INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM - THEME: "ESTABLISHMENT OF AN ENDOGENOUS CALENDAR AND CELEBRATION OF THE AFRICAN NEW YEAR: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES OF AFRICAN UNITY, BETWEEN HISTORY AND IDENTITY"

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM - THEME: "Establishment of an Endogenous Calendar and Celebration of the African New Year: Contemporary Challenges of African Unity, between history and identity"

I- CONTEXT AND JUSTIFICATION

In February 2021, at its 34th session of the Assembly of Heads of State and

Government, the African Union declared the decade 2021-2031 the “Decade of African

Roots and Diasporas” (Decision Assembly/AU/Dec.807(XXXIV)). Led by Togo, this

initiative aims to strengthen ties between Africa and its diasporas around shared African

values. Through this decision, the continental organization sought to raise awareness of

the African condition and rehabilitate the continent’s long-overlooked contribution to the

major cycles of human evolution, with a particular focus on heritage, historical injustices,

and the restoration of dignity.

The leadership provided by Togo since the launch of this decade has enabled, among

other things, to carry out numerous activities and initiatives, including the organization of

major, unifying events such as the Pre-congress meetings held in the six (6) regions of

the African Union, high-level events promoting common African causes organized in

London, New York, and Geneva, the promotion of the "Correct the Map" initiative which

led to the adoption by the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African

Union of Decision Ref: Assembly/AU/Dec.959 (XXXIX) adopting the Equal Earth project,

during its 39th session held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 15 and 16, 2026, and

especially the organization of the 9th Pan-African Congress in Lomé, Togo, from

December 8 to 12, 2025. These events have given new impetus to the Pan-African

movement and constituted a crucial step in the quest for sovereignty, dignity, equity, and

respect for Africa.

However, a profound quest for pride and sovereignty also implies rehabilitating and

promoting certain mechanisms and ancestral tools that governed harmony and action in

ancient or pre-colonial African societies (M. Assante, 1991). After the fall and definitive

occupation of ancient Egypt, the course of history and Africa's new upward trajectory

were permanently disrupted by the brutal introduction of raids into the African space (W.

Chancellor, 2018), by mass deportations (L. M. Diop-Maes, 2025; Inikori, 1992) that

dispersed Africa's vital forces both westward (beyond the Atlantic), northward (to

Europe), and eastward (to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond), and by colonization

marked by the abrupt irruption of exogenous cultural standards into the social, economic,

and political governance systems of African societies (J. Maquet, 1962; J. Ki-Zerbo,

1974; T. A. Singleton, 2017; J. Illife, 2002).

This new Africa, emerging from the slave system (1444–1860), which was declared the

greatest crime against humanity on March 25, 2026 by the United Nations General

Assembly, through its resolution A/RES/80/250, and from the colonial system (1830–

1994), remains mired today in a certain cultural, political, and economic syncretism. By

complacently maintaining colonial structures, this syncretism prevents the continent from

decisively rebuilding itself on the foundations of its own identity and its distinctive

otherness.

2Indeed, through their cultural alienation and brutality, these multiple intrusions halted the

otherwise exemplary development of African nations, modified the nature of African

social experience, established new standards and cycles based on arbitrary societal

events, and caused Africa, in all its diversity and complexity, to lose the reference points

that had for millennia shaped its cosmogony, its ontology, and structured its own

organization (A. Césaire, 1956). This is the case with the Gregorian calendar, which, like

borders, was imposed on African nations through colonization. As a reminder, before the

importation of this calendar, Africa was dotted, since antiquity, with various and multiple

systems of time measurement, some based on agricultural cycles, some on celestial or

terrestrial phenomena, and others on the movement of luminous stars, which gave rise to

the attested existence of lunar or solar calendars used almost everywhere on the African

continent.

Ancient Egypt, for example, by observing the relationship between the heliacal rising of

Sothis (Sirius) and the Nile flood, succeeded in defining its 365-day civil solar calendar,

also called the Nilotic calendar, divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus the 5

epagomenal days at the end of the year. This calendar was structured around the

following three seasons: Akhet, or the flood season; Peret, or the sowing season; and

Shemu, or the harvest season (C. A. Diop, 1967; G. Lanners, 2006; F. Chabas, 1870).

