The department gathers to celebrate the end of a year of hard work and accomplishment.
Events
The Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies sponsors or co-sponsors several recurring events every year, including conferences, symposia, workshops, and speakers. Scholars - from a diversity of disciplines, from around the country, and from other areas of the diaspora - visit Indiana University to headline or attend these events. Whether a screenwriting workshop with actor/director Melvin Van Peebles or a lecture by Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, secretary general of the Pan-African Movement, such events enrich and enliven the educational experience of undergraduate and graduate students alike.
Upcoming Events
November Upcoming Events!
Friday, December 4, 2009
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Memorial Hall East M39
We will have a Gift Exchange, so if you would like to participate please bring in a $10.00 Gender Neutral gift.
Please contact Yunika Jackson with the dish you plan to bring.
ytjackso@indiana.edu or (812) 855-3875.
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Three Historians of Brazil
Monday, November 16, 4:00pm
Walnut room, IMU
Brodwyn Fischer
Why, in discussions of favelas and mocambos in Brazil over the 1930s-50s, did Rural-urban differences come to eclipse analyses that emphasized racial inequalities?
Ivana Stolze Lima
Using runaway slave notices, this paper explores slaveowners’ representations of slave speech and the strategic uses African & creole slaves themselves made of the Portuguese language.
Francisco Teixeira Portugal
Manoel Bomfim's psychology offers an alternative to prevailing rhetorics of national identity and evolutionism in early twentieth-century Brazil.
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Reclaiming the Right to Rock: Black Experiences in Rock Music”
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IU Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference
Nov. 13-14, 2009
The conference will begin on Nov. 13 with high school sessions at 9 a.m. Activities for college students begin with a reception at 7 p.m that evening. The conference will continue the next morning at 8 a.m. and through lunch.
The deadline for registration is Nov. 6. The fee to attend the conference is $55 for university and community professionals, $30 for college students and $20 for high school students. Interested students should contact the Office of Mentoring Services and Leadership Development at 812-855-8850. The fee includes all conference materials, the opening reception, breakfast and lunch and materials.
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Feed your spirit while you feed your soul. Farm-Bloomington, located at 108 E. Kirkwood Avenue, will be hosting a Gospel Brunch Buffet on November 8, 2009 from noon until 3:00 p.m. The buffet will include southern soul food dishes, such as dirty rice cheese grits with cheddar and scallions, barbecued pork loin and fried chicken with bacon gravy, among other items. New Vision, a gospel group, which consists of current students and alumni of the Indiana University African American Arts Institute’s Choral Ensemble, will be serving gospel songs for your listening pleasure. Jazz and soul music are also on the menu. The price of the buffet is $25.00 per person. You don't want to miss this event!!
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Robert Chaudenson
La Francophonie: représentations, réalités et perspectives
7:00 pm, Wednesday, November 11, 2009
University Club - President’s Room
Indiana Memorial Union
Robert Chaudenson, professor emeritus at the University of Provence(Aix-Marseille I), is the leading specialist of French-based creoles in the world. He will offer a talk entitled, “La Francophonie: Representations, Realities and Perspectives” in the IMU University Club-President’s Room, on Wed., Nov. 1, 2009 at 7 p.m. His presentation is described on the attached flyer. Lecture will be in French, to be followed by a reception.
His talk is sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Study, where Prof. Chaudenson is a visiting fellow, the Department of French and Italian, and the West European Studies program.
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October Upcoming!
Homecoming Hang Out - the rain could not keep us away! Comehang with us for our rain date, October 23, 2009, 3-4 p.m., Memorial Hall East M39.
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Zeta Phi Beta Alumni Sorority-Upsilon Kappa Zeta Chapter,Caribbean Dinner Night is this Friday September 25 from 6pm- 8pm Tickets are 7.00 can be purchase from Rafik Hasan
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Jimmy Ross Tailgate Party
The IU Black Faculty & Staff Caucus and the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club will host a Homecoming Jimmy Ross Pregame Tailgate. Join us for this memorial tailgate party in honor of our beloved friend and esteemed former colleague, Jimmy Ross. Enjoy the festive atmosphere of IUAA’s Hoosier Village with live music, great food, game-day apparel and merchandise, and plenty of Hoosier spirit to get you fired up for the big game. Even if you don’t plan to attend the game, please join your colleagues, fellow alumni, and friends for great food and Hoosier Hospitality!
Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 17:
3:30 to 6:30 p.m.: Hoosier Village, behind the DeVault Alumni Center
Cost is $15 for adults, $6 for children (ages 12 and under), and no charge for little Hoosiers (ages 2 and under).
