African Studies Cluster @ Wesleyan

About African Studies @ Wes:

Wesleyan University’s African Studies Cluster is devoted to facilitating a deeper understanding and engagement with Africa for the Wesleyan Community and beyond. We bring together a diverse array of courses focusing on Africa, culling the interests of faculty specializing in Africa from a wide variety of disciplines. This broadly interdisciplinary cluster focuses on a large geographic region that is of great historical, cultural, political, and artistic importance and interest to American university students, not to mention American society in general. The cluster promotes interdisciplinary learning in the best of liberal arts traditions.

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Professor Eric Charry, Director of the 2011 Summer Institute for Ethnomusicology and Global Culture

beyondvictimsafricaworkshop2010

Aubrey Graham: Beyond the Victim Exhibit

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Alumnus Sarah Bell, Working at the Football for Hope Center, South Africa

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Student Oluwayimika Taiwo-Peters teaching about water and health in Nigeria, Summer 2010

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Professor Mike Nelson at the annual workshop

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Student Nina Sheth speaks at the annual workshop

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Students Haley Baron and Rachel Levenson in Gulu, Uganda 2010

Photos courtesy of Olivia Drake and various students and faculty.

Two great events last Saturday

1. The Wesleyan World Food Fair, which featured Ugali with Sukuma Wiki at the Shofco table.

2. The African Student Association’s Ariya

Saturday night, the African Student Association had their annual cultural celebration. This year it was titled: “Ariya: The Beats of Africa”. One of many highlights from the program was the presentation of their self-made video, “To Be African Like Me”:

At the end of the celebration awards were presented to two very grateful professors, Alice Hadler and Michael Nelson, for their support of the African Student Association.

The African Students Association invites you to Ariya: The Beats of Africa. Saturday 7pm.

Tags: African Student Association, dance, Music

A Reading and Discussion with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
the acclaimed author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and The Thing Around Your Neck
Thursday, April 5, 2012 4:30pm
Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Ave., New Haven CT
Free and open to the public

Sponsored by the Council on African Studies, African Languages & Literary Studies theme group
Questions? nathan.suhr-sytsma@yale.edu

Tags: Adichie, events, Yale

Are you interested in gender and feminist issues in Africa? Did you find the nomination of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leyma Gbowee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 inspiring? If so,  you might be interested in being part of the organizing committee for a spring 2013 symposium on the topic of “African Feminisms.” The African Studies Cluster is looking for students to take part in the process of deciding which speakers to invite, and in the planning and organizing of the symposium itself. This is a great chance to make sure that speakers come to campus to talk about the issues that interest you, and it will also look great on your CV. If you want to get involved, or have any questions, email Prof Sarah Croucher (scroucher@wesleyan.edu).

Tags: African Feminisms

African Studies Chair Mike Nelson commented on the event on his blog:

“WES-FID: Some Thoughts”

“WES-FID: Commenting on SHOFCO”

Overall, the event was a huge success. The student organizers (both Africanists, of course!) had hoped for 60 students but ended up with more than 130! Plans are in the works to do another repeat conference.

So, congratulations to the organizers and participants on a fantastic event!

Hot Discussion + Pizza

Come understand the Impact of Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). A lively discussion with Prof. Jonathan Cutler.
Location: PAC 001
Time: Tuesday 4pm.

Question to be discussed:

• Is Structural Adjustment a replacement of colonial administrators in third world?
• Is SAP the vehicle for integration of the African proletariat into world Market?
• With the Chinese influence in Africa, what’s the future of the western International capital to implement policy reforms in Africa?

Come come and air your view!
–
Kennedy Odede | President & Chief Executive Officer
Shining Hope for Communities

Tags: structural adjustment

WesFIDSchedule-FINAL

My name is Shilpa Guha and I’m writing to you about Barnard College’s Inaugural Baraza: Young African Women’s Leadership Initiative. This conference will take place on November 4th and 5th, and it will feature speakers such as Athaliah Molokomme (Attorney General of Botswana), Peg Snyder (Vice President of Sirleaf Market Women’s Fund), Susan Mboya (Executive at Coca-Cola South Africa), and Kim Feinberg (CEO of Tomorrow Trust). We hope to reach out to college students across the country, and discuss ways for young women to engage in entrepreneurship efforts in and for Africa as well as the role they currently play in these initiatives. I encourage you to please pass this on to your students. It would be so meaningful to have our participants represent a wide array of colleges and universities; in bringing these students together, we hope the Baraza will not only be educational, but will also serve as a platform for discussion, collaboration, and innovation.

Thank you for your time, and I truly hope you will promote this event to your students. If you have further questions, please contact barazainitiative@gmail.com.

Sincerely,
Shilpa Guha
Barnard College | Columbia University 2012
Political Science and Human Rights, French
Vice Chair of Programming, Baraza Initiative

Lionel Loueke Trio
Saturday, February 25 at 8pm
Crowell Concert Hall

“His music rolls along with a feel-good sense of joy…a new Afro-jazz star.”
-DownBeat

Benin-born jazz guitarist and vocalist Lionel Loueke combines harmonic sophistication, soaring melodies and grounding in West African music to create a warm, intimate sound with his trio, which features Swedish-born bassist Massimo Biolcati and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Praised by mentor Herbie Hancock as “a musical painter,” Loueke was featured on Hancock’s album River: The Joni Letters (2007), which won Album of the Year and Best Contemporary Jazz Grammy Awards.

Tickets are $23 for the general public; $19 for senior citizens, Wesleyan faculty & staff, and non-Wesleyan students; and $6 for Wesleyan students.

Click here to purchase tickets online.

Buy tickets to four or more Performing Arts Series events and save 10%!
Buy tickets to six or more Performing Arts Series events and save 15%!

Call or visit the Wesleyan University Box Office at 860-685-3355 to receive a discount on your purchase of four or more Performing Arts Series events. This special offer also applies to the Outside the Box Theater Series and the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra Weekend.

From the Africa Book Centre – Clearance Sale

The Africa Book Centre will be moving to new, smaller premises in February and
to this end, we are  offering over 1000 excess stock items at bargain basement
prices (up to 70% off list price). See the  catalogues (arranged by region)
here:

http://www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/index.html?http%
3A//www.africabookcentre.com/acatalog/SALE_BOOKS_-_WAREHOUSE_CLEARANCE.html&Cata
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If you have a problem with the website checkout, please email us at
africabookcentre@btconnect.com with  a contact telephone number and we will try
and sort it out for you.