2019

Talk by Ohio University Professor Steve Howard , "My Daughters are My Writings: the Republican Brotherhood in Sudan and Iowa City"
Friday, February 15, 2019, from 4:30-6 p.m. in the Senate Chamber of the Old Capitol Museum
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Baraza/GHS Forum talk by Admire Mseba, "The Cultural Politics of Land and the Power of Chiefs in Northeastern Zimbabwe from Precolonial Times to the 1930s"
Thursday, February 7, 2019, from 4-5:30 p.m. in 302 Schaeffer Hall
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2018

A Roundtable with the 2018 IWP Residents from Africa
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 from 12-2 p.m. in S401 Pappajohn
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2017

"Conservation and Conversation: Ethnographic Research in a Biodiversity Hotspot in Tanzania"
Jessica Pouchet, Northwestern University
Tuesday, April 11, 2017 | 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. | 60 Schaeffer Hall
Learn more about this event

"Claiming Land: Institutions, Narratives, and Political Violence in Kenya"
Tuesday, March 7, 2017 | 3:30-5:00 p.m. | 2520D University Capitol Centre
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"They come to take our women and our jobs: Migrants, marriage, and national belonging in South Africa"
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 | 12:00-1:30 p.m. | 1117 University Capitol Centre
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"Vandalism: On the Limits of Free Jazz"
Friday, March 31 | 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. | 304 EPB (Gerber Lounge)
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“Privilege, Self-Respect and Integrity”
Monday, April 3 | 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. | 304 EPB (Gerber Lounge)
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A Roundtable with the 2017 IWP Residents from Africa
Wednesday, October 18 | 12-1:30 p.m. | 2390 UCC
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2016

An Informal Conversation with IWP Residents from Africa
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.| 302 Schaeffer Hall
Learn more about this event.

Baraza: Durban Dockworkers and the Struggle against Apartheid
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
12-1:30 p.m.
1117 UCC
Read more about this event

Crossing Borders Symposium: Rethinking Memory and Trauma: New Directions in Cultural and Visual Studies
April 22-23
315 Phillips Hall
Read more about this event

BARAZA: PRODUCING COMMUNITIES AND COMMODITIES: SAFARICOM & COMMERCIAL NATIONALISM IN KENYA
Presenters: Melissa Tully and David Tuwei
Friday, February 26
2:30 - 4:00 pm
UCC 2390 (Executive Boardroom on 2nd floor of UCC above Cookies & More)
This research analyzes Safaricom, one of the most established mobile operators in Kenya. Alongside the provision of mobile services, Safaricom has closely engaged with the government of Kenya, even getting involved in the nation’s politics. This study examines Safaricom’s advertisements from the past five years to examine its use of national sentiment in its marketing. We argue that the ads reflect a commitment to promoting the country and its products through discourses of ‘commercial nationalism’, which present Safaricom as a driver of economic growth and development in Kenya. These discourses link Kenyan identity and distinctiveness to consumerism, commercial and economic success, profit, and upward mobility. Read more about this event here.

2015

ASP Reception For Musicians of The Nile Project
Reception held for The Nile Project musicians
Date: Tuesday, March 10
Time: 5:00 - 6:30 p.m.
Location: 2780 UCC

Rex D. Honey Lectureship award ceremony: "The Elephant and African Literatures"
Public lecture and award ceremony featuring Professor Sandra Hackman Barkan
​Date: Monday, April 27
Time: 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: 2780 UCC

"Ironic Encounters: Posthumanitarian Storytelling in Slum Tourist Media"
Presented by: Brian Ekdale, assistant professor, UI School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Date: Wednesday, October 14
Time: 11:00-12:00 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

"Writing About Africa: Anglophone and Francophone Perspectives"
Presented by: Anas Atakora and Samuel Kolawole. Anas Atakora is a poet, fiction and nonfiction writer from Togo. Currently he is a Ph. d. candidate at Dalhousie University in Canada. Samuel Kolawole was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria. He has contributed fiction and non-fiction to several journals and anthologies within and outside the continent.
Date: Wednesday, October 21
Time: 11:00-12:00 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

