Africa Academy of Management

January 22, 2022

Dear AFAM Family,

Dr. David Baniyelme Zoogah

I want to take the opportunity of this newsletter to share with you some critical information. But, before that, let me plead with you to keep yourself safe and healthy. As we all matter to each other; the first substantial piece of information is that our submission system for the 2023 Biennial Conference in Cairo, Egypt, is open. As you may have received the notice, the deadline for submission was extended to June 30. So, I hope it offers more time for you to prepare your submissions. It has been a long time since we met as a family. The face-to-face conference in Cairo, Egypt, the land of the pyramids, will be an excellent place for us to reflect on African Management Theory. The theme, Management Praxis in the African Context: Sustainability, Responsibility, and Ethics, seems fitting in this period of grand challenges, apparent irresponsibility, and relatively heightened unethicality. As indicated in my January letter and specified in the call for papers, scholarly, practitioner, professional development, and caucuses submissions are all welcome. So, please encourage all your friends and networks to participate in the conference and join AFAM.

The second piece of information is that the Executive of AFAM voted to ‘return’ to our even year conferences by having our 2024 Conference in Stellenbosch University. Stellenbosch hosted our 2021 conference and, consistent with our tradition, was voted by the Executive Team to host the 2024 biennial conference. We have begun discussions with Stellenbosch for a meaningful forum. The executive team would be delighted to have you involved in the forum more actively.

Third, we are soliciting institutional hosts for our 2026 biennial conference. An announcement to that effect will soon be distributed by the subcommittee responsible for that. We hope your school will consider hosting this conference, mainly if you are in Eastern or Central Africa. As you know, AFAM has the tradition of moving around the continent unless we encounter constraints. 

On behalf of the executive team of AFAM, thank you for your membership and participation in our activities. We can’t wait to be with you in Cairo, Egypt, come January 2023.

Yours truly,

    
     Baniyelme D. Zoogah, PhD
     President, Africa Academy of Management (AFAM) 

In this Address, I reflect on the journey of AFAM with regard to its past, present and future. As a new scholarly community, AFAM is called to the sacred society. Its future therefore should be based on the use of the legitimacy associated with that calling to enact its strategic role – facilitating transformation of African societies – by assuming the paramount duty of parrhesia. As a parrhesiatic organization, AFAM has to engage in value-creating practices through its discourses so that it can endow Africans with the right and ability to speak. These value-creating practices are means by which AFAM moves beyond its sacredness to the secular context of Africa. Unlike other scholarly communities, AFAM does not have the luxury of not ‘unliving’ the African challenge; it has a sacred duty to help provide a different and new living to Africans than the one they are currently experiencing.

Read more: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23322373.2019.1616987