About

What is NEWSA?

The North Eastern Workshops on Southern Africa are intimate, intense, interdisciplinary gatherings of scholars from around the world who work on southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe). NEWSA is a unique venue for specialists to closely discuss their work with each other. The conference is held about once every eighteen months in Burlington, Vermont. 

Participants consistently find NEWSA to be an especially rewarding experience. Why? Papers are precirculated and all participants are expected to read the papers before attending the conference. As a result, discussions of the papers are particularly fruitful and engaging. The relatively small number of participants (about 40 presenters and about 20 additional attendees) and the beautiful, remote setting further intensify the discussions.

Scholars in any discipline and from any part of the world are welcome to participate. NEWSA also welcomes paper submissions from graduate students and junior and independent scholars. The conference is relatively affordable by U.S. standards and reduced rates are offered for junior scholars and colleagues traveling from Africa.

Next Workshop

The next North Eastern Workshop on Southern Africa (NEWSA) will take place on April 26-28, 2019 at the Bishop Booth Center in Burlington, Vermont, USA. See the Call for Papers for information about submitting an abstract. Further information regarding travel, accommodations, and registration costs for the upcoming workshop are available here.

NEWSA Listserv

If you would like to receive direct notices about this and future NEWSA meetings, please send an e-mail to Peter Alegi at alegi AT msu DOT edu with “Subscribe NEWSA Listserv” in the subject line. Once you are subscribed, you will be able to both receive and send information out to the listserv. See FAQs for further information about the listserv and other means of contact.

Past Programs