"Late Precolonial Struggles, European Expansion and the Making of Colonial Authority: Northeastern Zimbabwe"
Presented by: Admire Mseba, visiting assistant professor, UI Department of History
Date: Wednesday, November 11
Time: 11:00-12:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

"Trauma on Display: Commemorating Arartheid on Constitution Hill (Johannesburg)"
Presented by: Marie Kruger, Associate Professor, Department of English
Date: Wednesday, December 2
Time: 11:00-12:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

2014

"'A Revolution in Tribal Life': Sleeping Sickness Concentrations and Colonialism in Kigoma in the 1930s"
Presented by: Julie Weiskopf, assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Date: Thursday, February 20, 2014
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Conference Room 2520D, University Capitol Centre

“Blood Diamonds: Before and After the Phenomenon”
Presented by: Todd Cleveland, assistant professor of history at Augustana College, Rock Island
Date: Friday, March 14, 2014
Time: Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

Writing Wrongs: Literature, Trauma, and the African Moral Imagination
Presented by: J. Roger Kurtz, professor of African literatures at The College at Brockport: State University of New York
Date: Thursday, April 24, 2014
Time: Noon
Location: 1117 University Capitol Centre

African Studies Program Reception
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2014
Time: 4:30-6:30 p.m. in
Location: 2780 University Capitol Centre
The African Studies Program will host an informal reception Wednesday, Oct. 15, to welcome the fall African writers-in-residence of the International Writing Program. The event is free and open to the public.

2013

Writing the history of a nationalist/’traitor:’ Oscar Kambona and the perils of African political biography
When: Monday, April 22, from 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Where: University Capitol Centre Room 2390
Presented by: James R. Brennan, assistant professor in the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Black Colony, White Memory: The Price of Commemorating Occupation in Rhodesia, 1890-1980
When: Monday, March 11, from 4-5:30 p.m.
Where: Room 2520D, University Capitol Centre
Presented by: Ruramisai Charumbira, assistant professor in the Department of History, the Department of African and African Diaspora Studies, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Texas-Austin.

The Black Monday Movement: Re-energizing the Fight Against Official Corruption in Uganda
When: Monday, Sept. 23, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Executive Board Room of the University Capitol Centre, Room 2390
Presented by: Jacqueline Asiimwe, social justice and political rights activist from Uganda

Reception for African IWP participants
When: Wednesday, Sept. 25, 4:30-6 p.m.
Where: University Capitol Center 2780
The UI African Studies Program cordially invites the university community and the general public to an informal reception for this year’s African participants in the International Writing Program.

Queering the Indian Ocean: Gender, Sexuality and Language in Recent East African Indian Writing
When: Monday, Sept. 30, at 11:30 a.m.
Where: Gerber Lounge, 304 English Philosophy Building
Presented by: Dan Ojwang, associate professor of African literature in the School of Literature, Language and Media at the University of the Witwatersrand

2012

Baraza lecture series:

Friday, April 6, 4-5pm (208 EPB)
“Long Walk to Freedom: South African Cinema and the Trauma of Apartheid”
Presented by Marie Krüger, Associate Professor, UI Department of English

Monday, April 9, 4-5pm (302 SH)
“Where’s the search box, duuude?”: Digital Natives and African Studies in the New(er) Research Environment. Presented by Edward A. Miner, Bibliographer for African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Studies, UI Libraries

Monday, April 16, 4-5pm (UCC 2390, Executive Board Room)
“The Art of Satire: African Newspaper Cartoon Re-presentations of African First Ladies in the Post-Cold War Era”
Presented by Lyombe Eko, Associate Professor, UI School of Journalism & Mass Communication

Africa by Africans: The Real Problems of Africa - Through African Eyes
Sunday, April 15, 2012
2:00-6:30 p.m.
Shambaugh Auditorium (UI Main Library)

African Studies Meet-and-Greet
Date: Monday, Feb. 27
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: 2520D University Capitol Centre