But alongside these clearly advanced and more stable systems, we also find on the

continent communities with a more social conception of time, suggesting the idea of a

mythical rather than chronological time (L. V. Thomas, 1961; C. Sakho, 2018). It is this

complex set of experiences of social regulation through time and cycles that colonization

deconstructed.

Thus, like the linear borders that divided the continent and whose legacy is still felt by

many populations and languages today, the imposed new (Gregorian) calendar ignores

the endogenous rhythms and the established natural, cultural, and religious cycles of

African peoples (B. Davidson, 1964). It instituted holidays, dates, and events essentially

foreign to the African cultural and symbolic universe, regardless of the specific African

micro-culture considered. The celebration of these events makes Africa a perpetual

mirror of a world whose codes are unknown to its people and the stage for an intense

inter-civilizational exchange where its identity and particularities are practically

nonexistent. However, the imposition of a calendar is, above all, an instrument of power

and an act of domination. Seemingly innocuous, this calendar shift experienced by Africa

has muted local timekeeping systems and erased from people's daily lives references to

significant events that were once calibrated to controlled cycles. This has resulted in

more pronounced acculturation and a loss of distinct African identity (A. Dogba, 2001), as

people, immersed in a system designed for the Western world, struggle to adapt or

assert themselves.

The Decade of African Roots and Diaspora thus offers an opportunity to decolonize

minds and practices (J.-L. Amselle & S. B. Diagne, 2018; V.-Y. Mudimbe, 2021), in order3to move towards a more Afrocentric approach to the division and organization of time in

the African context.

It paves the way for the rediscovery of endogenous calendar cycles and their associated

major societal events, and for the rehabilitation of an African calendar that will establish

time and calibrate the course of the African universe according to a distinctly African

cosmogony and teleological framework. The prospect of the existence of African

calendars predating the Gregorian calendar currently in use in Africa strongly encourages

further reflection on the process of affirming African identity and on the promotion of the

shared heritage of African peoples worldwide.

In a context where Africa aspires to free itself from the vestiges of colonization and all

other forms of cultural domination, in order to assert itself as an autonomous and self-

referential power, the question arises as to what date could be chosen for the celebration

of the African New Year, similar to that of other peoples of the world such as the

Chinese, Europeans, Israelis, Iranians, and so on, who celebrate their New Year

distinctly. However, this date must necessarily be based on a scientifically developed

calendar that withstands the vagaries of time. It is for all these reasons that the Togolese

Government proposes to organize an international symposium on the theme:

“Establishment of an endogenous calendar and celebration of the African New

Year: contemporary challenges of African unity, between history and identity”.

II- OBJECTIVES OF THE SYMPOSIUM

This symposium has two objectives: to propose an African calendar based on historical

references and landmarks, and to define a date (or dates) for the celebration of the

African New Year.

More specifically, it aims to:

• promote African cultural identity and renaissance;

• review the existence of African calendars other than the Gregorian calendar that are

based on African history, though, culture, and identity;

• assess the relevance of these calendars in the context of the noumenal quest for

African self-referentiality;

• propose a reference calendar and, consequently, a date for the celebration of the

African New Year.

III- PROBLEM STATEMENT AND COMMUNICATION POINTS

41- Problem Statement and Conceptual Framework

The dual objective of proposing an African calendar and celebrating the African New

Year presents a new epistemological challenge within the broader field of African studies

and sciences. It generally implies rigorous recourse to African scholarly knowledge and,

with regard to the precise date of the New Year, will be subject to the arbitration of

specialist debates that will take place during the symposium. The noumenal quest

underlying the aspiration to adopt a system of counting and measuring time specific to

Africa is fundamentally that of the construction and affirmation of African identity. This

subject, undeniably complex, has the distinction of mobilizing diverse disciplines ranging

from advanced mathematics to astronomy, including history and its auxiliary disciplines

(Egyptology, human paleontology, archaeology, etc.), anthropology, sociology,

philosophy, theology and metaphysics, international relations, geography, the arts, as

well as endogenous knowledge not yet canonized within the modern academic

framework.

