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AFRICAN STUDIES PROGRAM

FRIDAY BULLETIN

April 25, 2008

Contents

1.       Upcoming Events

2.       Announcements of Interest

3.       Jobs, Fellowships and other Opportunities

4.       Conferences

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

Zimbabwe Music and World Music
Saturday, April 26, 8:00 p.m.
Bluebird Nightclub
Tickets:  $15.00

Community Radio WFHB, Student Radio WIUX, and Spirit of ’68 Promotions have joined forces to raise funds for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank’s “25 for 25” campaign.

The two radio stations are presenting world music at the Bluebird Nightclub on Saturday, April 26.  Featured performers include NOMO, Sheasby Matiure’s Mutinhimira Marimba Ensemble and the Mbira Queens, and the Counts of Bounce DJ Crew.   NOMO is a renowned 8-piece Afrobeat band from Detroit, seen in Bloomington previously at the 2006 Lotus Festival.

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2.  Announcements of Interest

Children’s Day
April 27, 2008
Celebrate the children in your life – for information contact Oyibo Afoaku at oafoaku@indiana.edu

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3. Jobs, Fellowships and Other Opportunities

CODESRIA Vacancies
The Council for the Development of Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications for the following positions based in its Executive Secretariat in Dakar, Senegal:

Program Managers
Under the overall authority of the Executive Secretary and the direct supervision of one of the senior program officers in the Executive Secretariat, Program Managers will be expected to serve primarily as officers responsible for the day-to-day scientific management of the CODESRIA programs that fall within their portfolio. Each Program Manager will be required to play a key role in enhancing the quality of the Council’s outreach outputs.

Key tasks and responsibilities of the Program Managers will include: scientific management of day-to-day activities of the cluster of programs under their supervision; organization of research, research training and outreach in different parts of Africa; preparation of reports and monitoring of all program obligations to funders; production of draft quarterly, half-yearly and annual reports; liaison with researchers working in the cluster of programs under their supervision; development of a system of archiving and retrieval of documents connected to their programs; ensuring that their programs meet the Council’s standards of quality; ensure that the quality of interaction between the council and its members is enhanced; liaison with other CODESRIA programs and the CODESRIA administration, finance and membership service on all matters of direct concern to the cluster of programs  under their supervision; represent CODESRIA at third-party meetings.  Program Managers are expected to be hands-on, self-motivating and target-oriented individuals requiring minimum supervision. They must also be capable of leading and motivating a team of support staff.

Requirements:  Candidates for the position of Program Manager must:  have a minimum of an M. Phil. or equivalent; newly graduate Ph.D.’s are encouraged to apply; have a strong grounding in the social sciences/humanities; be familiar with the state of African higher education and the challenges of social research in Africa; be familiar with the trends in the global social science/humanities; have up to 7-years work experience in a research and/or academic multidisciplinary environment; have experience in program monitoring and evaluation; have experience in the organization or research and research meetings of various types; be fully conversant with current information technology and possess knowledge of the use of ICT tools in research; be fluent in either English, French or Portuguese and have a strong working knowledge of one of the others.

Application:   Written application; 2 samples of published works; detailed CV describing professional experience; three reference letters, two of which must come from people living in countries other than applicant’s country of residence.  Send to:  The Executive Secretary, CODESRIA, Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop X Canal IV, P.O. Box 3304 CP 18524; Dakar, Senegal.  Deadline:  July 31, 2008

Program Assistants
Program Assistants are expected to contribute actively and significantly to the day-to-day management of the CODESRIA programs that fall within their portfolio.  Each Program Assistant will also be required to play a key role in enhancing the quality of the Council’s program management. 

Key tasks and responsibilities include:  give scientific and administrative support to senior program staff; serve as first line communication from and to researchers in the field; undertake day-to-day monitoring of activities, including the timely production and receipt of contracts and expected outputs; manage the contracts of researchers whose projects are funded by CODESRIA; manage research grants from beginning to end of project, ensuring that expected results are complete and accurate, and that the required follow-up is provided; undertake logistical tasks in the organization of meetings such as travel claims, mission plans, mission itineraries and follow-up afterward; record, store and retrieve program information into and from the Council’s information systems, and contribute to the optimal use of these resources; monitor the quality of input into the Council’s databases and website; contribute to program-related documentation; coordinate and update program budget, draft minutes and collect information for annual work plans and budgets.  Program Assistants are expected to be hands-on, self-motivating and target-oriented individuals requiring minimum supervision. They must also be capable of working in a multicultural environment.

Requirements:  Candidates for the Program Assistant position must: have a minimum of M.Phil. or equivalent; have strong grounding in the social sciences/humanities; have at least 3-years work experience in a research and/or academic environment; have experience in the organization of research and research meetings of various types; be fully conversant with current information technology and possess knowledge of the use of ICT tools in research; be fluent in English, French or Portuguese and have a strong working knowledge of one of the others.

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4.  Conferences

Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis
April 26 and April 28

513 N. Park  -  SPRING MINI-CONFERENCE
8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. each day
            To see the schedule visit:  http://www.indiana.edu/~workshop/seminar.html

Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
“African Intellectuals and Decolonization”
October 2-4, 2008
CALL FOR PAPERS:  Deadline May 30, 2008

This is the second conference in a series at Ohio University centered on the theme “Perspectives on African Decolonization.” In 1958, Guinea chose political independence over continued association with France. The All-African Peoples Convention that same year highlighted the links between and among Africans and peoples of African descent in the Diaspora.  This year also is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the seminal journal, “Presence Africaine” by Alioune Diop. This conference will focus on all three of these events as well as examine the roles intellectuals have played and continue to play in contemporary African efforts at liberation from economic neo-colonialism. Additionally, it is an opportunity to highlight the cutting edge work of contemporary African philosophers.  Featured speakers will include:  Oyeronke Oyewumi (SUNY Stony Brook), Elizabeth Schmidt (Loyola, Baltimore), and Tsenay Serequeberhan (Morgan State University).

Abstracts for papers and panels from scholars and graduate students in any academic discipline are invited. Presentations that are interdisciplinary and/or transnational in scope will be particularly welcome. Abstracts for individual papers should be 250-300 words and accompanied by a brief CV (no more than 2 pages).  Panel proposals should include abstracts and CVs for each presenter as well as a 250-300 word overview of the panel.  Topics for discussion include, but are not limited to:  Who is African? Who is an intellectual? What do we mean by decolonization? Colonialism and decolonization in Africa; Neocolonialism and (neo)decolonization in Africa; Women and decolonization in Africa; Decolonizing the (Westernized) Academy; African philosophies and decolonization; African indigenous knowledge systems and decolonization; The arts and African decolonization; African literatures and decolonization; The Sciences and decolonization in Africa; Conservation of natural resources in Africa and decolonization.

As the conference is held in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of Guinea’s independence on October 2, panels and papers concerning Ahmed Sekou Toure, Guinea, and decolonization are particularly welcome.  Selected papers will be published in an edited collection of essays to commemorate these significant moments in African history and to reflect upon the legacies of fifty years of “independence” in Africa.

Please submit paper and panel proposals to:  Acacia Nikoi (nikoi@ohio.edu)

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