In 2018, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York and Gerda Henkel Stiftung introduced the CHUSS Symposia series with the aim of fostering a vibrant academic environment to promote intellectual debate and knowledge production at the University. The annual symposium brings together scholars from across the region to deliberate on issues of national and international importance.
On 16th-17th September 2020, the College held the third annual symposium under the theme; "The Ivory Tower meets Jua Kali: Reflections on theorizing the Profound from the Ordinary". The 2020 Humanities and Social Sciences Symposium presided over by the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe, sought to investigate how and with what successes the academy can centre the untapped node of knowledge that exists on the periphery of the Ivory Tower.
During the two-day blended academic engagement held at Makerere University, over 80 scholars from across the region presented papers on a number of topical issues including Institutions and Instability; Popular and creative Arts; Politics, Policy and Governance; Language, Translation and Transition; Identity and Belonging; Psychology and Wellbeing; Archives and Media; Subaltern Narratives; Pedagogy, Curriculum and Classroom practice; National Narratives and Construction; Archaeology Beyond the Ivory Tower; Languages, Gender and Ideology; Media Presentations; Gender Identity and Spaces; Violence, Peace Building and Democracy; and Performing Protest and Contest.
