Call for Abstracts – Conflict and the Mind: African Responses to How Armed Violence Shapes Behaviours

BOOK TITLE: Conflict and the Mind: African Responses to How Armed Violence Shapes Behaviours

EXPECTED PUBLICATION DATE: October 2026

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION: September 25, 2025

GUIDING THOUGHTS

The current body of literature examines conflict through various frameworks and across multiple levels of analysis. The summation of some of these arguments interprets conflict as a human activity with anthropological roots, a product of (dis)agreements (or a series of them) through the cause-effect and input-output lens, a means of expression (the art of it), or a tool to achieve an objective (expressing the instrumental utility of conflict). There are also cases where people engage in conflicts due to fear or uncertainty. Many also engage in conflicts without knowing precisely why they take part in the first place. Despite differing views, a recurring pattern can be observed: narratives and belief systems often shape perceptions and choices, sometimes steering individuals or groups toward conflict—though wider structural, political, and material conditions also constrain these choices.

Beyond these constructions, however, this book seeks to engage two key assumptions. The first assumption is that conflict is an environment. This pushes the boundaries of how we define conflict, imagining it as a space within which a variety of actors and factors interact in a dynamic context that shapes the behaviours and behavioural responses. It would be naive to contend that humans and institutions exist in a vacuum, given the contextual political and economic experiences that shape societies. In essence, a plethora of material and non-material factors constitute the space within which they exist. We therefore reckon that it would be a rewarding intellectual engagement to explore how these factors are (perhaps) expressed in varying forms across different African societies, their evolution, as well as the responses they evoke.

Furthermore, conflict (defined as an environment) is also a product of structural, systemic, and cyclical patterns of violence. These three are an interconnected triad that sustains itself and fights back when challenged or threatened. Thus, nuanced thinking about the form and content of a conflict-affected society must, of necessity, account for three things, namely:

1. Formal and informal setups that shape behaviours,
2. Pervasive interlacing relationships that are a product of shaped behaviours, and
3. Entrapment of individuals and institutions in a circular process where conflict is reproduced through shaped behaviour.

The second assumption is that institutions possess minds, much like humans or groups do.   This may help us rethink why and how institutions (and individuals) behave the way they do. Although institutions may not possess traditional human characteristics, two key considerations are worth noting. The first is that institutions are run by humans who have minds, systematic or not, and the second is that there are observable patterns and evolution in institutional behaviours. Against this backdrop, we seek to explore what it means for an institution to have a mind. Do they?

Without prejudice, however, any innovative approach or perspective to the definition of mind is encouraged if it is empirically and theoretically grounded and accurately engages, is rooted in, or intelligibly challenges existing thoughts on the definition or description of what mind is or refers to.

Considering this, the co-editors intend to gather African perspectives on African responses to how conflict(s) (understood as an environment) shape the minds of individuals, groups, communities, societies, and institutions. This is an unexplored path in the existing body of literature, especially regarding Africa’s responses to how conflict(s) perpetuate themselves. Through this, the book project aims to advance African perspectives on the epistemology and consequences of conflicts on the continent’s institutions and peoples. In addition, the aggregation of these thoughts may aid or contribute to the anticipatory strength of African perspectives on the future of peace and security in Africa. Ergo, we pose three broad questions to potential contributors:

1. How do conflicts (understood as an environment) shape the behaviours of Africans, African communities and institutions?
2. How has Africa responded through the centuries?
3. How do observable patterns deduced from these responses help to better understand the environment of conflict, build context-based theories and further the application of African solutions to African conflicts?

A multidisciplinary approach is encouraged, considering the potential intersection of the social sciences and humanities. Worth noting also is that responding to these three questions may require historical, empirical, and theoretical explorations that interrogate the past, present, and the in-between.

Based on the theorem that individuals and institutions have minds, and their behaviours can be shaped by conflict, the Editors welcome African contributors to take the lead on this debate.

They may also question the entire framing altogether.

METHODOLOGY

There are no restrictions on the methodology. However, contributors must engage primary and secondary data sources and have a clear theoretical path that justifies their chosen methods of data collection and analysis.

SCOPE

Submissions may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Behaviour of Individuals

• Youth in Conflict Contexts
• Violence Against Women in Conflict Contexts
• Conflict and Intimate Relationships
• Non-elites, Elites and Leaders
• The Displaced and the Diaspora

Behaviour of Groups and Communities

• Pastoral Communities
• Agrarian Communities
• The Urban and the Rural
• Coastal and Land-Locked Communities
• Marginalised and Privileged Communities
• Freedom Movements and Campaigns

Institutional Behaviours

• Conflict and African Governments
• Conflict and RECs [here, we encourage the use of case studies and comparative approaches]
• Conflict and the AU
• Conflict and the UN on African Soil

Technology, Conflict and the Mind

Prevention and Management of Armed Conflicts

This sub-theme will only focus on policy analysis related to preventing and managing conflict. Contributing authors should strictly focus on analysing relevant policies and policy outcomes of conflict-shaped behaviours of governments and institutions. Submission under this section must include policy and practice recommendations to stakeholders.

PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

The deadline has passed.

PROSPECTIVE TIMELINE