It represents a genuine epistemological challenge of a transdisciplinary nature, where

various areas of expertise will be called upon to meticulously dissect the central object

and to offer their perspectives, in technical workshops and plenary sessions, on each of

the related peripheral issues.

A return to classical Black African humanities, particularly those Egypt-Nubia, appears as

a just and inevitable step in this quest, as it affirms the awareness of contemporary Africa

of the complex and glorious heritage of its past. This strategic intellectual retreat, albeit

belated, marks the collective recognition and appropriation by Africa in 2026 of the

findings of the 1974 Cairo Symposium concerning the precedence of the Egyptian-

Nubian civilization, henceforth considered Black African rather than Eastern (D.

Gnonsea, 2003). It also serves to recall the scientific evidence regarding the precocity of

Black Africa in the fields of science (M. Bernal, 1996; 1999; M. Brunet, 2016), which

made the African continent not only as the Cradle of Mankind but also of civilization. This

weighty and precious legacy, often overlooked by post-independence African

historiographies, must be brought back into focus within the framework of this

symposium. It is its true moral foundation. It is also the main legitimizing element of the

African claim to rehabilitate its own time and calendars, to propose a date for the

celebration of a New Year, and represents the very first area of knowledge that the

symposium will explore.

Furthermore, it must be recognized that the annual celebration of a New Year in Africa

cannot be conceived without considering the considerable repercussions it could have on

the process of constructing and affirming African identity and unity. Indeed, the New Year

will be the very first typically African popular festive event that could bring African peoples

together in communion since Africa lost its historical initiative. It will inevitably also

contribute to marking, in the contemporary African consciousness and in the eyes of all,

the cultural unity of the Black world (C. A. Diop, 1982).

5In this sense, the initiative is highly forward-looking, even strategic, in that it will challenge

entrenched positions and certain structures of foreign domination that Africa experiences.

Consequently, there is a close functional link between the proposed calendar and the

celebration of the New Year, on the one hand, and African identity and unity, on the

other.

It is this other dimension of the issue that leads the symposium and its participants to

explore theories of African identity, to analyze the exogenous structures that hinder the

rediscovery of identity and the expression of African otherness, to examine the various

cultural programs implemented to date at the national and pan-African levels within the

specific context of the identity challenge, and finally, to develop practical approaches that

would guarantee a significant acceleration of the process of reconstructing and affirming

African identity through the proposed calendar and the establishment of a date for the

African New Year.

But beyond these two initial peripheral questions, namely the precedence of African

civilizations in the field of science, and the problem of African identity and unity, there is

the question of the calendar itself, the examination of which remains the sine qua non

condition for any determination of the date of the New Year.

From a problematic point of view, it will be broken down into two questions: firstly, the

precise legacy of African civilizations in the field of timekeeping and the development of

calendars (C. A. Diop, 1954; H. Andrillat, 1997, pp. 71-89); secondly, the choice of the

New Year's date. While the first involves a meticulous examination of the past for the

purposes of cataloging, analyzing, understanding, and comparing the various calendar

systems already in use or being tested in Africa, the second requires a more technical

exercise involving calculations and astronomical considerations, against a backdrop of

careful decisions regarding the calendar to adopt and the possible date(s) for the New

Year.

2- Topics of Contribution

The problem statement highlights a set of four (4) topics corresponding to the four

dimensions mentioned above: The Cairo symposium and the contribution of the Black

world to civilization (1); Principles, foundations, and experiences of time division in Africa:

a rich and essential legacy (2); The African personality in a multipolar world and the issue

of African identity (3); The African calendar and the institution of the African New Year

(4).

