After six years, the annual Midwest Graduate Student Conference in African Studies is returning to where it began: Northwestern.

About 50 graduate students from all over the world are expected to participate in the three-day conference, which will focus on a variety of contemporary African issues, said Vanessa Gomez, conference spokeswoman and a second-year graduate student in African Studies.

The theme of this year’s conference is “Re-envisioning Africa: Multidisciplinary Perspectives in African Studies.” Graduate students will divide into about 16 panels where they will present dissertation topics, discuss their themes and answer questions from each other and the audience.

Presenters will have 15 to 20 minutes to discuss their topics before taking questions. Final presentation topics had to be finalized and submitted to conference organizers by February.

“We’ll have people talking about economic issues, environmental issues, multimedia and the Internet,” Gomez said. “It’s interdisciplinary and we have people from different departments coming.”

Other topics include the role of religious organizations in African political movements, African urban identities, grassroots initiatives, research ethics, and gender and human rights.

“It is organized by grad students for grad students,” Gomez said. “For some grad students this will be their first time. It’s a good opportunity to learn their skills.”

There is no charge for the conference, and Gomez encouraged everyone to attend, especially those unfamiliar with the issues facing Africa.

“They’ll see diversity of topics,” she said. “They’ll see on the graduate level the creativity for the variety of projects grad students have for their dissertations.

“I think it’s very good for both the organizers and people who want to attend.”

The conference was launched six years ago by Jane Guyer, the director of African Studies at NU.

It started as a small, one-day conference designed for students from Midwestern universities. The event has grown to include graduate students from all over the country and even England and Austria, Gomez said.

The conference has migrated across the Midwest the past six years, including to the University of Michigan and Indiana University. At the end of last year’s conference, organizers agreed to bring it back to NU.

Ten people are organizing this year’s event, which begins Friday night at 6 p.m. with a “welcome” dinner. There will be six sessions of presentations spread across Saturday and Sunday. About three panels will be running at the same time during each session. The conference wraps up with a ceremony Sunday afternoon.