IAS - Institute of African Studies

If you would like to receive event announcements about Africa-related activities on the Columbia campus and beyond, please contact us by phone or email with your email address.

"Fifty Years of Structural Violence in the African Country of Rwanda (1959-2009)" with Former Speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, Joseph Sebarenzi
With an introduction by Professor Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology

Date: Thursday, September 10, 2009

Time: 5:00-7:00pm

Horace Mann Hall, Room 138
Teachers College

The Institute of African Studies welcomes former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament Joseph Sebarenzi, who will share his story from early childhood in Rwanda, being forced to flee the country, to the country's current situation. Sebarenzi, a Tutsi raised in Rwanda, was profoundly shaken by the violent deaths of his parents and siblings in the 1994 genocide, but he returned to his homeland in 1995. As Speaker, he hoped to help secure a new democracy in which Tutsi and Hutu might regain the strong national identity and peace they had lived in prior to Belgian colonization.

Sebarenzi will also discuss his new book God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation.

His talk will address the notion of stability vs. freedom, how the international community failed to read early warnings signs of genocide, and what is to be done now to prevent future open violence.

IAS Brown Bag: Discussion with Omar McDoom on his upcoming book Why They Killed: Security, Authority, and Opportunity in Rwanda's Genocide

Date: Friday, September 11, 2009

Time: 12:00-1:30pm

Location: Knox Hall, Room 208 (Please note the room change from earlier posters advertising the event)

The Institute of African Studies (IAS) welcomes Omar McDoom, as he discusses his forthcoming book on the 1994 Rwandan Genocide entitled: Why They Killed: Security, Authority, and Opportunity in Rwanda's Genocide.

Mr. McDoom's research is based on ten months of fieldwork in Rwanda, during which he collected some interesting new empirical data on the genocide. It includes a survey of nearly 300 Rwandans who lived through the genocide, stratified by whether individuals had committed violence or not, as well as a structured comparison of how the genocide unfolded in micro-case studies of four Rwandan communities.

Omar McDoom is a comparative political scientist and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Politics at Oxford University.

Conversations with a Continent: Profiles of African Artists Series
Osi Audu, Nigerian-born Contemporary Artist
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: 1512 International Affairs Building

This series will highlight several established contemporary African artists many of whom live and exhibit in the US. These informal discussions between a representative of the Museum for African Art, New York and the artist provides an intimate glimpse into the this exciting and dynamic world.

Osi Audu is interested in the way in which we can 'breathe' life into objects with our imagination and how the shape and form of objects can therefore represent or contain our unconscious thoughts. His themes and techniques use ancient Yoruba philosophy and modern Western approaches, such as the idea that objects can contain, channel and transform natural forces.

The work of Osi Audu explores African themes using new media to reflect his personal experiences in Nigeria, the USA and England. Osi Audu was born and brought up in Nigeria and studied at the University of Ife, Nigeria, where he was awarded a first class honors degree in Fine Art. He went on to the University of Georgia, USA, where he was awarded a Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing.

Audu was a lecturer at the University of Benin, Nigeria, before coming to England where he works as an artist and teacher. His work is in numerous Private and Public Collections including The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, USA, The National Gallery, Lagos, Nigeria, the Addax and Oryx Group, Switzerland, The Schmidtbank, Bayreuth, Germany, The British Museum and The Horniman Museum, London.

The "Conversations with a Continent: Profiles of African Artists" Series is jointly presented by the Institute of African Studies and the Museum for African Art.

Film Screening: Africa Underground: Democracy in Dakar

The Maysles Theater in Harlem will host a week-long run of the documentary Africa Underground: Democracy in Dakar, an award winning film about the role of musical activism in the Senegalese political process. The documentary exposes audiences to a gritty, raw side of Senegalese music and politics, through youth hip hop culture.

Using hip hop music as the primary storytelling device, Democracy in Dakar chronicles the lived experience on the streets of Dakar before and after the controversial 2007 presidential elections. The film follows rappers, DJs, journalists, professors, and others, intimately capturing the fluidity and intensity of emotion surrounding the controversial election.

Four Screenings in New York City (all screenings take place at Maysles Cinema, located at 343 Malcolm X Blvd / Lenox Ave, New York City):

Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Date: Thursday, September 24, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Maysles Cinema

Date: Friday, September 25, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm

For questions or more information, please contact Benjamin Herson, ben@nomadicwax.com, 917-225-8472

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell" Film Screening
Date: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Time: 2:00pm
Location: Riverside Theatre (located inside Riverside Church, 91 Claremont Ave at 120th Street)

Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country. Thousands of women - ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim - came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country's civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks. A story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, Pray the Devil Back to Hell honors the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations. There will be a discussion following the film, lead by: Leslie Wright - Chapter President and Vice President for the US National Committee for UNIFEM, & Peg Snyder - first director of UNIFEM and also on the Board of the Market Women's Fund

'Les Baronnies du Désordre': The Politics of Post-Transition in Eastern DRC, with Koen Vlassenroot
Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009
Time: 3:30-5:00pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 1512

Professor Koen Vlassenroot is Coordinator of the Conflict Research Group, a multidisciplinary research unit at the University of Ghent (Faculty of Political and Social Sciences) in Belgium. He is also co-author of the 2004 book Conflict and Social Transformation in Eastern DR Congo.

