(Archived Friday Bulletin)

• Return to Current Bulletin

AFRICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

FRIDAY BULLETIN

AUGUST 31, 2007

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

Tuesday Noon Talks
WH 218, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

Tuesday Noon Talks will begin on September 18.  The preliminary list is attached at the end of this Bulletin.  We still have available Tuesday dates.  If you have research or conference papers you would like to present, please let us know.

Wednesday Evening Seminar
WH 218, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
September 5

James Delehanty, Geography/African Studies, University of Wisconsin
            “Mapping Contemporary Africa”

Light refreshments will be provided at 5:00 p.m. in WH 221.

African Studies Program Fall Reception
The African Studies Program Annual Fall Reception is being planned for Wednesday, September 26 at 5:30 p.m.  It will be held in the University Club President’s Room, IMU.

International Conference
October 11-12
WH 218

2.  Announcements of Interest  

African Jewelry and Crafts Sale
Wednesday, September 12
10:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
WH 218

3. Jobs, Fellowships and Other Opportunities

UCLA – Part-time KiSwahili and IsiZulu instructors

Kiswahili and IsiZulu instructors will be needed at UCLA for classes this fall.  Zulu will be taught at the introductory level and Swahili will be taught at the introductory, intermediate and possibly the advanced level.  Interested applicants should apply as soon as possible.

The academic year begins September 24, 2007 and ends June 13, 2008.  Classes meet 4-5 hours per week and instructors will be paid on an hourly basis for teaching, lesson planning, writing exams and quizzes, grading student work and meeting with the African Languages coordinator, totaling up to 20 hours per week.  Applicants should have teaching experience and a degree in a relevant discipline (M.A. or other advanced degree preferred). Experience with university students in the US is a plus. Candidates should speak Kiswahili or IsiZulu at the superior proficiency level or beyond, and also have strong English skills.  Positions are open until filled.

Send a letter of application, curriculum vitae and two letters of recommendation to:  Dr. Katrina Daly Thompson, African Languages Coordinator, UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center, 10244 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA  90095-1310; FAX 310-206-2250  E-mail: kdthompson@humnet.ucla.edu  Email applications are preferred.  UCLA is an EEO.

Africa Action Positions

Africa Action is the oldest organization in the US working on African affairs. Through the provision of accessible information and analysis, combined with the mobilization of public pressure, it works to change the policies and policy-making processes of US and multinational institutions toward Africa. The program staff is divided between the Department of Policy Analysis and communications and the Department of Public Education and Mobilization.  There is also an administrative staff.

Position:  Executive Director – Management and Administration
Position: Program Coordinator, Policy Analysis and Communications
Position: Administrator

See the website:  www.africaaction.org/about/jobs/php  for details and application information.

Africa Action Internship Opportunities

Africa Action offers academic semester and summer internships for undergraduate and graduate students in Washington, DC. Interns will develop a more comprehensive understanding of how an Africa advocacy organization utilizes policy analysis and organizing to affect national policy.  Interns have an opportunity to support the organization’s current work, focused on three primary campaigns:  to cancel Africa’s debt, end the HIB/AIDS crisis in Africa, and stop genocide in Darfur, Sudan. Interns will work primarily in either the Public Education and Mobilization Department (DPEM) or the Policy Analysis and Communications Department (DPAC), depending on their talents and interests.

Visit the website:  www.africaaction.org/about/jobs.php  for details and application information.

Amnesty International USA

Amnesty International offers a volunteer opportunity to faculty and students to act as Country Specialists to monitor and advocate for human rights in various African countries.  Country Specialists work from their homes in the US as they monitor human rights in Eastern Africa (Somalia, Somaliland, and Djibouti), Mauritania, Mali and Niger, Southern Africa (Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, and South Africa), Morocco, and Libya.  Visit the website: www.amnestyuse.org for more information or e-mail: cg2intern@aiusa.org

Sofja Kovalevskaja Award presented by the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung/Foundation
The Kovalevskaja Award is open to highly acclaimed scholars and scientists from all countries and disciplines. Applicants must have completed a doctoral degree with distinction within the past six years and have published in prestigious international journals or academic presses. The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation particularly welcomes applications from qualified female junior researchers.