Topic No. 1: The Cairo symposium and the contribution of the black world to

human civilization

This topic will examine the achievements of Egyptology through, on the one hand, the

conclusions of the 1974 Cairo symposium which definitively confirmed the connection of

the Egyptian-Nubian civilization to Black Africa (D. Gnonsea, op. cit.),

6and, on the other hand, the developments of the 1980s and 2000s in Human

Paleontology, Prehistoric Archaeology and Genetics, which have in turn attested to the

anteriority of Africa, not only in the emergence of humanity, but also in the specific field of

philosophy and science (T. Obenga, 1990). The aim of this topic is to take stock of

current knowledge on the contribution of the Black world to human civilization and to

establish, in the name of the principles of historical continuity and cultural identity, the

legitimacy of contemporary Africa to draw upon its own intellectual, moral, and technical

resources to address the challenges of proposing its own reference calendar and setting

a date for the celebration of its New Year.

The expected presentations will cover all relevant disciplines and will be divided between

a plenary session and two technical workshops. The non-exhaustive sub-themes

proposed of this topic are as follows:

• Africa, Cradle of Mankind and Civilization. (Plenary Session 1)

• General History of Africa: UNESCO and the Achievements of the 1974 Cairo

symposium. (Technical Workshop No. 1)

• The Antiquity of black civilizations and Africa's contributions to the Specific Fields

of Philosophy and Science. (Technical Workshop No. 2)

Topic No. 2: Principles, foundations, and experiences of timekeeping in

Africa: a rich and essential legacy.

This topic aims to analyze the various timekeeping systems developed by African

civilizations in order to infer their principles and underlying logic. This analysis will then

be used to develop the knowledge that will later (final theme) be considered when

adopting a calendar and choosing the date of the New Year. Africa possesses by far the

oldest heritage of astronomical knowledge in the world and the greatest experimental

diversity in timekeeping and calendar development. Even today, Ethiopia, the ancient

Kingdom of Axum, daughter of Kush and heir to Egyptian civilization, officially possesses

and uses its own calendar. But outside of Ethiopia, there are many other vestiges of

calendars that, even if not adopted by the governments of the countries that inherited

them, but do exist, and which are not merely the product of empirical methods. This is the

case, for example, of the Dogon calendar, which continues to attract the attention of

modern science due to the accuracy of its premises and the perfection of its alignment

with most cosmic phenomena, which remains difficult to define. Beyond these two

examples, which will ideally be analyzed within this framework, there is the Egyptian Nile

calendar, the oldest and most sophisticated calendar in the world, representing an

essential legacy of the erudition of ancient Africans. It was this calendar that the German

specialist Otto Neugebauer described in his work, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, as

"the only intelligent calendar which existed in human history" (1609). Thus, contrary to

popular belief, Africa remains a pioneer in the field of timekeeping. It has bequeathed to

humanity, and indeed to itself, a unique and multifaceted legacy of calendars and

astronomical practices.

7Within this topic, these will be reviewed, analyzed, and compared in order to understand

their mechanisms, principles, and the noumenal and theological considerations that imply

them.

This topic is eminently technical and will be led by expert contributors and specialists,

both academic and non-academic, in any objective timekeeping system or known African

calendar. Within this theme, some expected communication projects will include both

abstracts and fully written articles. This concerns Plenary Session N°3 and Technical

Workshop N°3. The concerned contributors may, however, bring to the symposium any

other additional material, documentation, or empirical or experimental setup essential to

their presentations or demonstrations in the workshops or plenary sessions. The

proposed sub-themes, divided between the plenary sessions and technical workshops,

are:

• The early development of Africa and African civilizations in the areas of

measuring and dividing time: the state of the question. (Plenary Session N°2)

• The Nilotic, Dogon, Ethiopian, and other peripheral timekeeping systems:

understanding the legacy of Africa's past. (Plenary Session N°3)

• Summary of findings: what are the fundamental principles for designing the

African calendar: between astronomical continuities, geopolitical realities,

economic constants, and seasonal cycles? (Technical Workshop N°3)

• The question of the African calendar: relevance, epistemological consistency,

and political sustainability. (Technical Workshop N°4)