7 p.m.: IU vs. Illinois Football Game
Game tickets are $30.
Tickets may be purchased at the main entrance tent to Hoosier Village. Parking fees are the same at Hoosier Village as for other lots adjacent to Memorial Stadium. IU season-ticket parking passes are also accepted at Hoosier Village.
Themester Film Series
“Nothing But a Man” November 12, 2009, 7:15 p.m. - 10:15 p.m., A201 (Theatre and Drama Center, Lee Norvelle), (Discussant: Dr. Audrey T. McCluskey), Plot: A devil-may-care young man is drawn to a grounded young woman, they part, he realizes he prefers stability to freedom, they reconcile. The interest for viewers today as well as 40 years ago lies in the protagonists' skin color: they are black, as is most everyone else on screen. And they live in the Deep South of the early 1960s, where the still-operative system of peonage conspired to keep African-Americans enslaved economically and beaten down emotionally. Runtime: 95 minutes
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Film: UP THE RIDGE
Based on hundreds of letters from inmates transferred to Wallens Ridge, a new prison built to prop up the shrinking coal economy, Up the Ridge explores the prison-industrial complex, human rights relations, and the racial politics of the system.
NOVEMBER 3RD @ 7:00PM IN BALLANTINE 148
Free -
Sponsored by Rethinking Incarceration, a new student group
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How does the criminal justice system deal with its most dangerous criminals? Is lengthy solitary confinement a violation of human rights? Learn and discuss issues such as these at a screening of this documentary, followed by a discussion and debate.
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Saturday, September 26, 2009
7:00 pm Documentary Film Showing and Discussion
Location: IMU, Frangipani Room
Film: Voices of American Farm Women
Cynthia Vagnetti, Michigan State University
The film, Voices of Wisconsin Women represents the last component of a multi-state and multi-year project that utilized new media audio and visual technologies to document 30 Upper Midwest Farm women involved in advancing the local food and farming movement. They are representative of the global efforts by leading women committed to biodiversity conservation while creating sustainable rural livelihoods that are socially just. Community-based organizations collaborating in the larger project, 
Voices of American Farm Women with Women, Food and Agriculture Network, Land Stewardship Project, MOSES, and Michigan
Farmers’ Union. A traveling black and white photography exhibition was produced by EXHIBITS USA and traveled from 2004-2009.
Thesis Defense
Economic Warfare: Contradiction and Underdevelopment in the System of Global Politics
Cory Brodnax
October 20, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Memorial Hall East M39
This presentation will address the economic colonization of 20th century Africa in relationship to Western financial powers, and how those powers operate in the 21st century to the continuing detriment of Africa.
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To Reclaim Their History: Caribbean Archivists and the Development of International Archival Standards
Bergis Jules
October 23, 2009
10:30 a.m.
Memorial Hall East 139
(Gender Studies Conference Room)
In order for archivists in the Caribbean to begin to reverse some of the devastation created by the systemic distortion and loss of the historical record in the Caribbean, they must be deliberately involved in the development of the standards that govern the archival profession. My paper examines why it is imperative that archivists in the Caribbean be involved with creating these standards taking into consideration the Caribbean's colonial past and a historically strong legacy of power and exclusion represented archives.
Lecture Notes
Check this link, prepared by IU Media Relations, for a variety of upcoming lectures at IU Bloomington.
Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center
Check this link for a variety of upcoming events at the NMBCC.
Brown Bag Series 2009-10
The first event, "Diversity at IU: What It Is, What It Is Not and What It Should Be," takes place Thursday (Sept. 24). The program will begin at 4 p.m. in the Bridgwaters Lounge of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave.
Panelists will be Eric Love, director of the IU Office of Diversity Education; Jacob Levin, a columnist at the Indiana Daily Student; Caralee Jones, vice president of the African American and African Diaspora Graduate Student Society; and Heather Essex, another graduate student in African American and African Diaspora Studies at IU.
Co-sponsors of the series are the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, the Asian Culture Center, First Nations Education and Cultural Center, and La Casa Latino Cultural Center.
The other events in the brown bag series are:
Oct. 8 -- "Cops, Scientists, Crooks and Cooks," a discussion of how minorities are represented in the media, in the Bridgwaters Lounge of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 4 p.m.
Oct. 14 -- "A Positive Place for Kids” - Heather Essex – the project addresses a number of important issues such as the self-perception of Black youth; the role of Black popular and expressive culture in the development and conditioning of Black youth; and the unspoken tensions that exist in the generation gap between the elders and the youth of the Black community. Time: 12-1:30 pm, Location: Memorial Hall East M39.