This award, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research is one of the most generously endowed research awards in Germany.  The funding -  up to 1.65 million EUR per award – enables scholars with outstanding research records to concentrate on high-level innovative research in Germany, virtually without administrative constraints. With the funds provided over five years by the Sofja Kovalevskaja Award, recipients conduct independent research; finance a research team at a German university or research institution of their choice; and cover their living expenses.

4.  Conferences

6th Annual Black Student Leadership Conference

The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center is sponsoring the 6th Annual Black Student Leadership Conference “Revitalizing our Community and Creating Atmospheric Change”, Saturday, September 22, 2007 at the NMBCC on the Bloomington campus.  8:00-9:30 am: Registration/Tour of the NMBCC/; 9:30 am – 4:00 pm Conference Sessions.  Mrs. Joyce Q. Rogers, President/CEO of Indiana Black Expo and IU Law School alum will present the Keynote address.

Registration is $5.00 for all students.  Deadline for registration:  September 14, 2007.  There are a few registration forms at the front desk in the African Studies Office, WH 221.

Michigan State University Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference
September 28-29, 2007
CALL FOR PAPERS

The graduate students and the African Studies Center at MSU are hosting this conference with the hope to foster an engaging atmosphere in which students can discuss their research and receive important feedback. The conference is interdisciplinary and open to students at all levels of their graduate careers. MSU hopes to receive submissions that present research proposals, research designs, dissertation or thesis chapters, methodological models, work in progress, outlines of dissertation and preliminary research findings. MSU has over 175 faculty members that focus on Africa and some faculty will serve as discussants in the hope that they will offer constructive feedback to the conference participants. The conference is also designed to help prepare students who will present at the 2007 African Studies Association Meeting to be held in New York in October.

Abstracts due:  September 3, 2007
E-mail submissions to:  msuasgc@msu.edu

AFRICAN STUDIES NOONTALKS

FALL 2007

Woodburn Hall 218, 12:00-1:00 p.m.

               Titles will be added as they become available.

September 18        Elizabeth Perrill, Art History

September 25        Michael Reece, HPER
                                    “Research on HIV-Related Mental Health in Kenya:
                                      Conceptual and Methodological Considerations”

October 2                Kate Schroeder, Library

October 9                Gracia Clark, Anthropology
                                    “Traders Talk: A Collaborative Workshop”

October 16              Takyiwaa Manuh, African Studies, University of Ghana
                                    “Human Rights in Africa”
October 23             

October 30

November 6                        Ruth Stone, Folklore/Ethnomusicology, and Verlon Stone,
Liberia Collections

November 13          Okomfo “Ama” Boakyewa, Anthropology

November 20          THANKSGIVING WEEK

November 27

December 4                        Angela Stone-MacDonald, Education

December 11

“TEACHING ABOUT AFRICA”

FALL SEMINAR SCHEDULE

Wednesday 5:30-7:30pm, Woodburn 218

September 5    James Delehanty (Univ. of Wisconsin): “Mapping Contemporary Africa.”

October 3        John Aden (Wabash College): “Roots and Branches: Historical Overview to 1870.”

October 16      (Tuesday)  Takyiwaa Manuh (University of Ghana): “Human Rights in Africa”
                        Note: This seminar will be presented in the Tuesday Noontalk series
                                    12:00 p.m., WH 221)
                       
October 31      Tracy Luedke (Northeastern Illinois University): “Health and Society.”

November 7    Stephen Ndegwa (World Bank): “Development Issues.”

November 14  Karen T. Hansen (Northwestern U.): “Urban Life.”