The Conflict Research Group primarily analyzes the micro-level of civil conflicts, with an interest in both livelihood and governance issues. Within this focus, it concentrates both on the impact of civil conflicts on local communities, and on the links between local and global dimensions of conflict. The CRG's cross-cutting analysis has led to the comparison of different geographical case studies, from Asia to sub-Sahara Africa.

Professor Vlassenroot has a PhD in Political and Social Science from Ghent University, and he has Masters degrees in International Relations and Development. His areas of interest include the political economy of conflict, non-state armed actors, processes of identity formation, land-access, food security and Central Africa.

"Congo in Harlem" Film Festival
Dates: October 1 through October 24, 2009
Time: 2:00pm
Location: Maysles Cinema, 343 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY

This October, the Maysles Cinema presents "Congo in Harlem," a month-long series of film screenings accompanied by special events, panel discussions, performances, and receptions. Congo in Harlem will provide audiences with more than the traditional movie-going experience -- it will offer opportunities to discover Congolese culture, learn about the ongoing humanitarian crisis, engage in dialog, and get involved.

The conflict raging in Democratic Republic of Congo is the deadliest humanitarian crisis since World War II. It has taken nearly 6 million lives since 1996, most of them women and children. But despite the vast human toll, most Americans are still unfamiliar with the conflict, and even less so with Congo's vibrant culture and traditions.

October 18th through the 24th marks International Congo Week, a worldwide initiative to join in solidarity with the people of Congo in breaking the silence about the conflict. Congo in Harlem will coincide with this initiative, and offer a critical venue for reflection, discussion, and action.

The films programmed in this series are intended to educate, inspire, provoke, and entertain. They present a broad range of subjects and experiences from important and often underrepresented voices. There are historical investigations of Congo's heroes and despots; intimate accounts of the current conflict; rare glimpses of the colonial era; celebrations of Congolese artists and musicians; and films made by established and emerging Congolese directors.

Such films include: Lumumba (2000), presented by Human Rights Watch
Yole! Africa Program (2009), directed by Ndaliko Katondolo
Congo: White King, Red Rubber, Black Death (2003), directed by Peter Bate
Lumo (2007), co-presented by Human Rights Watch and HEAL Africa
Mobutu, King of Zaire (1999), directed by Thierry Michel.

For more information on the film festival and films to be screened, please visit the event website.

SIPA Pan-African Network African Cultural Night
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: 6:30pm-9:00pm
Location: International Affairs Building, 6th floor lounge

Join the SIPA Pan-African Network (SPAN) in celebrating the beauty and diversity of African culture! Ticket includes the best West African food and drinks, a dance performance and a fun evening of music.

Ticket Price: $7, tickets can be purchased at the SPAN table at the International Affairs Building, 4th floor lobby.

African attire encouraged!

Film Screening of Min Ye´ (Tell Me Who You Are), Directed by Souleymane Cisse´
With a Q&A with the director moderated by Martin Scorsese to follow
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Directors' Guild DGA Theatre, 110 W. 57th Street New York, NY
Please RSVP to (212) 258-0805

Min Ye´ explores contemporary married life in Mali against the background of traditional African polygamy. Mimi, a high-ranking bureaucrat, shares a fancy villa with her filmmaker husband, Issa. When she becomes bored with polygamy and the routine of family life, she schemes to divorce Issa and marry her younger boyfriend, Aba. Her working life vanishes and things turn upside down.

How will this adulterous trio evolve when each day brings new complications?

Director Souleymane Cisse´'s (Yeelen; The Wind; Waati) first film in a decade is a work of startling originality that insightfully and incisively chronicles the dissolution of an upper-middle class African family.

A Q&A with the director moderated by Martin Scorsese will follow the screening.

The movie stars: Assane Kouyate´, Sokona Gakou, Alou Sissoko
Presented by the DGAGlobal Cinema Subcommittee

Drug-Resistant TB and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa: Human Rights, Evidence, and the Public Good
Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm, Light reception to follow
Location: Pless Hall Lounge - 82 Washington Square East (entrance is on Washington Place)

Featuring Timothy H. Holtz, MD, MPH, FACP - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Moderated by John Gershman, Clinical Associate Professor of Public Health - NYU Wagner; Associate Director - NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health Beginning with a case example of drug-resistant TB from Namibia illustrating both governmental responsibility and human agency, Dr. Timothy Holtz will briefly discuss the global epidemiology of TB, the emergence of drug-resistant TB in sub-Saharan Africa, and how the confluence of HIV/AIDS and MDR TB are creating the "perfect storm." Using the current MDR TB-HIV/AIDS disaster in South Africa as backdrop, Dr. Holtz will contrast the human rights based approach to drug-resistant TB control to that of the public law approach, and discuss the merits and disadvantages of compulsory isolation in that situation. The audience will be presented with questions being hotly debated in South Africa to initiate public discussion.

Institute of African Studies Fall Welcome Event at Knox Hall (With the Middle East and South Asian Institutes)
Date: Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Location: Knox Hall, 2nd floor

Join the Institute of African Studies along with the Middle East and South Asian Institutes as we celebrate our move to our new location at Knox Hall, on West 122nd Street. View our new office spaces, mingle with Institute staff and faculty and enjoy a reception with food and drinks.

The Knox Hall entrance for the Institutes is located at 606 West 122nd Street, between Broadway and Claremont Avenues.

