Spring 2008 Events
AFRICAN STUDIES PROGRAM EVENTS
Meeting with Outreach Africa
Date: January 30th, 2008
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: LIB 2032 (2nd floor, south side of Main Library)
The African Studies program will be sponsoring a meeting with Outreach
Africa, based out of Union, Iowa, to introduce students and faculty to the
unique opportunities available to volunteer with the organization in Tanzania, East Africa.
Outreach Africa has established an exceptional tie with villages and community of Singida, Tanzania. With the help of professionals across Iowa and the country the organization has helped begin community health, agriculture, education and clean water programs. These sustainable programs have been bettering the circumstances of the 22,000 residents and a feeding center being built in Singida town will serve 500 street and vulnerable kids each day.
There is a unique opportunity for students at the University of Iowa to get
involved in these projects through a short-term trip to Tanzania. Nursing and pre-health professions students can participate in the exchange program at the government hospital. Education majors can help teach English at the local school Outreach Africa built, which currently has a 100:1 student-to-teacher ratio. Engineering students may be interested in helping with the clean water project or initiating new developments.
The founders of Outreach and University of Iowa students who traveled to the area in 2007 will meet with students and faculty and will be sharing their experiences. In addition, insights and plans for returning to Tanzania in 2008 will be discussed.
Any student or faculty member interested in learning about the organization is encouraged to come!!
Africa for Any Major: African Studies at The University of Iowa
Date: February 6, 2008
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Pizza and drinks will be served.
Navigating the Past: Slavery, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and Brown University
Date: Monday, February 18
Time: 7 pm
Location: EPB 107
Presenter: James Campbell, Professor of American Studies and Africana Studies, Brown University and Chair of the Brown University Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice
Co-sponsored with 18th- and 19th-Century Studies, International Programs, Departments of American Studies, English, and History, American Studies, Caribbean, Diaspora, and Atlantic Studies, and the Center for Human Rights.
Informational Meeting: “Africa for Any Major”: African Studies at the University of Iowa
Date: Wednesday, February 27
Time: 6:30pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Panelists: Edward Miner (Director, African Studies Program); Martha Greer (International Studies Coordinator, International Programs); Rex Honey (Professor, Geography); Nanette Barkey (Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Community & Behavioral Health); Phil Carls (Assistant Director, Office of Study Abroad); Kate Karacay (Graduate Assistant, Grants and Funding Opportunities, International Programs); Cliff Missen (Director, WiderNet Project)
Aimed primarily but not exclusively at undergraduates, this meeting will provide an overview of opportunities for Africa related study at UI including the African Studies concentration within the International Studies B.A.; study abroad programs and internships; grants and scholarships; and service learning opportunities available through WiderNet.
Discussion on Child Soldiers with Angelique Kidjo
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Time: 4 pm
Location: Senate Chamber in the Old Capitol
Co-sponsored with the UI Center for Human Rights and Hancher Auditorium.
Angélique Kidjo travels the world as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and symbol of Africa. She has become a spokesperson for the children who have been drugged and kidnapped and forced to become child soldiers in various African wars. Free and open to the public.
Baraza: “Challenges to Building Peace and Rebuilding Lives in Post-War Angola”
Date: Monday, March 10
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Presenter: Nanette Barkey, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Community & Behavioral Health
Baraza: Screening of “Elephant People: An African Secret Society and Globalization”
Date: Monday, March 24
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Rm. A
Filmmaker & Discussant: Lyombe “Leo” Eko, Associate Professor, Journalism and Mass Communication
Leo Eko made a pilgrimage into the inner core of the Bakweri “Mahlé” secret society in Cameroon, which he describes as ‘the most enduring aspect of the Whakpe culture’ which survived 125 years of colonial and missionary effort to stamp it out. The film focuses on the role of the secret society as a symbol of how the Bakweri strive a balance between their culture, religion (Christianity) and the influence of modernity. This film was chosen for screening at the Africa World Documentary Film Festival in 2007, and again for "l'Autre et le Sacré" (The "Other" and the Sacred) at the Museé de L'Homme (Museum of Humanity) in Paris in 2008. Running time: 27 min.
Baraza: WHO and Widernet: Delivering Health Information in Developing Countries
Date: Monday, March 31
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: UCC 2520D (In the UCC Conference Center, 2nd Floor of the Old Capitol Mall)
Presenter: Mary White, Ph.D. candidate, College of Public Health
Film Screening: “Fathers and their Children in Contemporary Africa – Three Short Films from Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria.”
Date: Monday, April 14
Time: 7 pm
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Presenter: Marie Kruger, Assistant Professor, English
Professor Kruger will introduce The Knife Grinder’s Tale (US/Kenya 2007) http://www.theknifegrinderstale.com/1.htm, Surrender (Tanzania 2000), and A Barber’s Wisdom (Nigeria 2000). Discussion will follow.
Poetry Reading: “Lamentations on the Rwandan Genocide”
Date: Thursday, April 24
Time: 7 pm
Location: Shambaugh House
Presenter: Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure, Professor of English and African American Literature, University of Northern Iowa
Lecture: “American Neo-HooDooism: Ishmael Reed's Post-Colonial Textual Resistance, African Diaspora Re-Connection, and Multicultural Poetics”
Date: Friday, April 25
Time: 12 noon
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Presenter: Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure, Professor of English and African American Literature, University of Northern Iowa