Past Events & Conferences

Spring 2008 Events

Jubilee Celebration of the 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF GHANA’S INDEPENDENCE
Sponsored by Indiana University African Studies Program and Graduate Students in African Studies
See link for details of semester-long activies: http://www.iub.edu/~afrist/ghanajubilee.html

Co-sponsored by African Studies, IU English Department, IU Comparative Literature Department, and the Project on African Expressive Traditions (POAET)

Adewale Maja-Pearce, Nigerian writer/publisher, author of numerous books and former editor of the Heinemann African Writers’ Series (1986-94) and Africa editor of “Index on Censorship” (1986-97). He lives in Lagos, where he runs YEMAJA, an editorial services agency. His most recent book is “Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa & Other Essays, (2005).

Sunday, April 20
2:30 p.m., Monroe County Public Library
            Reading and Discussion: “How Pinkie Killed a Man” and other pieces from, “Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa and Other Essays (2005).

Monday, April 21
2:30 p.m., Woodburn 218
            Lecture and Discussion: “Exile, Foreign Publishing, and Literary Culture in Nigeria”

The Poet and the Emperor: Power and the Arts in Nigeria & Beyond”
Presented by the Project on African Expressive Traditions (POAET) and Arts Week 2008
February 25, Lilly Library

5:00 p.m.         A Reading by Akin Adesokan, Nigerian novelist, journalist and IU Comparative
                        Literature professor will read from his 2004 debut novel “Roots in the Sky.” Fellow
                        Journalist and scholar, Harvard Professor Biodun Jeyifo will respond.
6:30 p.m.         Reception and Exhibit of works by Professors Adesokan and Jeyifo
7:15 p.m.         A Conversation with Akin Adesokan and Biodun Jeyifo
                        Adesokan and Jeyifo will discuss issues of writing, the state, and politics in Nigeria,
                        Africa and beyond.

“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.

2008 Robert and Avis Burke Lecture Series
 "Constructing African Art Histories for the Lagoons of Côte d'Ivoire"
a lecture by Dr. Monica Blackmun Visonà Department of the History of Art, University of Kentucky
Friday, January 18th
4:30 p.m.
Radio & TV, Room 251

Dr. Monica Blackmun Visonà lived in Malawi, in eastern Africa, as a child.  Since then she has traveled extensively in Africa, and has conducted fieldwork in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Ghana. She is the principal author of the critically acclaimed survey "A History of Art in Africa" (Abrams/Prentice Hall 2000), and has just completed revisions for the book’s second edition (Pierson 2007).

Dr. Visonà is currently completing a manuscript, "Constructing African Art Histories for the Lagoons of Côte d’Ivoire," a study of the methodologies and critical issues encountered by art historians engaged in research in African communities. Her talk at Indiana University will focus upon some of the issues raised in this book.

Fall 2007 Events

Thursday, November 29
Contemporary Nigerian Artist: Confrontations, Contestations and Conversations with Modernity
4:00 p.m.
Bridgewater Lounge, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center

Adérónké Adésànyà is Research Fellow/Lecturer in African Art History, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, as well as an accomplished cartoon artist. Her current book project, Carving Woods, Making History: Tradition, Modernity and Yoruba Woodcarvings is the first comprehensive work on the woodcarving tradition in the Yoruba town of Ila-Orangun. During her visit to the Institute (November 4–December 2), Adésànyà will visit classes and consult with colleagues in Comparative Literature, African American & African Diaspora Studies, the Committee on African-American Studies, Anthropology, African Art History, and the IU Art Museum on the Bloomington and IUPUI campuses.  For further information contact her primary sponsor, Akin Adesokan, Dept. of Comparative Literature, IUB (Adesokan@indiana.edu) or the Institute (812-855-3658).

Thursday-Friday, October 11-12 2007

International Conference
"Islam, Contested Authority, and the Making of Everyday Lives in Africa"

The African Studies Program will host a conference on “Islam, Contested Authority, and the Making of Everyday Lives in Africa.”  The conference is being organized by Beth Buggenhagen (Anthropology), Maria Grosz-Ngate (African Studies), John Hanson (History), and Dorothea Schulz (Religious Studies).

All presentations will take place in Woodburn Hall 218. Click on this link for a copy of the Conference Program.

For information, please contact: Email:grosz@indiana.edu

FILM:  THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11    8:00 PM 
STUDENT BLD. 060
CHRISTIANE OWUSU-SARPONG
Strasbourg, France

Dr. Owusu-Sarpong will show her DVD on Akan funeral rites Thursday evening at 8:00 in Student Building 060.
Everyone is welcome.

Sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology and Folklore/Ethnomusicology and the African Studies Program.

