The Department of Creative Arts at the University of Lagos, Nigeria and the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths research programme at Rhodes University, South Africa will host a eight day publishing workshop in Lagos, Nigeria from 1 - 8 November 2019.

We invite applications from scholarly writers in the visual and performing arts of Africa who are currently based on the African continent. Successful applicants will be provided with transport and accommodation for the workshop, and will have access to academic and editorial support.

Approximately eight funded presenters will be selected. 

Background and goals of the workshop: 

PROSPA (Publishing and Research of the South: Positioning Africa) is a Mellon programme run by the Arts of Africa and the Global South research team at Rhodes University, and is linked to the Africa- based editorial consortium partnership of the MIT Press journal, African Arts. The latest issue of African Arts (Summer 2019, 52:2) is the third to be published by the Rhodes University consortium* partner, and the core goal of the Rhodes editorial board is to increase the participation of scholars based on the African continent. See https://www.mitpressjournals.org/aa for our issues (50:2, 51:2 and 52:2).

These annual publishing workshops bring together Africa-based scholars working in the visual arts who seek to: (1) share information about scholarly publishing in a collaborative environment and (2) contribute towards raising the visibility of Africa-based scholars in the global academy. Selected participants will present article drafts at the workshop, and together we will prepare articles for submission to African Arts and/or other suitable scholarly journals.

Who is eligible to participate? 

1. Scholars in the field of the arts of Africa who have relevant original material that has not yet been
2. Scholarly writers based on the African continent who aim to publish their work in English in relevant academic journals. Please note that the focus is on scholarly writing rather than writing for newspapers, blogs, or popular
3. Experienced authors as well as scholars aiming to publish for the first time will be considered. No formal institutional affiliation is
4. Please note that scholars who have participated before in the PROSPA Publishing workshops are not eligible to

Applicants need to commit to the entire process, which includes: 

1. Submission of abstract and application material by 30 August 2019
2. If application is successful, submission of an article draft (about 6000 words) by 30 September 2019. (Please note that workshop participation is dependent on full draft submission).
3. Participation in the entire workshop, which includes providing feedback on other
4. Resubmission of revised article by 30 January 2020 for editorial support
5. Submission of final paper, copyright permission and images by 30 May 2020. (The format of images and copyright permission will be discussed at the workshop).

Application process: 

Deadline for application: 30 August 2019

Please send the following documents to Shirley Kabwato (s.kabwato@ru.ac.za):

1. A current
2. A 300 to 400 word abstract for an article suitable for African Arts or another relevant scholarly journal. Please state which journal you aim to publish in, and familiarize yourself with that journal.
3. A short statement about past publishing experience and future publishing
4. Current residential address and copy of your passport.
5. Current institutional affiliation if applicable 

For further information please contact Prof Ruth Simbao (r.simbao@ru.ac.za) or Dr Ganiyu Jimoh (jganiyu@unilag.edu.ng) 

Please note that while the workshop aims to support authors in the process of preparing for publication, participation in the workshop does not guarantee publication and all submissions will be peer-reviewed.

Previous workshops took place in Kampala, Uganda (in collaboration with Makerere University) and Makhanda, South Africa (in collaboration with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology). See /artpowa/publishingworkshops/. 

Photo: 2018 PROSPA publishing workshop at Rhodes University in collaboration with Kwame Nkrumah Univeristy of Science and Technology. Makhanda, South Africa.

* Current Rhodes University consortium board members are Ruth Simbao, Angelo Kakande, Emi Koide, Rachel Baasch and Stephen Folaranmi.