Topic No. 3: The African personality in a multipolar world and the problem of

African identity

This topic is dedicated to African identity. It includes a plenary session and several

technical workshops. Its objectives are to review theories of African identity and unity

through anthropological, political, and cultural considerations related to African

sovereignty and Africa's place in the emerging multipolar world. Furthermore, the

symposium aims to analyze, through this topic, the functional link between the African

New Year project and the cultural unity of Africa. The various sub-themes proposed are:

• The question of African identity in this multipolar world: between culture, history,

and symbolism. (Plenary session 4)

• Afrocentricity, African personality, the Black consciousness movement, and

Negritude: an analytical review of philosophical conceptions and theories of

African identity. (Technical workshop 5)

• African identity and unity and the African New Year project: functional links,

cultural programs, and the symposium's legacy. (Technical workshop 6)

8Topic No. 4: The African calendar and the institution of the African New Year

This topic is dedicated to the work and debates that will lead to the symposium’s main

objectives. It builds upon the conclusions and cumulative results of the three preceding

topics and represents the symposium's decisive moment. It provides the final framework

for technical discussions regarding the approval of a calendar cycle and the selection of

one or more dates for the African New Year. It is structured as a plenary session for the

presentation of findings and three technical workshops.

For the first two technical workshops (7 and 8), in addition to abstracts, fully written texts

are also expected. For the final technical workshop (9), however, only abstracts will be

accepted. This final workshop will critically examine the issues related to the project's

success in all its complexity, consider potential tensions and real difficulties the project

could encounter, and finally formulate practical recommendations and policy proposals,

with the aim of guaranteeing the scientific authority and authenticity of the symposium's

results. The proposed sub-themes are distributed between the plenary session and

technical workshops as follows:

• African Calendar: What principles, what model, what to retain? (Technical

workshop 7)

• The African New Year: Foundations, reasons, specificities, and date. (Technical

workshop 8)

• The question of the African calendar and the institution of the African New Year:

Moral, scientific, and political considerations, and recommendations. (Technical

workshop 9)

• Summary of proceedings and reading of the symposium's scientific report

(Plenary session 5)

IV- TARGET AUDIENCE

The call for papers is aimed not only at astronomers, mathematicians, physicians,

metaphysicians, theologians, specialists in heritage, culture, history, and anthropology,

but also at students, policymakers and political leaders, experts and consultants.

V- SUBMISSION OF PRESENTATION PROPOSALS

Presentation proposals in French and/or English follow two models depending on the

type of plenary and technical workshop chosen: abstracts on the one hand and fully

written texts on the other.

For abstracts, the following format should be used: the proposed topic; [title followed

by a brief summary of 300 words, structured around the main points of the

presentation (Context - objectives - methodology - results) and a maximum of 5

keywords; and the complete contact information of the author(s) in the format

9shown: First Name(s), Last Name(s), Institution(s), Email Address, Country, and

Telephone].

Regarding full papers, these will only be required after validation of the submitted

abstracts, and in any case, only concern technical workshops n°3, n°7, and n ° 8, and

Plenary Session n°3. The contributors concerned are asked to follow the attached

NorCames guidelines. Full papers to be submitted should be presented according to the

following template: [the title; followed by a brief summary of 200 words and 3

keywords; the proposed topic(s); the precise contact information of the author(s)

(as follows: First name(s), Last name(s), Institution(s), email address, Country, and

Telephone number); and the article].

All contributors are requested to attach to their communication proposal(s) a brief CV,

highlighting the main publications relevant to the issues to be addressed in the

symposium, and to send the resulting electronic file to the organizers at the address

mentioned below:

Submission address: colloquenouvelanafricain@hotmail.com

VI- CALENDAR

• Call for papers published: April 15, 2026

• Deadline for abstract submissions: May 31, 2026

• Deadline for acceptance notifications: June 30, 2026

• Deadline for full paper submissions: July 31, 2026

• Dates of the international symposium: October 12 and 13, 2026

VII- PARTICIPANTS

Apart from those who will present communications, the participants in the symposium are

representatives of African states, Afro-descendant communities, the African Union

Commission and the competent bodies of the continental institution, African sub-regional

institutions, African diaspora associations, academics and guardians of customs and

traditions.