COLLOQUIUM:  WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, NOON
STUDENT BUILDING 150
CHRISTIANE OWUSU-SARPONG
Strasbourg, France

THE "WRITING" OF HISTORY AMONG THE AKAN OF GHANA

Christiane Owusu-Sarpong has a doctorate from the Universite de Franche Comte, Besancon, and held the position of Associate Professor at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, until 2001 when she returned to France.  She has edited two volumes of a TRILINGUAL ANTHOLOGY OF AKAN FOLKTALES and published a book on the basis of her dissertation research in 2000, LA MORT AKAN - ETUDE ETHNO-SEMIOTIQUE DES TEXTES FUNERAIRES AKAN.  She numerous other publications as well.

Sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology and Folklore/Ethnomusicology and the African Studies Program.

ALUKA  Digital Library Demonstration
Friday, October 5
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon
WH 218

Aluka is an international collaboration of academic and cultural institutions as well as scholars and researchers from around the world working together to build a digital library of content, both from and about Africa. Aluka’s goal is to bridge the gaps in scholarship by increasing access to primary source materials from Africa to the global community, while simultaneously providing a platform to share more broadly diverse Africana collections from around the world.

Javanica Curry, Assistant Director for Library Relations will host this informal session where African Studies faculty and students are invited to learn more about the resource and Aluka’s broader initiative. Attendees will be introduced to the diverse materials available, the dynamic tools provided to effectively use the content for research and teaching, followed by a discussion of how to get involved in the global initiative.

Indiana University currently has access to this resource through a free trial until December. If you would like to use this resource, simply go to www.aluka.org click log-in and register. If you have any questions or feedback about Aluka please feel free to contact Kate Schroeder (katschro@indiana.edu)

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

Abstracts should include the author’s name, address, institutional affiliation, email address and phone number. A $20 conference fee can be paid upon registration at the start of the conference.  More information can be found at:  http://africa.msu.edu/gradconference/  Questions may be addressed to conference organizers at msuasgc@msu.edu

September 22, 2007
6th Annual Black Student Leadership Conference

The Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center sponsors 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.

Spring 2007 Events

March 29-April 1, 2007

POEAT (Project on African Expressive Traditions)
Literature and the Arts in Senegal I: Birago Diop and Léopold Sédar Senghor, Then and Now
Director: Professor Eileen Julien, African American & African Diaspora Studies, Comparative Literature, French & Italian
http://www.indiana.edu/~complit/poaetevents.html

March 23-25, 2007

Liberia Studies Association (LSA39)
Theme: Liberia: Performing the Symbols of the Past, Reinventing the Symbols of the Future
http://www.onliberia.org/lsa_lsa39.htm

Spring 2006 Events

Saturday, February 25 2006

African Studies Program WorkShop, Outreach Program
West African Kingdoms and Aesthetic Traditions of Africa
9:00 - 9:30 a.m. Venue Woodburn Hall 218
For information, please Contact: Email:afreach@indiana.edu

Wednesday, February 15 2006

Salih Booker, Africa Action
"Ending Global Apartheid: Africa and the United States"
7:00 - 8:45 p.m. Monroe County Public Library Auditorium
For information on Mr. Booker, visit: http://africaaction.org/index.php

Spring 2005 Events

Friday, April 1 2005

African Language Festival
Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center 6:00 p.m.

Saturday, March 26 2005

Screening of Sidet By Salem Mekuria.
5:00 pm. Woodburn Hall 12.

Saturday, March 26 2005

Workshop on Documentary Filmmaking
with Filmmaker Salem Mekuria.
9am-1pm, Woodburn Hall 121.
By pre-enrollment only. Free.
For information and registration visit http://www.indiana.edu/~bfca.

Thursday, March 24 2005

Screening of
Ye Wonz Maibel (Deluge)
By Salem Mekuria.
4pm, Woodburn Hall 007
Followed by discussion with the filmmaker and reception in Rawles Room (2nd floor, Woodburn Hall).

Friday, March 4 2005

Graduate Student Forum with Dr. Zeleza,
"Rethinking Africa's Globalization"
10:00 - 11:30 a.m. Woodburn Hall 218

Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Pennsylvania State University
"The Cultural and Political Economies of Africa's Globalization and Diasporas"

John D. French, Duke University
"'Our Barbarous Civilizers': A View from Latin America and the Caribbean"

Thursday, March 3 2005

Symposium, "The Jagged Edge: Globalization as Seen from the Near Periphery (Africa and Latin America)"
5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Woodburn Hall 120

Friday, February 25 2005

Mahir Saul, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
"Islam in the Polity and Culture of West Africa and Imperial Misinvention"
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Woodburn Hall 009

Thursday, February 17 2005

Birgit Brock-Utne, University of Oslo, Norway
"Language of Instruction in Africa: A Special Focus on Tanzania"
4:00 - 5:00 p.m. Education 1120