The 3rd Annual UMD ATLAS 2026 Conference

Join us for the 3rd Annual UMD ATLAS Conference on March 31 & April 1! This year's conference explores the theme of “Identity, Belonging, and Postcolonial Politics: Reflections and Futures.” This conference will include a series of roundtable sessions featuring scholars from UMD and around the DMV on a range of pressing topics impacting Africa. 

The Opening Keynote will be delivered by Dr. Jordanna Matlon, Associate Professor at American University’s School of International Service and author of A Man among Other Men: The Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism. Her Keynote Address, "The Long Crisis of Black Masculinity in Racial Capitalism," explores the histories, representational repertoires, and performative identities of men in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire and across the Black Atlantic to theorize Black masculinity in racial capitalism.

The Closing Keynote will be delivered by Dr. Anita Plummer, Associate Professor of African Studies and Director of the Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership at Howard University. She is the author of Kenya’s Engagement with China: Discourse, Power, and Agency. Her Keynote Address is titled "Building Whose Future? China's Digital Footprint and the Politics of Transformation in Africa." As China finances and builds the digital infrastructure powering Africa's transformation, this talk examines the contested political terrain beneath the promise of development and the collective agency of African women in shaping whose vision of modernity gets built.

The conference is free for all attendees and open to the public. Refreshments will be available. We ask all conference attendees to register whether they are attending a single session, select sessions, or the full conference. Registration will be available both days at the door, but advanced registration is strongly encouraged.