ABSTRACT In this Address, I reflect on the journey of AFAM with regard to its past, present and future. As a new scholarly community, AFAM is called to the sacred society. Its future therefore should be based on the use of the legitimacy associated with that calling to enact its strategic role – facilitating transformation of African societies – by assuming the paramount duty of parrhesia. As a parrhesiatic organization, AFAM has to engage in value-creating practices through its discourses so that it can endow Africans with the right and ability to speak. These value-creating practices are means by which AFAM moves beyond its sacredness to the secular context of Africa. Unlike other scholarly communities, AFAM does not have the luxury of not ‘unliving’ the African challenge; it has a sacred duty to help provide a different and new living to Africans than the one they are currently experiencing.

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总统致辞：在我们的“神圣学术世界”中拥抱世俗组织

摘要在本演讲中，我将回顾AFAM的过去，现在和未来。作为一个新的学术社区，AFAM被称为神圣社会。因此，其未来应建立在合法性的基础上，该合法性与号召行使其战略作用-促进非洲社会的转型-通过担负起稀少的种族歧视责任而具有合法性。作为一个稀有组织，AFAM必须通过其话语参与创造价值的做法，以便赋予非洲人发言权和能力。这些创造价值的做法是AFAM超越其神圣性走向非洲世俗背景的手段。与其他学术界不同，AFAM没有不“活着”非洲挑战的奢侈。