Timelines: New Perspectives on African Architecture & Urbanism Series
Dan Lobitz, Partner, Robert Stern Associates
Date: Wednesday October 21, 2009
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: 1512 International Affairs Building

The "Timelines: New Perspectives on African Architecture & Urbanism" series will explore contemporary African cities as unique built environments. Through many distinguished practitioners of architecture, urban planning and architectural theory the lectures will probe this emerging field of discourse and its global relevance and applicability.

On Wednesday, October 21, join us for a presentation by Daniel Lobitz, the lead designer of the Museum for African Art's new building. Lobitz will discuss the design, planning and construction of a space meant to exhibit the varied cultures of Africa.

Daniel Lobitz is a partner at Robert A.M. Stern Architects. He has been responsible for the design and management of a diverse body of work, including large-scale town and urban planning projects, multifamily residential buildings, hotels, resorts, mixed-use developments, private houses, and institutional buildings. He has been working with Bob Stern to lead the design team for the Museum for African Art since 2004.

The "Timelines: New Perspectives on African Architecture & Urbanism" Series is jointly presented by the Institute of African Studies and the Museum for African Art.

"Female Circumcision: A Multi-Level Dialogue on a Multi-Dimensional Issue" Film Screening and Panel
Date: Monday, October 26, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm - 9:00pm
Location: Room 707, Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs

This panel will explore the complexity of the issue of female circumcision by bringing together practitioners, scholars and activists with different views on the issue. Through it, we hope to encourage a lively and informative discussion on the issue of female circumcision, which oftentimes is seen solely through the prism of women's liberation from under the wrestle of men, rather than in terms of its wider implications for women's empowerment, cultural rights, human rights, feminism and health care. We also hope to highlight the ways in which the UN can and does work with academics, activists, NGOs and individuals on issues of social development, which always require a high degree of cultural sensitivity.

Sunju Ahamdu will screen her documentary, "'Bondo," about a young Sierra Leonean-American who underwent the practice at the age of 8 years and would like to be seen outside of the 'victim' paradigm typically attributed to circumcised women.

Panelists:
Dr. Sheila Duncan, Chair of the Anthropology Department at the University of Washington, has a nuanced view of the practice and brings a medical perspective as to why she is not formally against it.

Dr. Zeinab Eyega, the Executive Director of Sauti Yetu, is an activist who works on behalf of African women in NYC, including circumcised women with difficulties gaining access to adequate health care treatment given that it is illegal and misunderstood medically.

Gannon Gilliespie, the US Director of Operations of TOSTAN, will speak about his organization's efforts working with women, particularly in Senegal, who want to ban the practice.

Francesca Monetti, the Senior Child Protection Child Specialist in the Social Norms and Gender Equality Programme at UNICEF, runs the agency's highly regarded anti-female circumcision program.

Schedule:
6:00 - 6:10 Introduction
6:10 - 6:35 Screening of "'Bondo': A Journey into Kono-Womanhood" by Sunju Ahmadu
6:35 - 6:45 Cultural Framing of "Bondo" by Dr. Fuambai Ahmadu
6:45 - 7:30 Panel Speakers
7:30 - 7:50 Panel Speakers responses
7:50 - 8:15 Question & Answer
8:15 - 9:00 Reception

This event is sponsored by the UN Studies Program Working Group, the SIPA Pan-African Network, the Arab Students Association, and the Gender Policy Working Group at the School of International and Public Affairs.

"African Women and Bronx Art"
Date: Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Time: 6:30pm
Location: Room 103, Freeman Hall, Fordham University, Rose Hill Campus

Please join the Bronx African American History Project (BAAHP) for a very special "African Immigration to the Bronx" Lecture Series event on African women and Bronx art. This event will be a discussion featuring noted multidisciplinary artist, Fatimah Tuggar of Duke University in North Carolina.

The Bronx African American History Project is a collaborative public history project built in partnership with Fordham University's Department of African and African American studies, the Bronx County Historical society, & local Bronx residents & community organizations. These events are also sponsored by the Fordham College at Rose Hill Dean's Office.

This lecture series was funded by a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any vies, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these programs do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the humanities.

A reception with food and drinks to follow the discussion. This event is free and open to the public.

For questions, contact: naison@fordham.edu and edward@fordham.edu

Directions:
http://www.fordham.edu/discoverfordham/directions26615.asp

IAS Brown Bag: "An Overview of the LGBTI Movement in Kenya: The case of Minority Women in Action, a Nairobi-based LBTI Organization" A Brown bag presentation with Akinyi Ocholla, Columbia University Human Rights Fellow
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Knox Hall, Room 208

Akinyi Ocholla, one of nine human rights fellows currently in residence at Columbia University's Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP), will discuss her work with Minority Women in Action, a Nairobi-based organization supporting the rights of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Inter-sex (LGBTI) community.

The current LGBTI movement in Kenya is fairly young. Akinyi's presentation will explore some of the specific work that Minority Women in Action and the other similar organizations are carrying out, the problems they have encountered within their communities and important triumphs they have made.

In her presentation, Akinyi will also discuss the work and milestones that similar organzations have made in Kenya, including, but not limited to: the work of ISHTAR MSM, the oldest such organization, founded in 1997 and aimed at advancing the sexual health rights of MSM and reducing stigma and discrimination and empowering the MSM community and the society at large; Transgender Education and Awareness (TEA) and Artists for Recognition and Awareness (AFRA). All of these organizations exist under the umbrella of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya (GALCK). Although their specific mandates may differ, their ultimate goal -- to end violence and discrimination against LGBTI individuals in Kenya -- is the same. In order to reach this goal, the organizations work in close proximity and collaboration with each other, as well as in partnership with independent LGBTI individuals, human rights and women's organizations, within Kenya and internationally.

