Bids for 2025 and 2027 ISOLA conferences

NOTICE – February 6 2024

The EC is pleased to announce that bids for the 2025 and 2027 ISOLA conferences are now closed.

The conference will be held at University of Abuja, Abuja, Nigeria in 2025.

The conference will be held at University Ibn Zohr, Agadir, Morocco in 2027 (to be confirmed).

NOTICE – November 18 2023

As advised during the Business meeting at the Paris conference in July 2023, the Executive Council reached out to our contacts in different regions of the continent, asking them to submit bids for the 2025 conference.

The EC is pleased to inform you that we have received 2 bids for the 2025 conference.

We encourage everyone to read both bids thoroughly within the next 2 weeks.

Thereafter, registered members will have the opportunity to vote on each of the bids. If both bids are acceptable to members, the EC will assign one as the host for 2025, and the second as the host for 2027.

Tunde Akyniemi
President, ISOLA
Gainesville, US

The Executive Council of the International Society for the Oral Literatures of Africa (ISOLA) hereby calls for bids for the hosting of the 15th and 16th conferences of the Society to be held in 2025 and 2027, respectively.

Previous conferences were held in London, UK (1991); Legon, Ghana (1995); Cape Town, South Africa (1998); Chambéry, France (2002); Banjul, The Gambia (2004); St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago (2006); Lecce, Italy (2008); Mombasa, Kenya (2010); Thohoyandou, South Africa (2012); Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (2014); Gainesville, USA (2016); Ibadan, Nigeria (July, 2018); Nairobi, Kenya (July, 2021); Paris, France (2023).

Cécile Leguy
President, ISOLA
Paris, France

1. The bid brief:

Institutions interested in hosting the 2025 and 2027 conferences should forward a bid document expressing their interest in which they give

a. background information of the bidding institution(s);

b. indicate the capacity of the institution(s) to host an academic conference of between 100 to 150 participants;

c. an indication of the preferable conference dates;

d. background information on the host city and its climate;

e. an indication of how they intend funding the conference. (A detailed schedule should include the travel and accommodation costs for two keynote speakers, clerical student assistance for six (6) months before the conference; internet support and telecommunications costs; subsidy for printing costs.)

2. The bid selection process:

a. Wednesday, 7 July 2021: Due date for the submission of bids.

b. Individual ISOLA members will be invited to express themselves on the competing bids (via the ISOLA listserv)

c. Bidding institutions or their representatives will make their pitches (allowance: 10 minutes each) at the General Council meeting to be held during the 13th ISOLA conference (Nairobi, Kenya).

d. Tuesday, 31 August 2021: Final decisions on the 2025 & 2027 host institutions.

3. Submission of bid document:

Detailed bids should be e-mailed to:

a. the Secretary of ISOLA, Rose Opondo (rosopondo@gmail.com);

b. the President, Cécile Leguy (cecile.leguy@gmail.com);

c. the Vice-President and conference committee chairperson, Akintunde Akinyemi (akinyemi@ufl.edu )

PLEASE NOTE:

• Please indicate clearly for which conference you are bidding.

• In September 2021 the Executive Council will negotiate a comprehensive agreement with the winning bidding institution for 2025.

• ALL bid documents should be made available in both English and French.