[Commlist] CFP: 2025 SANORD Conference at Aarhus University

Call for Papers: SANORD 2025 Conference on the Theme: Knowledge 
Economies in a Changing World



From August 13-15, 2025, Aarhus University in Denmark will host the 
2025 Southern African-Nordic Centre (SANORD) Conference under the theme 
"Knowledge Economies in a Changing World." In this regard, we invite 
members of ECREA to submit abstracts for consideration in the following 
two panels:



Creative Economies in Africa: Platforms, Frameworks and Impacts

Despite the rapid growth of Africa's creative economy over the past two 
decades, reliable data and academic research on the continent's creative 
economy remain scarce. To address this gap, the Cluster of Research 
Excellence (CoRE) on Creative Economies in Africa invites original 
theoretical or empirical submissions that examine the evolving roles of 
creative economies in Africa.

This SANORD 2025 panel welcomes submissions that explore any of the 
following topics within a specific creative sector or region in Africa:
-	Trends and market structures in traditional sectors (e.g., theatre, 
music, fine art, crafts) and emerging industries (e.g., online gaming, 
fashion, graphic design).

-	The impact of digital platforms and technologies, including AI, on 
Africa's creative economy.

-	Funding, investment, innovation, and collaboration patterns within 
Africa's creative economy.

-	Working conditions and gender dynamics in Africa's creative industries.

-	Legal and regulatory challenges facing Africa's creative economy.

-	The role of the creative economy in shaping Africa's global cultural 
influence.

-	The contribution of higher education to the growth of Africa's 
creative economy.

-	The creative economy's role in advancing Africa's Sustainable 
Development Goals.





Decolonial Technology Design

Developments of technology design (AI, wireless networks, crypto 
currencies, and much more), are typically understood and studied as a 
Western/Northern phenomenon - designed, through particular perceptions 
of 'intelligence', 'smartness', 'openness', 'usability', and 'growth'. 
Little attention has been given to how advanced digital technologies and 
systems are developed, perceived, used, infrastructured, designed, 
regulated, critiqued, or in other ways practiced the global south(s).
The promotion of Western epistemologies, one-size-fits-all technologies, 
and the transferability of design methods to diverse contexts, continues 
to suggest the idea of universality of design. Yet, contemporary 
challenges of social injustice, economic inequality, political 
instability, and ecological crisis pertaining to worldwide concerns, 
urge the design and tech communities to address aspects of power, 
equity, inclusion, and decoloniality in technology design research and 
practices. Through two hybrid and interactive sessions, this SANORD 2025 
panel will offer critical theoretical and methodological reflections on 
the position of social, participatory research and cases in diverse 
global contexts, to advance decolonising design practices for digital 
emerging technologies. The panel invites submissions that address how 
technological development relates to the formation of decolonial futures 
through critical engagement with core concerns of:

-	What are state-of-the-art examples of decolonizing practices and 
epistemologies in and for contemporary technology design?

-	How are theoretical discourses of decoloniality and responsibility 
integrated into concrete practices, policies, methodologies, and modes 
of knowledge production in research and technology design in and across 
global south(s) and global north(s)?





Please submit your abstract of no more than 250 words by 1 March 2025 at 
the latest. No payment from the authors will be required.


For more information about the 2025 SANORD Conference and how to submit 
your abstract, please visit: https://conferences.au.dk/sanord2025

For all questions, please write to: (sanord2025 /at/ cas.au.dk)


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