| Panels Chair | |
| The primary goals of the Panels Chair are to maintain a) high quality in panel, roundtable, and workshop presentations, and b) fairness and equity in scheduling presentations from a broad cross-section of the membership. The responsibilities of the Panels Chair and his/her committee are to: 1. initiate a set of innovative/creative panels, c. 10-15, that, for example, bring relevant non-Africanis t scholarship to the attention of ASA members; group together leaders of thought and innovators in new combinations; or rethink seminal contributions to Africanist scholarship. The idea is to have a core of panels on the program that would not ordinarily b e volunteered and that, above all, provide intellectual excitement and stimulation. 2. review proposals for all other papers and panels; group volunteered papers together in coherent and challenging panels; or place volunteered paper presenters into previously-organized panels if appropriate. 3. initiate and review roundtables or workshops. 4. set a program theme, if appropriate, in consultation with the Program Chair, and try to see that a reasonable number of panels make use of that theme. 5. oversee sponsored panels, making sure the number is not excessive. 6. insure that no individual makes more than one presentation, and enforce deadlines in a reasonable manner. 7. oversee a Panels Committee (nationally recruited and appointed in consultation with the A SA Board) to assist in the above tasks. The committee should include representatives of ASA sub-groups (especially ACASA and the Women's Caucus, but also CIC, ACAS, MANSA, and so on) and senior scholars who have a broad grasp and vision of Africanist schol arship and have been ASA members of relatively long duration. The Panels Chair may elect to form a two-tiered committee, with a core of four to five members, but which consult and work with a larger group that represents the constitutent interests of the ASA membership. | |