African Studies Program fall reception
Date: Thursday, Oct. 4
Time: 4-6 p.m.
Location: Executive board room, 2390 UCC

2011

The Tunisian Revolution of 2011

When: Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, 6:30-8 p.m.
Where: 2520D, University Capitol Centre
Presented by: Asma Ben Romdhane, a Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant from Tunisia
Description: How did one young man’s protest spark the Tunisian Revolution of 2011? Asma Ben Romdhane will discuss events that led to the recent ousting of Tunisian President Ben Ali. She will address the role of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and WikiLeaks in the revolution, and the reaction throughout the Arab world to these events.

Baraza Series:

When: Monday, March 7, 2011, 12-1 p.m.
Where: 1117 UCC
Who: Todd Cleveland, Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill.
Topic: "Following the Ball: African Soccer Players, Labor Strategies and Immigration across the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1945-75"

When: Wednesday, March 23, 2011, 4-6 p.m.
Where: 315 Phillips Hall
Presented by: Aldin Mutembei (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
Topic: “Poetry in the Time of AIDS: Kiswahili Poetry and the HIV-AIDS Pandemic”
- This talk is also sponsored by the UI Department of English in CLAS

When: Monday, April 4, 2011, 12-1 p.m.
Where: 1117 UCC
Who: Blandina Giblin and John Njue
Topic: "Home and abroad: Expanding opportunities for Swahili students at The University of Iowa”

When: Monday, April 18, 2011, 12-1 p.m.
Where: 1117 UCC
Who: Lyombe Eko
Topic: “The Networking Barbarians…eh…Berbers at the Internet Gateways: The “Facebook” Revolution of 2011 in North Africa, Power Relations, and the Gateway Model of Internet Regulation”

When: Monday, April 25, 2011, 12-1 p.m.
Where: 1117 UCC
Who: Allison McGuffie
Topic: "The Stability of Crisis: The Cycle of Need and Aid in African Educational Film"

When: Monday, May 2, 2011, 12-1 p.m.
Where: 1117 UCC
Who: Cliff Missen, WiderNet Project
Topic: "300 Libraries Later: A survey of how the eGranary Digital Library is faring in the field"

"A Celebration of East Africa" lecture series

This series is funded by the U.S. Department of Education through an Undergraduate Studies International and Foreign Language UISFL grant to the African Studies Program, the Middle East and Muslim World Studies scholarly group and IP.

When: Tuesday, March 22, 2011, 6-7:30 p.m.
Where: Public Library Room A
Presented by: Professor Valerie Hoffman (Department of Religion, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Topic: "Celebrating Muhammad, Remembering God: Sufism in Egypt"

When: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 5:00-6:30 p.m.
Where: 315 Phillips Hall
Presented by: Mohamed Said Salum (Independent Scholar)
Topic: "Christian Hegemony and the Rise of Muslim Militancy in Tanzania"

"A Symposium on the Future of Multi-Party Democracy in East Africa"
When: April 1-2, 2011
Where: IP Commons, 1117 UCC
Featured participants:
Bernard Mapalala (journalist, Tanzania)
Joel Barkan (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Joshua Rubongoya (Roanoke College)
Aili Mari Tripp (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Mohamed Said Salum (Independent Scholar, Tanzania)
James Brennan (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
Joe Lugalla (University of New Hampshire)

When: Thursday, April 14, 2011, 6-8:30 p.m.
Where: 14 Schaeffer Hall
Presented by: Pamela Kaduri (Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Tanzania)
Topic: “Research on Tobacco Addiction in Tanzania”

When: Tuesday, Apr. 26, 2011, 6-7:30 p.m.
Where: Public Library Room A
Presented by: Professor Scott Reese (History, Northern Arizona University)
Topic: “Salafi Transformations: The British Colony of Aden (Yemen) and the Changing Voices of Islamic Religious Reform in the Inter-War Indian Ocean"

“Some (Not so) Lost Aquatic Traditions: Goans Going Fishing in the Indian Ocean”
Presented by: Anthropologist Pamila Gupta
When: Friday, Nov. 11, from 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Where: 302 Schaeffer Hall