Protection of Civilians in UN Operations: What Does It Mean, What Does It Take?
Date: Wednesday October 28, 2009
Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 1501

Moderated by Professor E. Lindenmayer, Director, UN Studies Program at the School of International and Public Affairs.

Panelists:

H.E. Augustine P. Mahiga, Permanent Representative of Tanzania to UN and Chairman of the DPKO/OCHA Independent Study on the Protection of Civilians in Peacekeeping Missions
David Haeri, Chief, Best Practices Section, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
Hans-Joerg Strohmeyer, Head, Policy and Development Studies Branch, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)

This event is sponsored by the UN Studies Program at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

Conversations with a Continent: Profiles of African Artists Series
Ruth Sacks, South African-born Contemporary Artist
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: 1512 International Affairs Building

Ruth Sacks is a South African artist who has taken part in a variety of exhibitions, including .ZA giovane arte dal Sudafrica, Palazzo delle Papesse in Siena (2008), the 52nd Venice Biennale in the African Pavilion (2007), and the 1st Architecture, Art and Landscape Biennial of the Canaries (2006). Recent and upcoming solo exhibitions include Open Studio at Galerie Cortex Athletico in Bordeaux, France (2007) and Liquid History at Extraspazzio (January 2010).

She currently resides in Brussels, Belgium, where she is part of the HISK (Higher Institute for Fine Arts) studio program

The "Conversations with a Continent: Profiles of African Artists" Series is jointly presented by the Institute of African Studies and the Museum for African Art.

Helen Pond McIntyre '48 Lecture: "Should Religious Ethics Matter to Feminist Politics?" Presented by Saba Mahmood
Date: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: James Room, 4th Floor Barnard Hall, Barnard College

Established in 2004 in honor of Barnard alumna Helen Pond McIntyre '48, the McIntyre lectureship highlights the work of scholars who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of Women's Studies. In past years, the lecture series has welcomed numerous feminist icons, including legal scholar Patricia Williams; human rights advocate Dorothy Q. Thomas; feminist science pioneer Anne Fausto-Sterling; and scholar and activist Angela Davis.

This fall, we are pleased to highlight the work of Saba Mahmood, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California and expert on issues of secularism, gender, and modernity within the context of Islamist movements in the Middle East and South Asia. Professor Mahmood will reflect on why ethical practice and forms of embodiment matter to questions of feminist politics and analysis. By engaging some common misreadings of her 2005 book Politics of Piety, Mahmood urges feminist scholars to critically re-think the normative status accorded to secular conceptions of the self and body in contemporary debates about religion.

Timelines: New Perspectives on African Architecture & Urbanism Series
Abosede George, Assistant Professor of History & Africana Studies, Barnard College
Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time: 6:30-8:00pm
Location: 1501 International Affairs Building

This series will explore contemporary African cities as unique built environments. Through many distinguished practitioners of architecture, urban planning and architectural theory the lectures will probe this emerging field of discourse and its global relevance and applicability.

Abosede George, assistant professor at Barnard College, specializes in African history, women’s history, urban history of Africa, and the history of childhood in Africa. She received her Ph.D. from Stanford University (2006). Her article “Feminist Activism and Class Politics: The Example of the Lagos Girl Hawker Project” is forthcoming Women’s Studies Quarterly 35 (2007). She is currently working on a book project about the history of juvenile justice in 20th-century Lagos, Nigeria.

The "Timelines: New Perspectives on African Architecture & Urbanism" Series is jointly presented by the Institute of African Studies and the Museum for African Art.

Sebastian Lindstrom presents his journey visiting 23 African NGO's
Date: Monday, September 14, 2009
Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: 227 Milank Hall, Barnard College
After traveling 10 weeks across 18 African countries and visiting, Sebastian Lindstrom comes back with inspiring stories about a journey that succeeded in pooling skills, experience and knowledge to participate in the projects of over 20 grass-roots NGOs.

Along with other inspiring Human Rights advocates, Sebastian founded the “What took you so Long Foundation” which aims to share their understanding of social change through a global network of young people who want to make a difference. Find out more at http://whattookyousolong.org

Join us for an informal discussion and presentation of this incredible journey across the African continent.

From Marrakesh to Cape Town, through the frontiers of Burkina Faso and Cameroon, these young travelers stayed with the communities to offer lasting contribution to the regionally-focused community projects that are either too small or have yet to be scouted by international development organization.

Formerly attached to Swedish special force, Sebastian is an experienced traveler and co-founder of a grassroot NGO in Ghana providing support to children in need. Learn more about their foundation: http://whattookyousolong.org/

This is event is hosted by Sandbox, a global network of extraordinary young people who love to make ideas happen. Sebastian is member of Sandbox. http://www.sandbox-network.com.

