Colleague:  I thought that some of you might be interested in or know others who might be interested in a one day conference/workshop that I am helping to organize at Oxford on May 23rd on Drugs and Alcohol in Africa.  I am attaching a copy of a flyer for the program and a draft agenda.  I am also including the flyer text in this message.  Best. Chuck Ambler, St. Antony's College, Oxford/UTEP

African Studies Centre
University of Oxford

Drugs and Alcohol in Africa: 

Production, Distribution, Consumption & Control

A One-day Workshop
23 May 2006, Nissan Theatre, 
St. Antony’s College

Africa has recently emerged as a focus of the global ‘war on drugs’: international and local drugs control agencies and others warn of a growing role for the continent as a transit point for cocaine and heroin, while also lamenting the prevalence of drugs and alcohol commerce and use within the continent, especially among youth.  Drugs and alcohol are increasingly tied to broader economic and public health issues including unemployment, criminality, family disintegration, and HIV infection.

The one-day workshop will draw together scholars in both alcohol and drugs studies who will explore the contemporary alarm from historical, social scientific, behavioural science and policy perspectives.

The keynote talk on “Alcoholism and Narcotics Use:  Changing Perspectives on Mental Illness in Africa,” will be provided by Emmanuel Akyeampong, Professor of History at Harvard University and author of  Drink, Power and Cultural Change:  A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana (1996) and ‘Diaspora and Drug Trafficking in West Africa’ (2005).  

Presenters include: Justin Willis (Durham); Susan Beckerleg (London); Deborah Bryceson (Leiden); Terence Ranger (Oxford); Laurent Laniel (Paris); Neil Carrier (Oxford); Henry Bernstein (SOAS); Charles Ambler (Texas); Gernot Klantschnig (Oxford); Axel Klein (Kent); David Anderson (Oxford) and Stephen Ellis (Leiden).  

The workshop is open to all, but we ask that you contact us in advance to let us know you plan to attend.  To attend and for more information contact [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]