Presentations by Tanzanian social activists Annagrace Rwehumbizaand Richard Mabala

“It’s the Context Stupid: HIV-AIDS and the Vulnerabilities of Adolescent Girls in Tanzania”
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 15
Time: 12:30-1:45 p.m.
Location: 213 English Philosophy Building
Presented by: Annagrace Rwehumbiza

“You Can’t be Serious!: Writing Political Satire in Tanzania”
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 15
Time: 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall
Presented by: Richard Mabala

“Contested Development: Tanzania through the Eyes of Young People Fifty Years after Independence”
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 16
Time: 4:00-5:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall
Presented by: Richard Mabala

The struggle for LGBT rights in Uganda
Presented by: Rev. Mark Kiyimba, the founding minister of the Unitarian-Universalist Church in Kampala, Uganda
When: July 18, 2011 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Iowa City Public Library, Room A

“Technology and the Writer: Open Book and Closed Text”
Presented by: Wole Soyinka, Nobel Prize-winning Nigerian author
When: Sunday, Nov. 6 at 3:30 p.m.
Where: Shambaugh Auditorium, UI Main Library

2010

"What Are We Doing Here?"
Date: Thursday, February 11
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Presenter: Tim Klein, producer and director

"Kiswahili and Political Discourse in Tanzania: Nyerere's Rhetoric against Political Cannibals"
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: 2520D, UCC
Presenter: Professor Deogratias Ngonyani, Michigan State University

"The Neo-African-Americans"
Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Time: 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Illinois Room (Room 348) Iowa Memorial Union
Presenter: Nicole Nisly, M.D., UI Interim Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President; Director Kobina Aidoo
Panel: Dr. Sherry Watt, Edudzi Etsey, Dr. Katrina Sanders, and Dr. Lyombe Eko

"Environmental Change and Development in Tanzania"
Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location: 1117 UCC

"Educating African Sexuality: Process of Gendering in African Instructional Films"
Date: Monday, March 29, 2010
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: UCC 1117
Presenter: Allison McGuffie (PhD candidate, Cinema and Comparative Literature)

"Press Freedom in Ghana: A Comparative Analysis of the Nkrumah and Kufuor Regimes "
Date: Monday, March 29, 2010
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: UCC 1117
Presenter: Etse Sikanku (PhD candidate, Journalism and Mass Communication)

"Zimbabwe: Depotism or Democracy?"
Date: Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: UCC 1117
Presenter: Zimbabwean exile, Philemon Matibe

"Restoring Health, Hope, Peace: Reflections from a Grassroots Doctor in Burundi"
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Presenter: Dr. Alexia Nibona

"Symposium on Youth and Urban Culture in East Africa"
Date: Friday and Saturday, April 2-3, 2010
Time: beginning at 9:00 a.m. both days
Location: varies: 109 EPB, UCC 2520D, BCSB 101, UCC 1117
Synopsis: Two days of films and discussion about urban culture in East Africa featuring two films by Ron Mulvihill.

Reception
Date: Saturday, April 3, 2010
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Location: UCC 1117

"Screening of Invisible Children's Latest Documentary"
Date: Monday, April 5, 2010
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: W151 Pappajohn Business Building

“Sudan: Discussing and Promoting Democracy from the Ashes of Civil War”
Date: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Time: 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Iowa City Public Library, meeting room D
Panel: Hiba Ahmed, Mahmoud Siddig, and Joseph Khan

"Constructions of African Diasporic Identities Through Labor in the Context of Immigration in Franc"
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Time: 11:30 a.m.
Location: 3321 Seamans Center
Presenter: Sonia Kpota-Richardson, PhD candidate, Department of French and Francophone Studies

Baraza Series:

Topic: “Oil, Ethnicity and Religion: The woes of a blessed nation in the face of outright political ineptitude”
Presenter: Sunday Goshit (International Programs)
Date/Time: Monday, Oct. 11, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: 2520D University Capitol Centre