VIII- SUPPORT FOR SELECTED PARTICIPANTS

The conditions for supporting participants in the symposium will be communicated to

selected participants in due course.

IX- DATE AND VENUE OF THE SYPOSIUM

The international symposium will be held on October 12 and 13, 2026 at the Hôtel du 2

février in Lomé, Togo.

10X- ORGANIZER AND PROJECT SPONSOR

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation, African Integration, and Togolese Abroad is

the organizer and sponsor of the symposium.

XI- CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT

The symposium secretariat is managed by a joint technical committee composed of

academics and diplomats, with the following membership:

• Chair: Mr. TSIGBE Koffi Nutefé, Full Professor, University of Lomé

• Vice Chair: Mr. EDJAIDE Eyana, Technical Advisor to the Minister

• Members: Mr. EKUE Folly Gada, Associate Professor, University of Lomé; Mr.

SEDAMINOU Afognon Kouakou, Coordinator of the Diaspora Desk; Mr. PALASSI

Konga, Associate Professor, University of Lomé; Mr. KAMELE Malemda, Director

of International Cooperation.

XII- SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Chaired by Professor Robert Dussey, the scientific committee of the symposium is

composed of academics (Egyptologists, historians, sociologists, philosophers,

anthropologists, linguists, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, metaphysicians,

theologians, etc.), diplomats, and African experts specialized in the issues at the heart of

this scientific event. It will decide on the eligibility of proposals for presentations, review

and validate submitted manuscripts, and be responsible for preparing the scientific report

and the proceedings of the symposium.

XIII- SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

AMSELLE, Jean-Loup & DIAGNE, Souleymane Bachir, In Search of Africa(s):

Universalism and Decolonial Thought, Paris, Albin Michel, 2018.

ANDRILLAT, Henri, “Egyptian Astronomy,” in Bulletin de la Classe des sciences, Volume

8, no. 1-6, 1997, pp. 71-89.

ANONYMOUS, “Calendars, Measures and Rhythms of Time: Associations and

Conflicts,” Call for Papers, Calenda, Published Monday, November 26, 2012,

https://doi.org/10.58079/m9c, accessed March 16, 2026 at 11:20 PM.

ASANTE, M., “The Afrocentric Idea in Education,” Journal of Negro Education, No. 60,

1991, pp. 170-179.

BERNAL, Martin, *Black Athena: The Afro-Asiatic Roots of Classical Civilization*, Volume

1: *The Invention of Ancient Greece*, PUF, 1996.

BERNAL, Martin, *Black Athena*, Volume 2: *The Afro-Asiatic Roots of Classical

Civilization*, PUF, 1999.

11BRUNET, Michel, *We Are All Africans*, Odile Jacob, 2016.

CESAIRE, Aimé, “Culture and Colonization,” in *Présence Africaine*, *Cultural Review of

the Black World*, no. 8-9-10, June-November 1956, pp. 190-205.

CHABAS, François, *The Calendar of Auspicious and Inauspicious Days of the Egyptian

Year*, Paris, 1870.

CHANCELLOR, Williams, *Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from

4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.*, BN Publishing, 2018.

DAVIDSON Basil, The African Past, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1966 (1st ed.

1964)

DIOP Cheikh Anta, The Anteriority of Black Civilizations: Myth or Historical Truth? Paris,

Présence Africaine, 1967.

DIOP Cheikh Anta, The Cultural Unity of Black Africa, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1982.

DIOP Cheikh Anta, Black Nations and Culture; From ancient Egyptian Black civilization to

the cultural problems of Black Africa today, Présence Africaine, 1954.

DOGBA Ahidje, The Loss or Weakening of the Ancestral Socio-Cultural Identity of Black

Africa: The Example of the Dida Ethnic Group: The Specific Case of the Zikisso Region

in Ivory Coast, doctoral thesis in ethnology, Paris 4, 2001.