"Bridging the Gap" Between the People of African Descent

Date: Saturday, September 16, 2009

Time: 10:00am-5:00pm

Location: Essex County College, Newark, New Jersey

On September 26, 2009 the Newark African Commission in collaboration with the Africana Institute at Essex County College will host the second Annual historic symposium entitled, "Bridging the Gap." The occasion is designed to unite African people around the world by improving the quality of relationships and dialogue between the children of Africa. The Africana Institute's mission is similar to that of the Commission, in that it endeavors to explore and critically examine the African global experience. It also functions as a vehicle for revitalizing, reconnecting, and strengthening the African global cultural, social, and intellectual heritage.

"Bridging the Gap" will bring together people of African descent, to discuss stereotypes, misconceptions, and our shared ancestry, history, and spiritual heritage. The goal is to help find solutions and strategies that will cultivate a strong global brotherhood and sisterhood. The constant changes of this new millennium and the concomitant social and political transformations make it imperative that we, the children of Africa, come together to resolve issues that are affecting us.

Among the questions that will be considered during the symposium are the following:

*Defining the state of relations between the continent of Africa and the African Diaspora and how can these relationships be improved and solidified?

*How do people of African descent interact with each other?

*Where and how do we begin to establish good educational, economic, spiritual, cultural, social and political relationships between the African Diaspora and the continent of Africa?

For more Information contact:
The African Commission: 617-953-1730
The African Institute: 973-877-3219

"Mobilizing African People for Economic Development," with Jerry John Rawlings, Former President of Ghana
Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Time: 6:00pm
Location: New York University, Eisner & Lubin Auditorium, Kimmel Center, 4th Floor
60 Washington Square South, New York

Flt Lt (Rtd) Jerry John Rawlings was twice the head of state of Ghana and was the 1st President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana, ruling from 1979 to 2001. Mr. Rawlings rose to power after a military coup. Due to his display of patriotism in his defense speeches, he was widely seen across the country as a true son of Ghana, and was nicknamed Junior Jesus for his initial “JJ”. Mr. Rawlings introduced democracy to Ghana under the political party National Democratic Congress, and is still active in politics in Ghana and internationally. He has and continues to work to achieve political and economic stability in West Africa. In 1993, Mr. Rawlings was the joint recipient of the World Hunger Award.

Sponsored by the NYU Africa House.

Fourth Annual Presidential Forum on Tourism: "The State of Tourism in Africa: How Tourism Can Drive Economic Growth for a Nation, Region, and Continent"
Date: Friday, September 25, 2009
Time: 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: New York University, Eisner & Lubin Auditorium, Kimmel Center
60 Washington Square South, 4th Floor

The Africa Travel Association's (ATA) annual Presidential Forums on Tourism take place in New York every September in parallel to the United Nations General Assembly meetings. This high-profile event offers African presidents and prime ministers, as well as foreign affairs and tourism ministers, the opportunity to discuss their respective travel and tourism industries with representatives from the diplomatic community, travel trade organizations, academia and travel trade media.

Panelists include:

Honorable Anna A. Kachikho, MP
Minister of Tourism, Wildlife, and Culture, Republic of Malawi

Honorable Marco Hausiku
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Namibia

RSVP Required.

AngelAfrica Enterprise Conference

Date: Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26, 2009
Time: 7:30am - 4:00pm
Location: Desmond Tutu Center, 180 10th Avenue (between 20-21st Streets) New York, NY 10011

The AngelAfrica Enterprise Conference is an annual event that showcases innovations and opportunities in investment, economic development, and entrepreneurship on the African continent.

The 2009 conference will gather 250 people over two full days to jointly showcase leadership and innovation in Africa's private and social sectors.

On September 25:

The West Africa Investment Forum (WAIF) will build upon the success of AngelAfrica’s 2008 Inaugural Investment Forum (co-sponsored by the New York Society of Securities Analysts) which focused on the business climate and investment opportunities in the East Africa Community (EAC) regional economic block. This year, the focus will be on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

On September 26:

The Africa Social Enterprise Forum (ASEF) will be the first event of this scale to focus exclusively on social entrepreneurship in Africa. In our view, social enterprise is about business, innovation, and positive social change; NOT charity. ASEF seeks to empower existing and aspiring social entrepreneurs to develop innovative solutions to Africa’s most pressing social issues.

"Cities and the New Wars" Conference

Date: Friday, September 25 and Saturday, September 26, 2009

Time: All day

Location: Columbia University, Avery Hall, Wood Auditorium

The conference addresses two major subjects:

The multiple meanings of the new urban wars: asymmetric armed conflict, US Army training for the "urban enemy," forms of economic violence that kill, cities and urban space as a technology for war, reapropriating the city of fear, civil war refugees and their flight from and to cities.

The limits of power and war: the role of the civic, law, the growing global web of interdependencies, all of which can contest the most powerful states and make powerlessness complex rather than mere victimhood.

Twenty (great) speakers and the Dictionary of War Project.

This conference is organized by the Committee on Global Thought and Saskia Sassen, Professor of Sociology at Columbia University.

"Photography and Medicine: Critical and Creative Perspectives" Symposium

Date: Thursday, October 1, 2009

Time: 2:30-6pm
Location: Teleconference Lecture Hall, Alexander Library
169 College Avenue, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick)

This is the first in a series of public events organized by The Developing Room, a working group at the Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis devoted to the study and practice of photography. In this one-day symposium, six speakers will offer a variety of critical and creative perspectives on the relationship between photography and medicine. The goal of the event is to explore new questions concerning the historical, aesthetic, social, and ethical dimensions of that relationship.