Topic: “Why is Abd el-Kader Relevant Today?: the Legacy of an Algerian Leader of Anti-Colonial Resistance and Namesake of Elkader, IA”
Presenters: Kathy Garms (Abd el-Kader Education Project) and John W. Kiser (author of Commander of the Faithful: the Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader (1808-1883): A Story of True Jihad)
Date/Time: Tuesday, Oct. 12, noon-1:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

Topic: “eGranary evaluation and update on progress”
Note: This lecture was canceled.
Presenter: Cliff Missen (Widernet)
Date/Time:Monday, Oct. 18, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

Topic: "The economics of language of instruction in Africa - an example from Tanzania"
Presenter: Fungisai Nota (Wartburg College)
Date/Time:Monday, Oct. 25, 12-1 p.m.
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

Topic: "The Figure of Griot in Ousmane Sembene's Cinema"
Presenter: Moussa Fall (French and Italian)
Date/Time:Monday, Nov. 8, 12-1 p.m.
Location: 1117 University Capitol Centre

African Studies Program meet-n-greet
The UI African Studies Program cordially invites faculty, students, and the general public to a mini-reception on Monday, October 11, 4:30-5:30pm, in UCC-2520D (Old Capitol Mall, 2nd floor).

2009

“Medieval Arabic Block Printing: Old Technology in a New Light”
Date: Monday, April 6
Time: 4:00 p.m. -5:30 p.m.
Location: UCC 117 (International Commons)
Presenter: Dr. Karl Schaefer, Professor of Librarianship, Cowles Library, Drake University

"Democratic Transition in the Sudan"
Date: Friday, October 30
Time: 4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Panelists: Abu Baker Elkhalifa and Gamaleldin Balal

"A Presentation of Recent Undergraduate Research in Africa"
Date: Wednesday, November 4
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Location: 1117 UCC
Presenters: Paul Worrell and Brian Buh

The Following Events are Co-Sponsored by the African Studies Program, Crossing Border Program, the Department of French and Italian, the Middle Eastern and Muslim World Studies Program, and the History Department:

"Giving Voice to Chaos: The Challenges of Writing Multiple Histories"
Date: Monday, November 9
Time: 12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Location: 1117 UCC

Graduate Student Seminar (in conjunction with Crossing Borders Proseminar)

"Indian Ocean History-Places and the Spaces Between"
Date: Tuesday, November 10
Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Location: 2217 Seamans Center
Presenter: Professor Anne K. Bang, University of Bergen

"Movements of Islam in the Western Indian Ocean: Theoretical and Conceptual Challenges"
Date: Wednesday, November 11
Time: 12:00 p.m.
Location: 273 Schaeffer Hall

"United States of Africa"
Date: Monday, November 16
Time: 3:30 p.m. - 5:20 p.m.
Location: 106 Gilmore Hall
Presenter: Chris Abani

"Geopolitics of Global Energy Supply: An Examination of U.S. - Nigerian Naval Cooperation Under AFRICOM in the Gulf of Guinea"
Date: Thursday, December 3
Time: 2:30 p.m. - 4:20 p.m.
Location: 61 Schaeffer Hall
Presenter: Professor Celestine Bassey; University of Calabar, Nigeria

Film series: When the World Spoke Arabic: The Golden Age of Arab Civilization
Dates: Wednesday, April 1; Wednesday April 8; Wednesday, April 15, Wednesday April 22; Wednesday, May 6; Wednesday, May 20
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A

With the fall of Rome, Europe turned its back on the marvelous contributions of Classical civilization. But the legacy of Greek thought was not completely lost. It lived on and developed elsewhere: in the Arab world. Supported by expert commentary and enhanced by footage of historic Arab architecture and period works of art, this comprehensive series (in twelve parts, shown over six evenings) documents the remarkable history and the most significant cultural, scientific, and technical achievements of the Arab empire, which came to prominence between the 7th and 13th centuries.

"The Arabs Make Their Entrance: Islam and Empire" and "Once Upon a Time: Baghdad During the Abbasid Dynasty"
Date: Wednesday, April 1
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 26 min.