GAYIBOR Nicoué Lodjou (ed.), The Tricentenary of Aného and the Guin Country:

Proceedings of the International Colloquium on the Tricentenary of the Guin Country

(Aného, September 18-20, 2000). Listening to History, Lomé, Presses de l’UB,

Patrimoines Collection No. 11, 2001. (2 volumes).

GNONSEA Doue, Cheikh Anta Diop, Théophile Obenga: Combat for the African

Renaissance, Harmattan, 2003.

ILIFFE John, Africans: A History of a Continent, Paris, Flammarion, 2002.

INIKORI E. Joseph, The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies, and

Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe, Duke University Press Books, 1992.

KI-ZERBO Joseph, History of Black Africa, Paris, Hatier, 1974.

LANNERS Grégory, “New Year’s Day in Ancient Egypt,” Toutankhamon Magazine, no.

25, February/March 2006, pp. 46–48.

MAES-DIOP Marie Louise, Black Africa: Demography, Soil and History, Présence

Africaine, 2025.

MAQUET Jacques, African Civilizations, Paris, Marabout Université, 1962, summarized

by BOURMAUD Daniel, in Politics in Africa, pp. 9-10.

MUDIMBE Valentin-Yves, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of

Knowledge, Paris, Présence Africaine, 2021.

NEUGEBAUER Otto, The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, Amazon, English Edition, 1609.

OBENGA Théophile, African Philosophy of the Pharaonic Period: 2780-330 BC, Paris,

L’Harmattan, 1990.

SAKHO Cheick, “Temporality in West African Epic Traditions: A Characteristic

Imprecision of the Epic Genre,” in Epic Times: Structuring, Modes of Expression, and

Function of Temporality in Epic, edited by Claudine Le Blanc and Jean-Pierre Martin,

REARE Digital Publications, November 15, 2018, Online at URL: https://publis-shs.univ-

rouen.fr/reare/448.html

12SINGLETON Theresa A., “From Africa to the Americas: Archaeology of Transatlantic

Slavery and the African Diaspora,” in Dominique Garcia and Hervé Le Bras (eds.),

Archaeology of Migrations, 2017, p. 301 to 316.

THOMAS Louis-Vincent, “Time, Myths and History in West Africa,” 1961, in Présence

africaine, Online at https://doi.org/10.3917/presa.039.0012

13ANNEX

CAMES STANDARDS

The following standards are those adopted by the CTS (Technical Committee) for Arts

and Humanities at its 38th session of the CCI (International Conference of Academic

Councils) consultations, held in Bamako from July 11 to 20, 2016.

1. Manuscripts

A draft text submitted for evaluation must include a title, the author's signature (first and

last name(s) of the author(s), and their affiliated institution), the author's email

address(es), the abstract in French (250 words), five keywords, the English abstract (of

the same length), and keywords (same number as the keywords). The abstract must

summarize the research question, methodology, and main results.

The manuscript must adhere to the standard structure of scientific texts: Introduction;

Research Question; Hypothesis; Approach; Results and Discussion; Conclusion;

References. This structure may be adapted according to the writing conventions of the

specific discipline to which the text relates. In this case, theoretical research articles will

be presented in three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion. In contrast, articles based

on empirical research, such as experimental research, will have a structure of:

introduction, materials and methods, results and discussion, and conclusion.

Footnotes, numbered in Arabic numerals, are written in size 10 (Book Antiqua).

Minimize the number of footnotes. Write scientific names and loanwords in italics

(Adansonia digitata).

The draft article (text to be written in Word, Book Antiqua, size 12, 1.5 line spacing)

should be between 30,000 and 40,000 characters (including spaces).

Section headings should be numbered as follows:

1. First level, first heading (Times New Roman 12 bold)

1.1. Second level (Times 12 bold italics)

1.1.1. Third level (Times 12 italics without bold)

2. Illustrations

Tables, maps, figures, graphs, diagrams, and photographs must be numbered

(continuously) using Arabic numerals in the order they appear in the text. They must

14have a concise title, placed above the illustration (centered). The source is indicated

(centered) below the illustration (size 10). It is important that these illustrations are first

introduced, then inserted, and finally discussed within the body of the text.

