(Archived Friday Bulletin)

• Return to Current Bulletin

AFRICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

FRIDAY BULLETIN

JANUARY 25, 2008

Contents

1.       Upcoming Events

2.       Announcements of Interest

3.       Jobs, Fellowships and other Opportunities

4.       Conferences

5.       Noontalks schedule

6.       Seminar schedule

NOTE:  If you have announcements or information appropriate for the Bulletin, please send it to us by 5:00 p.m. on Thursdays.

1. Upcoming Events

Film Screening
Tuesday, January 29
Wells Library E174
5:00 p.m.
“The Boy Kumasenu” (1952) – directed by Sean Graham
According to the NY Times, “The Boy Kumasenu” features Nortey Engmann in the title role. Accused of “bewitching” the local fishing sites and rendering them useless, Kumasenu is driven out of his village in the Gold Coast (Ghana). Deciding to try his luck in town, the boy is maltreated and exploited by his elders. Eventually, a few kindly adults intervene and Kumasenu’s faith in humanity is restored.

Wells Library E174 is located on the right between the two sets of doors on the parking lot side of the library. If you go into the library lobby – you have gone too far!

African Music and Dance Ensemble
Every Friday!!
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Neal Marshall Black Culture Center – Room A219

The African Studies Outreach Program and the Neal Marshall Black Culture Center are organizers of this event, to take place each Friday evening during the semester.  The music/dance instructor is Kwesi Brown (kwebrown@indiana.edu).

Swahili Conversation Hour
Monday, January 28
1:15 p.m. -  IMU Starbucks 

Bamana Conversation Hour
Thursday, 6:00 p.m.

top

2.  Announcements of Interest

DEADLINE APPROACHING!!!!  Foreign Language and Area Studies Applications
FLAS APPLICATIONS FOR 2008-09 AND SUMMER 2008 ARE NOW AVAILABLE ON LINE AT:  http://www.indiana.edu/~flas   The deadlines for African Studies FLAS applications are: 
February 1 for AY 2008-09 and March 1 for Summer 2008.

In the News!
Please let us know if you have Op-Ed letters or articles in the local newspapers and we will announce them.

On Wednesday, January 23 John Hanson’s (History/African Studies) commentary on the recent violence in Kenya appeared as a guest column on the Opinion Page of the “Herald-Times” newspaper.

Music and Diversity Concert
February 8, 7:30-9:45 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Church
2120 N. Fee Lane

A unique mixture of musical styles and traditions will be presented when four vibrant music ensembles perform live. Sponsored by the Celebration Committee of the UU Church, the annual Music and Diversity Concert is an event designed to promote tolerance for all cultural beliefs and traditions through offering an enchanting evening of culturally diverse music for the larger community. Music will be provided by Delia Alexander and AcaBella, a multi-part vocal ensemble (music from the African Diaspora), Colleen Haas and her group: Women of Mass Percussion (Afro-Brazilian religious and secular music); and Sheasby Matiure and the Mbira Queens and his Mutinhimira Marimba Ensemble of IU (traditional and popular music from Zimbabwe).  The concert is free and open to the public.

“Worlds Collide: Spirit, Soul and Body: A Spoken Word and Visual Art Event of the African American Arts Institute”
Monday, February 25
Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center

Worlds Collide explores the gentle collision of cultural diversity—diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, and art form—through spoken word and visual art. The event features a catered gallery opening of paintings, photography, and sculptures by some of Indiana’s finest visual artists, including Bloomington’s own Wayne Manns and Joel Washington, and IU graduate students Yara Cluver, and Katie Dieter. The opening is followed by spoken word performances by the Philadelphia-based Asian American duo Yellow Rage; poet, writer, educator, and veteran of the Taco Shop Poets Tomas riley; and IU Professor Emeritus Dr. James E. Mumford.

The gallery opening begins at 6:00 p.m. in the Ruth N. Halls Theatre in the NMBCC. Spoken word performances begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the NMBCC. 

SCALI 2008

top

3. Jobs, Fellowships and Other Opportunities

2008 Grant Opportunities from the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs
Additional details and application forms can be found under the "Funding Opportunities"
link at: http://www.indiana.edu/~ovpia

Summer 2008 International Enhancement Grant
Applications due: Feb 18, 2008

Summer 2008 Pre-Dissertation Travel Grant
Applications due: Feb 18, 2008

Opportunity for International Students
February 21 Panel Discussion – seeking panelists

The School of Education’s Cultural Immersion Student Teaching Project provides opportunities for undergraduate students to complete 8 weeks of their student teaching practicum in a foreign country. Currently, the project places students in 13 different countries.  Many of the students who participate in this program have no experience traveling or living internationally, so in preparation for their international student-teaching experience the Cultural Immersion Project holds class sessions once a month to discuss cultural adaptation and strategies for using culturally sensitive pedagogy.