"The Andalusian Epic: Islamic Spain" and "They Surveyed the World: Exploring the Arab Empire and Beyond"
Date: Wednesday, April 8
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 27 min.

"The Muslim Town: Urban Life under the Caliphate" and "An Art of Living: Arab Aesthetics in 9th-Century Spain"
Date: Wednesday, April 15
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 27 min.

"The Secrets of the Human Body: Islam’s Contributions to Medicine" and "Everything under the Sun: Astronomy, Mathematics, and Islam"
Date: Wednesday, April 22
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 27 min.

"The Thousand and One Nights: A Historical Perspective" and "Ulema and Philosophers: Faith vs. Reason in Islamic Arabia"
Date: Wednesday, May 6
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 27 min.

"From Arabic to Latin: The Assimilation of Arab Knowledge" and "Forgetting the Arabs: Europe on the Cusp of the Renaissance"
Date: Wednesday, May 20
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: ICPL Meeting Room A
Length of Film: 26 min.

2008

Meeting with Outreach Africa
Date: January 30
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.

Africa for Any Major: African Studies at The University of Iowa
Date: February 6
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)

Navigating the Past: Slavery, the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and Brown University
Date: Monday, February 18
Time: 7:00 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: 6:30 pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)

Discussion on Child Soldiers with Angelique Kidjo
Date: Wednesday, March 5
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Senate Chamber in the Old Capitol

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

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: 7:00 pm
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Presenter: Marie Kruger, Assistant Professor, English

Date: Thursday, April 24
Time: 7:00 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: 12:00 pm\
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Presenter: Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure, Professor of English and African American Literature, University of Northern Iowa

Film Screening: “Divine Carcasse” & “La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil (The Little Girl who Sold the Sun)”
Date: Thursday, September 25
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: 101 BCSB (Becker Auditorium)

Film Screening: “War Dance”
Date: Wednesday, October 1
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Introduction by: Father Richard Okumu

Film Screening: “These Hands” & “Rostov Luanda”
Date: Thursday, October 2
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: 101 BCSB (Becker Auditorium)

Film Screening: “Africa: War is Business”
Date: Wednesday, October 8
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Pappajohn Business Building W151

Film Screening: “This is Nollywood” and “Thunderbolt”
Date: Thursday, October 9
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: 101 BCSB (Becker Auditorium)

Film Screening: “Ezra”
Date: Wednesday, October 15
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Iowa City Public Library, Meeting Room A
Introduction by: Professor James Giblin

"African Cinema and the Cultural Politics of Nigerian Film"
Date: Thursday, October 16
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: 101 Becker Communications Studies Building
Presenter: Brian Larkin, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Barnard College; Columbia University

Aimé Césaire, Raoul Peck, and the ‘Congo Crisis’: On Césaire’s play, Une saison au Congo and Raoul Peck’s 2 films on Lumumba
Date: Monday, November 3
Time: 3:30 pm
Location: 315 Phillips Hall

'National Cinema' in Québec and Francophone Africa
Date: Monday, November 3
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: UCC 1117 (International Commons)
Presenter: Professor Aliko Songolo, Dept. of French & Italian, Dept. of African Languages & Literatures, University of Wisconsin - Madison
“(Un)healthy Relationships: African Laborers, Profits and Health Services on Angola’s Colonial-era Diamond Mines (1917-1975)”
Date: Monday, November 17
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: 2520 University Capitol Center (2nd flood, Old Capitol Mall
Presenters: Todd Cleveland, Assistant Professor of African History, Augustana College; Jorge Varanda, Postdoctoral Fellow, Centro de Estudos de Antropologia Social/ISCTE & Centro de Malária e Outras Doenças Tropicais/Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Lisbon

2007

Baraza: African Studies Program Seminar

Location: International Commons, UCC 1117

World Percussion Concert
Date: May 5
Co-sponsored by: Caribbean, Diaspora and Atlantic Studies Program & School of Music
Presenter: Ray Holman, Composer/Performer of Trinidad