SCHEDULE

2:30pm: Tanya Sheehan, Dept. of Art History, Rutgers, “Photography and Medicine: Forging a Meaningful Relationship”

3:00pm: Susan Sidlauskas, Dept. of Art History, Rutgers, “The ‘Before and After’ Paradigm in Nineteenth-Century Medical Photography”

3:30pm: Julie Livingston, Dept. of History, Rutgers, “Figuring the Tumor”

4pm: Eric Gottesman, The Vision Collective, “May the Finest in the World Always Accompany You!: HIV/AIDS and Local Photographic Interventions in Ethiopia, 1999-2009”

4:30pm: Ana Blohm, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, “Doctor without Borders? Defining Boundaries in Patient Photography”

5pm: Robin Glazer, The Creative Center, “Still Life: Enhancing Clinical Care through Photography”

5:30-6pm: Discussion

Reception to follow at the Center for Cultural Analysis, 8 Bishop Place, New Brunswick.

For additional information please visit http://cca.rutgers.edu or contact Tanya Sheehan at tsheehan@rci.rutgers.edu.

ECOGRAM II: Architecture for a Crowded Planet Conference, October 12-15, 2009

ECOGRAM II: Architecture for a Crowded Planet is the second annual conference in a series that examines sustainability in the built environment and in architectural education, chaired by Mitchell Joachim and Ioanna Theorcharopoulou, of GSAPP, Columbia University and Parsons the New School for Design.

Monday, October 12, 2009
Invisible Cities. Innovation and Complexity in Informal Settlements
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Location: Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

A Debate Featuring:
Alfredo Brillembourg + Hubert Klumpner, Urban Think Tank + GSAPP; Margaret Crawford, Department of Urban Planning and Design, GSD, Harvard; Teddy Cruz, Architect, San Diego; Christian Werthmann, Landscape Architecture, GSD, Harvard University

Moderated by Mitchell Joachim and Ioanna Theorcharopoulou, GSAPP + Parsons the New School for Design.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Informal Urban Economies in the Global South
Time: 6:30 - 8:30pm
Location: Wood Auditorium, Avery Hall

An Event Featuring:
Ioanna Theocharopoulou, GSAPP + Parsons the New School for Design Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor of Economics, Columbia University Mitchell Joachim, Co-Founder at Terrefuge and Terreform ONE, Professor of Architecture at Columbia University and Parsons School for Design.

"Community Healing in Sierra Leone": A first-person account by John Caulker, Sierra Leonean and executive director of Forum on Conscience and Fambul Tok.
Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: The Tank, 354 W. 45 St., between 8 & 9 Aves.

A face-to-face community owned program, Fambul Tok brings together perpetrators and victims of the violence through ceremonies rooted in the local traditions of the villages that were affected. It provides Sierra Leonean citizens with an opportunity to come to terms with what happened during the war, to dialogue, to experience healing, and to chart a new path forward -- together.

On Wednesday, Oct. 14, John Caulker, founder of Forum of Conscience, a Sierra Leonean human rights group that developed Fambul Tok in collaboration with Catalyst for Peace, a U.S.-based foundation, will discuss the need for rural community participation in the national decision making process, and acknowledgement of wrongdoing to victims through the reparations program.

A rough cut of a powerful, emotionally moving, and soon-to-be completed documentary "Fambul Tok" will be shown preceding Mr. Caulker's presentation. Additional panelists to be announced. Don't miss this unique evening that examines a path to reconciliation that may have something to teach our conflicted world.

The Tenth Annual UNESCO Chair & Institute of Comparative Human Rights

Conference: "Human Rights and Health"
Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Time: 9:00 A.M.
Location: University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269

Keynote Speaker:
Dr. Henri Atlan, Professor Emeritus of Biophysics at the University of Paris VI and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Director of the Human Biology, Research Center and Scholar in residence for studies in Philosophy and Ethics of Biology Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem.

Speakers to include:

Ms. Patricia Baker, President & CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health)
Dr. Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health, Yale School of Public Health & Director, UConn Center for Eliminating Health Disparities among Latinos
Dr. Judy Norsigian, Executive Director and a founder of the Boston Women's Health Book Collective
Dr. Fouzia Rhissassi, Co-Chairholder of UNESCO Chair on Women and their Rights, Morocco
Dr. Mila Rosenthal, Executive Director of HealthRight International, Inc.
Mr. Yehenew Tsegaye Walilegne, Health and Human Rights Officer, Department of Ethics, Equity, Trade and Human Rights / Information, Evidence and Research, World Health Organization
Dr. Kaethe Weingarten, Founder and Director of the Witnessing Project and Associate Clinical Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School
Ms. Alicia Ely Yamin, Joseph H. Flom Fellow on Global Health and Human Rights at Harvard Law School, Instructor at the Harvard School of Public Health and Special Advisor to Amnesty International's global campaign on poverty: Demand Dignity

The Annual International Comparative Human Rights Conference is intended to establish a tradition of serious global dialogue among scholars, students, and advocates for human rights and to cultivate cross-regional and cross-cultural appreciation of human rights issues.

"Corruption, the ANC and South Africa's Uncertain Future" by Andrew Feinstein
Date: Tuesday, October 20
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: NYU, King Juan Carlos Center, Room 324

After the Party is the first insider's exposé of the African National Congress. Andrew Feinstein, a former ANC member of parliament, recounts how Mandela"s successor Thabo Mbeki repressed debate within the party, imposed his AIDS denialism on government, refused to criticize Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe and stopped an investigation of a £5 billion arms deal that was tainted by allegations of high-level corruption.