Oct. 22 -- "The Truth about Interracial Dating," a discussion of current views on the topic and barriers that face interracial couples who date or marry, at La Casa, 715 E. Seventh St., 4 p.m.
Nov. 5 -- "Race and Ethnic Classification: Can Identity be Negotiated?" a discussion of whether people can choose their identity or whether others choose it for us, at the Asian Culture Center, 807 E. 10th St., 4 p.m.
Conversations with...
AAADS enjoys sitting down around a table in the company of special people who visit the department and the university. These occasions are more intimate than lectures, and everyone has a chance to interact with our guests, who may be from the fields of academia, business, politics, activism, religion, or education. What they all have in common is that they are interesting people, doing interesting work. And, of course, refreshments are served.
3 November, 12 – 1 pm in Woodburn Hall 218
"Travels with Mae: Scenes from a New Orleans Girlhood,”
Eileen Julien - Comparative Literature
On Tuesday, November 10, Host Dave Stewart interviews Eileen Julien on Interchange. Eileen Julien is the Author of the 2009 IU Press published book Travels With Mae, as well as being the Chairperson of the Comparative Literature Department here at Indiana University. Travels With Mae is a book written in the format of montages of memories including a childhood in pre-Katrina New Orleans as well as an career of teaching and writing on several continents. Join Host Dave Stewart and Eileen Julien for a lively discussion on Comparative Literature and the recently published book Travels With Mae, on Interchange, November 10th from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M.
The interview will be aired Tuesday on WFHB (98.1 and 91.3 FM) from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M. (11/10) and is also streamed on www.wfhb.org and archived by going to www.wfhb.org and then NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS and then INTERCHANGE.
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Images of Haiti as a Colony and as a Free Black Nation
Thursday, November 12, 12:15-1:00 p.m.
Gallery of the Art of the Western World, first floor
Visiting specialist on Haitian art and culture LeGrace Benson, director of the Arts of Haiti Research Project and associate editor of the Journal of Haitian Studies, will discuss four eighteenth-century paintings completed just before the Haitian Revolution and works by American artists Eldzier Cortor and Walter Rosenblum inspired by their sojourns to Haiti in the mid-twentieth century.
This talk is presented in conjunction with the Haitian Studies Association 21st Annual Conference: www.haitianstudies.umb.edu/conference.html.
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10 November
"The Experience of Writing in Africa Today : A Personal Itinerary,"
Femi Osofisan, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Femi Osofisan is a critic, poet, novelist, essayist, lecturer, editor, publisher, culture activist, the most prolific, most performed and the most enthusiastically received playwright in Nigeria. He has written and produced over 40 plays. Numbered among them are Midnight Hotel, Morountodun, Who is Afraid of Solarin?, Birthdays are not for the Dying, and his latest play, Ajayi Crowther. His poems published under the pseudonym, Okinba Launko are Minted Coins and Dream Seeker on Diving Chain. His writing employs a range of literary devices such as humour, irony, song, dance folktale and fables.
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Forum Series
Panels made up of faculty, community experts, and student representatives discuss contemporary issues and connect them to historic issues or problems, putting them into perspective for today.
Guest Lectures
Distinguished guests are brought to IU to give talks in their discipline. These lecturers, often nationally acclaimed, are sponsored by AAADS or other departments with whom AAADS acts as a co-sponsor.
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"Black Masculinities and Geographies of Incarceration"
Feb. 11, 2008
Presented by Rashad Shabazz, prison abolitionist and doctoral candidate in history of consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz
Conferences
Triennial Rural Women’s Studies Conference
Theme: Health, Healing, and Rural Life in Global Communities
Click here to view list of panels
When: September 24-27, 2009, IMU.
The conference opens on Thursday, September 24th with noon registration; sessions will follow. There is a 6:30 opening reception and panel program. It closes on Saturday evening. Many sessions will be thought provoking and different in terms of how we think about culture, history, race, gender, and life. Rural people are rarely included in discussions in most institutions of higher learning. This is a great opportunity for us to think about the Diaspora in a different way. As you will see, the conference has many co-sponsors who are hoping that a conversation about the needs and experiences of rural people in global communities permeates the IU and Bloomington community over the next few days. The conference has a unique blend of scholars, activists, educators, producers of various kind, medical researchers and policy makers as well as others. Our theme is; “Health, Healing, and Rural Life in Global Communities.”