3. Notes and References

3.1. Quoted passages are presented in roman type and enclosed in quotation marks.

When a quotation exceeds three lines, a new line should be inserted to present the

quotation (single-spaced) indented, with the font size reduced by one point.

3.2. Citation references are integrated into the citing text, as appropriate, as follows:

- Initial(s) of the Author's First Name(s) and Last Name, year of publication, cited pages;

Examples:

- Indeed, the goal pursued by Mr. Ascher (1998, p. 223) is "to broaden the history of

mathematics so that it acquires a multicultural and global perspective (...), to expand the

field of mathematics (...)"

- To elaborate further on this capacity of civil society, which, in its effective deployment,

demonstrates its ability to drive development and history, S. B. Diagne (1991, p. 2) writes:

Make no mistake: in any case, populations have always been able to counter the

philosophy of governance and its voluntarism with their own strategies of

circumvention. These, for example, are evident in the dynamism, or at the very

least, the creativity demonstrated by what is known as the informal sector, which

should be given the more positive label of popular economy.

- The Ivorian philosopher is right, to a certain extent, to see the process of

underdevelopment in this destabilizing shock. As he states:

The process of underdevelopment resulting from this shock is experienced

concretely by the populations concerned as a global crisis: a socio-economic crisis

(brutal exploitation, persistent unemployment, accelerated and painful exodus),

but also a socio-cultural and civilizational crisis reflecting a socio-historical

unpreparedness and a maladaptation of cultures and human behaviors to the ways

of life imposed by foreign technologies. (S. Diakité, 1985, p. 105).

3.3. Historical sources, references to oral information, and explanatory notes are

numbered consecutively and presented at the bottom of the page.

3.4. The various elements of a bibliographic reference are presented as follows:

Author's Last NAME and First Name(s), Year of Publication, Title field,

Place of Publication, Publisher field, and the page numbers (p.) of the

articles for a journal. In the Title field, the title of an article is presented in

15roman type and in quotation marks; the title of a book, dissertation or

thesis, report, journal, or newspaper is presented in italics. In the Publisher

field, the publishing house is indicated (for a book), and the name and

issue/volume of the journal (for an article). If a book is a translation and/or

a reprint, the translator's name and/or the edition (e.g., 2nd ed.) must be

specified after the title.

3.5. Bibliographic references are presented in alphabetical order by author's last name.

For example:

Bibliographical References

AKIBODE Ayéchoro Koffi, 1987, Agrarian Colonization and Socio-Economic Development

in the Kara Basin, French Cooperation Mission, Presses de l’Université du Bénin, Lomé.

AMIN Samir, 1996, The Challenges of Globalization, Paris, L’Harmattan.

AUDARD Cathérine, 2009, What is Liberalism? Ethics, Politics, Society, Paris, Gallimard.

BERGER Gaston, 1967, Modern Man and His Education, Paris, PUF.

DIAGNE Souleymane Bachir, 2003, “Islam and Philosophy: Lessons from an Encounter,”

Diogenes, 202, pp. 145–151.

DIAKITE Sidiki, 1985, Technological Violence and Development: The African Question of

Development, Paris, L’Harmattan.

DI MEO Guy, 2000, Social Geography and Territories, Paris, Nathan.

BARROS (De) Philippe and KUEVI Dovi André, 1989, “Archaeological Survey in Togo,” in

Togo-Dialogue, no. 45, Lomé, pp. 40–42.

DELORD Jacques, 1961, “Notes and Commentary on Leo Frobenius’s Text on the Kabrè,”

in The Non-Christian World, new series, no. 59–60, pp. 101–172.

KOLA Edinam, 2007, “Adaptation Strategies to Crisis and Peasant Incomes in a Plantation

Economy in Crisis: The Example of Western Plateaux Region in Togo,” Annals of the

University of Lomé, Letters and Human Sciences Series, Volume XXVII-2, Lomé, Presses

de l’Université de Lomé, pp. 77–89.

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article.

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