Steeldrum Workshop and Presentation
Date: May 2
Co-sponsoredby: Caribbean, Diaspora and Atlantic Studies Program & School of Music
Presenter: Ray Holman, Composer/Performer of Trinidad

Baraza: Tunisia: Gender and the Law -- a Half Century of Progress
Date: April 16
Presenter: Adrien Wing, Bessie Dutton Murray Professor & Associate Dean for Faculty Development, UI College of Law

Baraza: Move over Boys, the Girls are Here!: Hip Hop and Gendered Identities in East Africa
Date: April 9
Presenter: Mwenda Ntarangwi, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Augustana College

Baraza: Film screening on Angola (title TBA)
Date: March 19
Introduction by: Nanette Barkey, Assistant Professor, UI Depts. of Anthropology and Community & Behavioral Health

Public Lecture/Panel Discussion on Human Rights in the Sudan
Date: February 26
Co-sponsored by: Sudanese Community Services, UI Libraries, and the UI Center for Human Rights
Keynote Speaker: Sharon Hutchinson, Professor, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Baraza: Preserving Africa's Orphaned Generation
Date: February 19
Presenter: Alan Brody, Ph.D, (former) UNICEF Representative in Swaziland

Darwin's Nightmare
Date: February 14
Film screening followed by a lecture entitled Death and the Maidens: 22 Reflections on Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare, 10 reflections on Jean-Pierre Bekolo's Les Saignantes
Co-sponsored by: Dept. of French & Italian, Dept. of English, and Caribbean, Diaspora, and Atlantic Studies Program).
Presenter: Kenneth Harrow, Professor, Dept. of English, Michigan State University

Before and After: the Attempt at a Radical Critique of African Cinema; the Attempt at an Answer Public Lecture
Date: February 13
Co-sponsored by: Dept. of French & Italian, Dept. of English, and Caribbean, Diaspora, and Atlantic Studies Program)
Presenter: Kenneth Harrow, Professor, Dept. of English, Michigan State University

Baraza: African (Im)migration in/and Postcolonial France
Date: January 29
Presenter: Michele Laronde, Associate Professor, UI Dept. of French & Italian

Baraza: The Special Court for Sierra Leone's Trial of Charles Taylor
Date: October 29, 2007
Presenter: Kimberly Lanegran, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Political Science, Coe College

Iowa City Gulu Walk
Date: Saturday, October 20
Note: Gulu Walk is an international organization that raises awareness and money for programs that support children in northern Uganda, who have been the victims of an ongoing 21-year civil war. Participants walked 7km to raise awareness for their plight.

Baraza: Resuscitating Lost Eden? Colonial Wildlife Policies in a Border Zone in Pafuri, Gaza Province, Mozambique
Date: October 22, 2007
Presenter: Richard Mtisi, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and History, Luther College

The Devil Came on Horseback
Date: October 11, 2007
Panel: Jane Wells (co-producer); Abdalla Mohamed Abdalla (former Sudanese journalist); Sandra Barkan (emerita Associate Dean, CLAS), Peter Kimani (IWP writer, Kenya), and Leo Eko (associate professor, Journalism & Mass Communications).
Note: The film documents the Darfur crisis through the eyes of a former U.S. marine.
Co-sponsored by: ASP, IWP, and UICHR.

Creating and Promoting African Literature
Date: Thursday, October 11
Panel: Tom Dreyer (IWP writer, South Africa), Peter Kimani (IWP writer, Kenya), Sandra Barkan (emerita Associate Dean, CLAS), Pierre-Damien Mvuyekure (Rwandan poet & professor of English, UNI), and Peter Nazareth (professor of English), moderator.
Note: This event was part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the International Writing Program.
Co-sponsored by: ASP and IWP.

Uganda Rising
Date: October 9
Panel: Rev. Fr. Richard Okumu, Peter Kimani, Douglas Grane, Edward Miner (moderator).
Note: The film was an overview of the 21 year old conflict in northern Uganda between the Lord's Resistance Army and Ugandan government forces, with a focus on the plight of children.
Co-sponsored by: ASP, UICHR, and the UI Global Health Club.