For the February 21 session they are seeking international students to participate in a panel discussion about being an international student in the US.  The discussion will last about 45 minutes and some of the issues addressed include: adapting to a new school, academic expectations, and classroom policies; adapting to a new language and different social norms/expectations; living with a host family or among other US students in a dorm situation; adapting to new food and using new/different living amenities.

Participating will give international students an opportunity to share important cultural insights they have made in their process of adapting to US culture.  Interested students should e-mail Hayley Piper at:  hpiper@indiana.edu

The Project on African Expressive Traditions (POAET)
Travel and Research Grants (up to $2000)

Eligibility: IU undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who wish to do original research in summer or fall 2008 on aspects of culture in Africa or communities of African descent, including language, literature, music, religion, the arts, journalism, dress and popular culture.  These grants are not intended for pre-dissertation exploratory research, enrollment in classes, or participation in conferences. They may be used for dissertation research as long as funded research results in a coherent finite project. All recipients will present their research at the annual POAET Conversations and will submit an article for publication by POAET.

Deadline for applications:  March 28, 2008.  Submit to Professor Eileen Julien, Ballantine Hall 903, IUB.  Announcement of awards will be made in mid-April 2008.

top

4.  Conferences

“New Media and Religious Transformations in Africa”
Abuja, Nigeria, July 10-12, 2008
CALL FOR PAPERS

Hosted by the Centre for the Study of African Culture and Communication, Catholic Institute of West Africa, Port Harcourt, the goal of the conference is to take a critical look at Africa’s rapidly evolving religious media scene. It is particularly interested in the challenges of balancing freedom of expression and freedom of religion and belief in Africa’s fast-growing media sector.

The conference will be divided into two parts: academic  (July 10-July 11) and public part (July 12).  It is anticipated accommodating 50-75 papers in the academic section, along with some plenary papers.  A pre-conference workshop on research methodology and work in progress is planned for the afternoon of July 10.

Questions to consider include:  How is Africa’s religious landscape being changed by the new religious media? In what ways are newer religious organizations, such as the Pentecostals, using the  media to advance political and economic agendas? Are we witnessing the development of new forms of religious activism and proselytism in Africa today due to the upsurge in media growth and diversifications? Which religious groups benefit most or least from Africa’s more liberalized and mass-mediatized public spheres?  How have traditional forms of communication or notions of power been incorporated into the new religious media? What is the impact of the new religious media on popular culture and the entertainment industry, and vice versa? Can we now talk about manifestations of religion as media, and media as religion? How might the conventional divisions and differences between state-run and independent media be reconfigured by new religious media?

Abstracts for paper and panel submissions of between 250-500 should be submitted to BOTH conference directors:  Prof. Rosalind I.J. Hackett, University of Tennessee rhackett@utk.edu and Dr. Benjamin Soares, African Studies Center, Leiden, the Netherlands mediaAndReligion@fsw.leidenuniv.nl ; AND TO Dr. Walter Ihejirika, Center for the Study of African Culture and Communications  WIhejirika@yahoo.com
DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS:  MARCH 31, 2008 (notification of inclusion during April)
DEADLINE FOR FULL PAPERS: JUNE 30, 2008

top

AFRICAN STUDIES NOONTALKS

SPRING 2008 noontalks will begin in mid-February.

top

“FIELDNOTES IN AFRICAN RESEARCH”

African Studies Wednesday Seminar
Fieldnotes in African Research
(Marion Frank-Wilson and Ruth M. Stone)

Wednesdays 5:30-7:30, WH 218

Speakers:
February 20--Steven Raymer, Journalism, Indiana University

February 27--Peter M. Chilson, English and Creative Writing, Washington State University

March 19--Kate Schroeder, History/Library, and Austin Okigbo, Folklore and Ethnomusicology

March 26--Daniel Reed, Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University

April 2--David Henige, Library, African Studies, and Anthropology, University of Wisconsin

April 9--Anaba Anankyela Alemna, Library and Library Science, University of Ghana, Ghana

top