for bestowing this award, other factors (such as service to the field, training of students, etc) may also be considered. This award recognizes a career of scholarly achievement, but it could also be awarded to exceptionally productive younger scholars, who have significantly impacted the subfield of African geography. The award recipient need not be a member of the ASG.

Submissions: Nominations (including self-nominations) are welcome. Electronic submission is strongly encouraged. Please provide a curriculum vita for the nominee as well as a nomination statement (1-2 pages maximum) that describes the way(s) the nominee meets the award criteria.

Please send nominations to Joseph Zume ([email protected]) no later than December 30, 2016.

Here is a brief excerpt from the AAG website on Professor Konadu-Agyemang:
Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang, professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Akron, died in 2007 following an extended illness at the age of 52. His professional career included service as an instructor and professor at several colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, and the United States. He joined the University of Akron in 1997 as an assistant professor and earned the rank of full professor in 2006.
Born in Ghana in 1955, Kwadwo completed his BSc in land economy at the University of Science and Technology in Kumasi in 1981. After a short stint in the Government Lands Department in Ghana, he spent two years in Nigeria teaching high school. Kwadwo subsequently moved to Australia where he completed a master's degree in urban planning at Melbourne University in 1987 and a PhD in geography at Monash University in 1991.
Kwadwo's research and publications focused principally on African economic development, urban problems, and population migration. He authored one book, The Political Economy of Housing and Urbanization in Africa (2000), and edited or co-edited three more, IMF and World Bank Programs in Africa: Ghana's Experiences (2001), The New African Diaspora in Community Building and Adaptation (2006), and Africa in the 21st Century: Pertinent Socio-economic Issues (2006). In addition, he authored or co-authored over 30 professional journal articles.

Hi All,

Please remember to upload your pictures to your AAG/ASG profiles. It's always helpful to be able to put a face to the name.

.. And don't forget to hit the 'like' button on the Africa Specialty Group page!

just announced themes for the upcoming conference in New Orleans. Where does your paper best fit?