Explaining Darfur: Why Democratic Transition is Critical and How Current Peace Initiatives are Flawed
Date: September 6
Presenter: Ibrahim A. Elbadawi, Ph.D., Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group, World Bank
Co-sponsored by: ASP, Dept. of Economics, and Sudanese Community Services, Inc.

Careers for Change Forum

Africa Near and Far: The Changing Nature of Afro-Brazilian Art in the Twentieth Century
Date: October 8
Presenter: Kimberly Cleveland, Ph.D., Visiting Assistant Professor, Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese

The U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief:
Overview of the First Five Years and Update on the Reauthorization for the Next Five Years
Date: October 2
Presenter: Ann Lion Coleman, Global Fund Technical Support Coordinator, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator
Co-sponsored by: ASP, GHSP, and UICHR.

Challenges of Scaling Up HIV/AIDS Programs Globally: The U.S. Government Response
Date: October 2
Presenter: Ann Lion Coleman, Global Fund Technical Support Coordinator, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator
Co-sponsored by: ASP, ICFRC, GHSP, and UICHR.

A Career in Global Health: Highlights and Lowlights
Date: October 1
Presenter: Ann Lion Coleman, Global Fund Technical Support Coordinator, Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator
Co-sponsored by: ASP, Global Health Studies Program, and the UI Center for Human Rights

The Great Influenza Epidemic, 1918, and Colonialism: a Nigerian Case Study
Date: September 25
Presenter: Diana Shull, Visiting Assistant Professor, Grinnell College
Co-sponsored by: ASP and Global Health Studies Program.

Baraza: Purging the Ills of the City: Antananarivo in ContemporaryMalagasy Francophone Prose
Date: September 24
Presenter: Fara Rabenarivo, Ph.D. candidate, Dept. of French & Italian

Explaining Darfur: Why Democratic Transition is Critical and How Current Peace Initiatives are Flawed
Date: September 7
Presenter: Ibrahim A. Elbadawi, Ph.D., Lead Economist, Development Economics Research Group, World Bank
Co-sponsored by: ASP and the UI Center for Human Rights

2006

Baraza: African Studies Program Seminar Opening Lecture
Date: September 18
Presenter: Charles W. Abbott
Affiliation: Department of Geography, University of Iowa

Baraza: Festival of the Dhow Countries: Zanzibar's Success as a Transnational Film Festival
Date: September 25
Presenter: Marie Kruger, Assistant Professor in the Department of English, shared observations from her attendance at the Zanzibar Film Festival (July 2006). The Festival of the Dhow Countries² has had increasing success in promoting feature and documentary films from those countries historically involved in the Indian Ocean trade.

Baraza: Theatre in Tanzania: Challenges and Opportunities
Hilary Anne Frost-Kumpf, Master's Candidate in International Studies and Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Springfield, discussed the results of her research on theatre and theater management in Tanzania. Some in Tanzania envision a strong, but competitive and dynamic cultural sector with the capacity to promote national identity and contribute towards overall national development and poverty reduction (Tanzania Cultural Trust Fund, 2005). But practitioners of live theatre struggle for resources including adequately trained artists, appropriate performance spaces, and financial support.

Darfur: Testing the Effectiveness of International Institutions in Responding to Human Rights Crimes
Date: October 9
Presenter: Dr. Peter Takarimbudde

Careers in the International Human Rights Field
Date: October 10

Human Rights Watch Film Festival: Refugee All-Stars and discussion
Date: October 11
Introduction by: Peter Takarimbudde

Internet diffusion and re-invention in Africa: Moving Beyond the Digital Divide
Date: October 23
Presenter: Lyombe (Leo) Eko, Associate Professor in the UI School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Lambaréné: When Translating a Colonial Mentality Loses its Meaning
Date: October 30
Presenter: Anny D. Curtius, Assistant Professor in the Department of French and Italian.