Read about our own Dr. Grim in the PRESS RELEASE - 9/10/09
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Registration for the Men and Women of Color Leadership Conference is now open! The conference will take place on Friday, November 13, - Saturday, November 14. The conference will take place at the Kelley School of Business on the Graduate and Executive Education side. This year both men and women conference events are going to be combined into one mega event! Last year the two separate events attracted nearly 500 participants to this campus combined! They came from such places as Huston-Tillotson University (Austin Texas), Virginia State, Michigan State University, Eastern Illinois University, Western Kentucky, and schools represented from the states of Ohio, and Indiana. This year Jeff Johnson (BET/CNN) will be our highlighted speaker. In addition the conference will host husband and wife authors Robert Jackson (“Black Men Stand Up”) and Tajuana Butler (“Sorority Sisters”) to participate in the conference. Please pass this information on to all of your colleagues and students in your area who you think would benefit from attending or bringing students. You must register online at www.iub.edu/~moc to attend. Register early so that you can reserve your spot.
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The African American Arts Institute presents to you its 2009-2010 performance season titled “Above and Beyond”. The Institute is comprised of three ensembles, African American Dance Company, African American Choral Ensemble and the IU Soul Revue.
- IU Soul Revue at Bear’s Place: November 18th, 2009, 9:00 p.m.
- Potpourri of the Arts: December 5th, 2009, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 8:00 p.m.
- African American Dance Company Studio Concert: December 10th, 2009 Willkie Auditorium, 7:30 p.m.
- African American Dance Company Spring Concert: April 10th, 2010 at, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 8:00 p.m.
- African American Choral Ensemble Spring Concert: April 17th, 2010, John Waldron Arts Center Auditorium, 8:00 p.m.
- IU Soul Revue Spring Concert: May 1st, 2010, Buskirk-Chumley Theater, 8:00 p.m.
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Variations on Blackness Conference
Variations on Blackness is an interdisciplinary, international conference on race making in the modern world.
Conference papers address the circumstances
behind the various meanings of blackness in different cultural contexts, from what it means in the United States,
to the operative definitions at work in
Cuba, South Africa, India, and elsewhere.
Herman Hudson Symposium
AAADS graduate students, with a faculty advisor, decide on a theme, plan, and execute all aspects of
the Herman Hudson Symposium. Participation in this
conference is an opportunity to experience academic life at a higher level. Students not only plan the
event, but also research, write, and present
original papers. Every year, master's students go through the cycle of fear, exhilaration, anticipation,
and victory that marks this special program as
an academic rite of passage. Graduate students at other universities are invited to participate and
present papers as well.
Workshops
African American Dance Company
Workshop
The highly acclaimed African American Dance Company holds its workshop each year for three days of
classes. Registration is required. The AADC is well
known for its talent in traditional, modern, and experimental African American, African, and diasporic dance.
Receptions & Celebrations
• In August during the graduate student orientation, we welcomed both our first year students and returning students. This year, 2009/2010, WE WELCOMED OUR FIRST PHD COHORT. In the year that we celebrate our 40th year as an academic unit on the Bloomington campus, we also are experiencing a dream come true. We have the PhD. Thank you Herman Hudson, Joe Russell, Winona Fletcher, Phyllis Klottman, Bill Wiggins, John McCluskey and all others who helped to get AAADS to this point. We stand on your shoulders and we are poised to carry the torch.
• September 11, 2009, we honored 35 years of service that our office manager, Melissa Stewart, has given to the university. Colleagues from around the campus arrived and M39 was filled with great energy and excitement. We thanked Melissa for giving so much to the department and the university. She was presented with flowers from AAADS and a certificate of appreciation from IU. This was a great gathering with many people meeting each other for the very first time.
• September 19, 2009, AAADS honored the work and service of Professor John McCluskey who retired after the academic year 2008/2009. This was an awesome moment of memory and tributes with students coming from distances and Bloomington to say thank you to John. Words of thanks were delivered by former Chancellor, Dr. Ken Gros Louis and Linda Jean, former office manager for John when he chaired the department. Fred McElroy, who was mentored by John when he was an assistant professor, gave special thanks and Bill Wiggins hosted the event. We especially thank Trustee Sue Talbot and Dean Patrick O’Meara for their attendance. And we also were fortunate to have many well worshippers for John from his second home, the English Department, who was represented with words from Tony Ardizzone. Special thanks to the College, The English Department, and the Groups Program, an academic unit for whom Professor McCluskey has been a mentor for many first generation college students. The program would not have been possible without the Staff, especially Yunika Jackson, and the faculty in AAADS. The Mahluli-McCutchen Quartet gifted us and John with beautiful live jazz music. Nobel and Pulitzer prize winner as well as Grammy award winner, Toni Morrison, sent a letter of congratulation; we thank April Smith, who received her MA in AAADS, for reaching out to Professor Morrison. Thank you. Thanks to all.