Equality Law Jurisprudence in Africa - Symposium & Book Project
Call for Abstracts
Equality Law Jurisprudence in Africa Symposium and Book Project
The organising committee is pleased to announce a call for abstracts to participate in an online symposium to discuss a proposed edited volume on Developing Equality Law Jurisprudence in Africa.
This volume seeks to explore equality and anti-discrimination law across selected African jurisdictions, including Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. In recent decades, many African countries have enshrined equality rights in their constitutions, while others have utilised international and regional norms to develop rich equality jurisprudence.
Despite these advancements, there is currently no single publication that offers a comprehensive, doctrinal, and comparative analysis of equality and anti-discrimination law in Africa. This project aims to begin the work of filling this gap by bringing together scholars across the continent to develop an edited collection on African equality law and jurisprudence.
Themes for Submission
We invite abstracts that address key themes in equality and anti-discrimination law including:
- Approaches to equality (formal vs. substantive)
- Grounds for prohibited discrimination and inclusion of analogous grounds
- Recognition of intersectional and indirect discrimination
- Provisions for affirmative action or positive measures
- Horizontal application of equality rights
- Justiciability and standards of judicial review
- A discussion of any other distinctive equality issues specific to the jurisdiction(s) in focus.
Our goal is to engage contributors who can bring both doctrinal and critical perspectives, helping shape a foundational text for understanding African equality law.
We welcome submissions focusing on a single jurisdiction or which focus on two or more African jurisdictions from a comparative perspective.
Submission Details
Interested participants should submit an abstract of 800 to 1000 words, briefly outlining their proposed contribution to the volume.
Please send abstracts, plus a 150 word bio and contact details (all on the same document) to africanequalityjur@gmail.com by Friday 17 January 2025.
The symposium will be hosted online on Monday 14 April 2025, allowing participants to share initial chapter frameworks of up to 3000 words, discuss thematic overlaps, and develop comparative insights.
A follow-up symposium will be held in the second week of September 2025 on early chapter drafts.
In the second week of December 2025, selected contributors will participate in an in-person writing workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa, discussing full drafts of chapters.
Finalised chapters will be considered for publication in the edited volume, pending peer review, and should be submitted by 10 February 2026.
We look forward to your submissions and the opportunity to collaborate on this important project. Organisers Prof Cathi Albertyn (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Dr Victoria Miyandazi (University of St Andrews, Scotland), and Dr Nomfundo Ramalekana (University of Cape Town, South Africa) Approaches to equality (formal vs. substantive) Grounds for prohibited discrimination and inclusion of analogous grounds Recognition of intersectional and indirect discrimination Provisions for affirmative action or positive measures Horizontal application of equality rights Justiciability and standards of judicial review Our goal is to engage contributors who can bring both doctrinal and critical perspectives, helping shape a foundational text for understanding African equality law. A discussion of any other distinctive equality issues specific to the jurisdiction(s) in focus.