Call for Contributions:
The Review on
Sexuality and Equality
in Africa
(honorarium: $150
for accepted submissions)
Deadline: 15 September 2012
The African Men for Sexual Health and Rights (AMSHeR), was established in 2009 by fifteen organizations working to a. address the disproportionate effect of the HIV epidemic on MSM and LGBTI persons in Africa; b. to address the human rights violations these populations face on the continent; c. and to increase the visibility of LGBTI persons and issues in national, regional and international forums.
AMSHeR was formed in an attempt to foster regional learning and devise ‘home-grown’ strategies to address local issues, rather than relying on global, mostly western strategies. Through advocacy and capacity building, AMSHeR works towards achieving a healthy and empowered life for LGBTI and MSM communities in Africa, and human rights for all. AMSHeR takes guidance from its member organizations, its board and steering committee, as well as partners with a similar mission.
LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRAMME
The Law and Human Rights Programme fulfils AMSHeR’s advocacy and capacity objectives by
a. Facilitating the development of the capacity of member organisations to monitor, document and report human rights violations; understand their socio-political, legal and judicial systems, and design context-specific responses to LGBTI/MSM issues; undertake evidence-based advocacy on MSM/LGBTI issues within their national and sub-regional contexts; respond to emergency and security situations in a pro-active manner;
b. Strengthening the capacity of human rights organisations, national human rights institutions, civil society and the academia to understand issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, engage with LGBTI communities in-country, mainstream the rights of LGBTI persons in broader national human rights discourse, and respond to human rights violations against LGBTI persons;
c. Engaging regional and international human rights mechanisms on issues of sexual orientation and gender identity as well as the protection of the rights of LGBTI persons in Africa.
THE SEXUALITY AND EQUALITY IN AFRICA PROJECT
The Sexuality and Equality in Africa Project aims to encourage the voices of young African students, scholars, researchers, professionals and activists to the discourse on sexualities, sexual rights, sexual orientation and gender identity in Africa and to develop a body of resources written by young Africans with a focus on how these issues relate to Africa and Africans. The Review on Sexuality and Equality in Africa will be produced under the Project as well as an online blog in which contributions received under the Project will be published and discussed. The Review on Sexuality and Equality in Africa will address human rights, equality, sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual minorities including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex [LGBTI] in Africa in five sections –Sciences, Law and Policy, Culture and Religion, Education, and Movement Building and in a variety of formats including academic/scholarly papers and more practice-oriented articles.
SUGGESTED THEMES/ TOPICS:
Contributions should be between 3,000 and 5,000 word count and may be submitted in English or French. Contributions are encouraged from graduate students, activists and civil society actors, young researchers, practitioners [medical, legal, media, psychosocial, etc], members of faith-based organisations, cultural institutions, migrant communities, sex workers, LGBTI persons, persons in detention.
All contributions must have an African focus, speak to respect for, non-discrimination and inclusion of varying sexualities and sexual orientations and be socially relevant. Although essay-type papers are preferred, contributions may also be submitted in other format including practice-oriented articles, testimonials and interviews.
Contributions are particularly encouraged for papers and articles discussing –
1. Sexualities and human rights particularly equality rights
2. Impact of discriminatory laws and policies on sexual minorities
3. Access to healthcare, public health policies, HIV and sexual minorities
4. Media, social networking platforms and sexual minorities
5. Education curriculum and sexualities
6. Access to justice, public institutions and employment
7. Sexual minorities, history and cultural institutions
8. Religion, faith and sexual orientation
9. Sexual orientation and forced migration
10. Resilience and community building
All contributions received which comply with the conditions of the call will be published as part of an online blog on the AMSHeR website. Papers of the highest quality will be published in The Review on Sexuality and Equality in Africa in the last quarter of 2012.
To ensure that high quality contributions are published, authors are urged to take special care in preparing their papers and submit a text ready for publication with regard to citation style, language and format. Papers submitted in unsuitable form may not be published. For format of essay papers, click here.
Papers must be sent in electronic form to contact@amsher.net on or before 15 September 2012. Any papers received after this date will unfortunately not be considered for publication. A reviewed final version of the contributions must be submitted by 30 October 2012.
Honorarium and awards:
a. An honorarium of one hundred and fifty dollars [US$150] will be given for every contribution which is published in The Review on Sexuality and Equality in Africa.
b. A prize of one thousand dollars [US$1000] each will be awarded to the English and French contribution adjudged the best by the editorial team.
c. Two writing fellowships will be awarded in the first quarter of 2013 for two papers addressing legal and policy barriers to the rights of LGBTI persons in Africa to enable the authors turn the papers into undergraduate dissertation papers. This award is only open to undergraduate students of universities in Africa. Note that the writing fellowships are NOT limited to students in any particular field of study.
Download: contributor's guidelines
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries: contact Kene C. Esom on kene@amsher.net or +2711 482 9201
For submissions: contact@amsher.net
Website: http://www.amsher.net