CSLS co-hosts Academic Writing Workshop in Addis Ababa

In mid-November, the CSLS was joined by the University of Johannesburg, the University of Witwatersrand, and Addis Ababa University in organising the British-Academy funded “Crafting Socio-Legal Methods Writing Workshop: Writing Bootcamp in Addis Ababa”.  

Focused on early-career researchers, the 3-day academic writing workshop was held at the British Council in Addis Ababa. It offered participants time and space to complete their research write-ups, work toward academic out-puts, and engage in critical discussions on structural inequalities in academic publication processes, as well as sound-board strategies to practically address these. 

18 scholars from across 5 African countries, and from a range of academic backgrounds and research interests, engaged in daily discussions on their academic goals, approaches, and research questions; much of this research sat at the intersections of law, history, and anthropology, tackled from decolonial and feminist lens and through innovative socio-legal methodologies, such as the use of digital ethnographies to study discrimination online.  

A valuable forum for South-South knowledge exchange, the workshop strived to promote higher representation of Global South epistemologies, methodologies, and approaches in academic journals. 

In addition to the daily independent writing sessions, where participants worked toward meeting their goals of publishing outputs by early 2026, the CSLS, University of Johannesburg, Addis Ababa University, and University of Witwatersrand also held participatory seminars on creating sustainable academic writing practices, improving engagement with prior literature, approaching reviewer comments, and strategies for successful publication.  

Scholars also benefitted from one-to-one mentoring sessions with a senior academic editor, tailored toward their individual research and career queries. 

Following the workshop, scholars will continue to enjoy support from CSLS and partner universities as the scholars finalise and submit their articles, and blogposts, for publication for early next year.  

The CSLS would also like to thank the British Council in Ethiopia for kindly hosting this workshop.