Feinstein shows how this infamous deal epitomizes all that is rotten at the heart of the ANC. Investigating the payment of up to $200 million worth of bribes, he reveals a web of concealment and corruption involving senior politicians and officials, and figures at the very highest level of South African politics.

With an insider's account of the events surrounding the contentious trial of South Africa's colorful deputy president, Jacob Zuma, and the ongoing tragedy in Zimbabwe, After the Party is the most important book on South Africa since the end of apartheid.

Andrew Feinstein is a former ANC MP. He has written extensively for the Guardian and the New York Times, among others, and is a regular commentator on the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera and CNN. He is currently writing a book on the global arms trade.

International Conference on Islam in Nigeria since Independence (1960-2010)
Organizers: Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria Proposed Date: 19-21 April, 2010

Black Renaissance Noire Fall 2009/Winter 2010 Issue Release

Date: Friday, October 23, 2009
Time: 7:00 - 9:00pm
Location: Institute of African American Affairs, New York University, 41 East 11th Street, 7th floor

Black Renaissance Noire and the Institute of African American Affairs present a Readings and Reception event to celebrate the release of its Fall 2009/Winter 2010 issue, featuring:

Black Renaissance Noire is published by the Institute of African American Affairs at New York University.

A Special Halloween Event: "Power & Privilege in Anansi Storytelling"
Date: Saturday, October 31, 2009
Time: 1pm-3pm
Location: 552 West 114th Street and Broadway, Columbia University Intercultural Resource Center

Join the African Diasporic Literary Society (ADLS) and Michael Auld, Jamaican-born writer, folklorist, and writer, as we teach children from the 'Association to Benefit Children' and 'Harlem Children's Zone' about the history of Anansi stories in West Africa and the Caribbean. This is a community oriented event to educate young children from Harlem about the tradition of Anansi stories throughout West Africa, the Caribbean, and Southern Unites States.

College students will help to guide these children to re-create their own Anansi stories through arts and crafts and writing. Feel free to come in your Halloween costumes! This is an event for all generations.

Anansi the trickster is one of the most important characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. In the Southern United States, he has evolved into Aunt Nancy. He is a spider, but often acts and appears as a man. The story of Anansi is akin to the Coyote or Raven trickster found in many Native American cultures. The Anansi tales are believed to have originated in the Ashanti tribe in Ghana. They later spread to the West Indies, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles.

John Brown, Slavery, and the Legacies of Revolutionary Violence in Our Own Time: A Conference Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Harpers Ferry Raid Gilder Lehrman Center's 11th Annual International Conference

Date: October 29-31, 2009
Locations: Thursday, October 29, William L. Harkness Hall, Room 201 (Sudler Hall), 100 Wall Street (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut)
Friday and Saturday, October 30-31, Luce Hall Auditorium, 34 Hillhouse Avenue (Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut)

This conference will include discussions of the place of violence -- its forms, its causes, its justice or injustice -- in American history often begin with John Brown and his exploits in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in the 1850s. Brown's image has been appropriated by groups from the left and the right. He is a historical as well as a legendary figure, and often the myth overshadows the reality. This conference will explore the meaning and memory of John Brown as well as the problem of violence in American culture, past and present.

The conference will open on the evening of Thursday, October 29 with a performance of John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom by actor and playwright Norman Marshall. On Friday, October 30 and Saturday, October 31, conference panels will focus on four major themes:

"The Great African War": Congo and Regional Geopolitics, 1996-2006 with Filip Reyntjens

Date: Monday, November 16, 2009
Time: 3:30-5:00pm
Location: 207 Knox Hall

Filip Reyntjens, Professor of Law and Politics and Director of the Institute of Development Policy and Management at the University of Antwerp, will address in his talk the causes, outcomes, and extraordinary human toll of the successive wars in the Great Lakes Region of Africa since the early 1990s.

Reyntjens research and teaching addresses the unique combination of contingent factors and seeks to explain the occurrence of successive wars in the Great Lakes Region (GLR) and their unravelling. In his presentation, Reyntjens will analyze six of these factors: extreme state weakness in Zaire/DRC; the impact of neighboring states' civil wars, most prominently those from Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Angola and also the South Sudanese conflict; circumstancial alliances, such as those formed during the 1996-97 war; local and regional issues of identity and exclusion; the image of wars seen as cheap or profitable sources of revenue and the role of resource-based conflict; and finally, colossal humanitarian fallout.

"Axes of Inequality: Race, Gender, Sexuality, AIDS, and Civil Society in Southern Africa" 2009/2010 Lecture Series

"Unplanned Community: The Struggle for the South African City"

Date: Friday, October 9th, 2009

Time: 4:15pm

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Room C415A
Presented by Anne-Maria Makhulu, Duke University.

"Cultural Obstacles to the Rollout of Antiretrovirals: Language, Region and the Backlash against AIDS Funding"

Date: Thursday October 22nd, 2009

Time: 6:15pm,

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Room C204/5
Presented by Nicoli Nattrass, University of Cape Town.

"Black Men and Colored Pills: Race, Masculinity and Antiretroviral Treatment in South Africa"

Date: Monday, November 2nd, 2009

Time: 6:15pm

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Room C198
Presented by Jonny Steinberg, Open Society Institute.

"Contentious Democracy: The Practice of Political and Economic Rights in Post-Apartheid South Africa"

Date: Monday, November 16th, 2009

Time: 6:15pm

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Room C198
Presented by Elke Zuern, Sarah Lawrence College.

"Challenges of Co-Operative Governance"

Date: Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Time: 6:15pm

Location: CUNY Graduate Center, Skylight Auditorium
Presented by Norman Levy (retired), University of Western Cape.

"Ten Years Later: Interpreting the Political Shift in Senegal"

Mamadou Diouf, Columbia University
Date: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm – 8 :00 pm
Location: CEMAf, Centre Malher, 9 rue Malher, 75004 Paris, France
This lecture will be held in French.

Mamadou Diouf is a Professor of African Studies and History at Columbia University, where he leads the Institute for African Studies. Educated principally in France, Diouf is a renowned West African scholar who has taught in his native Senegal at the University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, and at the University of Michigan. He has guest-lectured at many European and American universities. He holds a Ph.D. from the Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.

Prof. Diouf's research interests include urban, political, social and intellectual history in colonial and postcolonial Africa. His most recent book is New Perspectives on Islam in Senegal. Conversion, Migration, Power and Feminity (edited with M. A. Leitchman, 2009). He is the author, editor and co-author of several other works including Histoires et Identités dans la Caraïbe. Trajectoires Plurielles (edited with Ulbe Bosma, 2004), La Construction de l'Etat au Sénégal (with M. C. Diop & D. Cruise O'Brien, 2002). Mamadou Diouf is currently a Visiting Professor at the Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne.

This event is open to the public.

This event is presented by The Alliance Program and the Departments of History and Political Science of the Universite Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. The Alliance Program is a partnership between Columbia University and three French universities, the Ecole Polytechnique, Sciences Po and the Universite Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne. For further information please visit: http://www.columbia.edu/cu/alliance

IAS Brown Bag: Summer Internships in Africa Panel

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Knox Hall, Room 208

Columbia graduate students Dominik Paris, Jinho Kim and Lauren Bailey will present on their summer internship experiences, funded in part through the Institute of African Studies:

Lauren Bailey, Masters of Public Health, Mailman School of Public Health United Nations Development Program (Gaborone, Botswana)

Duration- 10 weeks at the UN, one week traveling in Cape Town Lauren worked with the United Nations on a global program called United Nations Learning Strategy. This program aims to educate all UN employees about HIV/AIDS. Lauren was responsible for re-implementing this program in the Botswana office. Her responsibilities included overseeing HIV/AIDS staff education workshops, designing and distributing a 36 multiple choice question survey to all UN staff in Botswana, and facilitating a day-long HIV/AIDS learning session for UN employees' children, as well as other office-related tasks.

Dominik Paris, Master of International Affairs Student, SIPA IOM Somalia Support Office (Nairobi, Kenya) Dominik spent three months this summer working with the IOM Regional Office in Nairobi, Kenya. Specifically, he worked in the Somalia Support Office providing program support to three different Project Officers (Mixed Migration, Livelihoods, and Counter Trafficking). A crucial part of his experience was working "by remote-control" with our field offices in Somaliland and Puntland. During the final part of the internship, he had the opportunity to assist on a relocation operation in which IOM was responsible for the relocation of Somali refugees from the Dadaab to the Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya.

Jinho Kim, Master of International Affairs, SIPA Urwego Opportunity Bank (Kigali, Rwanda) Jinho spent the summer working for Urwego Opportunity Bank, which is a licensed commercial bank headquartered in Kigali, Rwanda. As the largest microfinance bank in Rwanda, Urwego currently operates in 29 of the 30 districts in Rwanda, with about 35,000 borrowers and 50,000 savers. Jinho had a great opportunity to experience a variety of teams such as marketing and research, finance, and product development.

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars: Free Film Screening and Q&A with Zach Niles, Filmmaker and Band Co-Manager

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2009
Time: 6:15pm - 8:30pm
Location: Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs, Room 413

When rebel forces attacked Freetown, during the Sierra Leone conflict, they forced a panicked mass exodus to neighboring countries. Among the thousands who fled were musicians and future band mates Reuben Koroma and Francis Lamgba who connected in a refugee camp in Guinea. Along with Reuben's wife, Grace, they began making music for their fellow refugees, providing a welcome distraction to life in the camps. Safety in the Kalia camp quickly disintegrated, however, when it came under attack from the Guinean army. The fledgling band was evacuated and relocated to a camp in the remote Guinean countryside. It was there that aid organizations gave the developing band rusted-out sound system and beat up electric guitars that helped officially launch the group.

It was also in this camp that documentary filmmakers Banker White and Zach Niles encountered the band, which by that point also included Black Nature, an orphan, as well as Arahim and Medo, both of whom had had limbs amputated by the rebels. The first-time filmmakers followed the band for three years as they moved from camp to camp. While filming, the UN sponsored a trip for the group to return to Freetown so they could see for themselves that it was safe for thousands of refugees to return home. As part of the trip, the UNHCR offered the band the opportunity to make their first studio recordings. They now tour the world spreading their message of peace and love. With a spirited fusion of traditional West African music, roots reggae and rhythmic traditional folk, Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars craft music that transforms and uplifts.

Backed by UNHCR, Paul McCartney, Ice Cube, Angelina Jolie, Keith Richards, Steve Bing, and Shelley Lazar, the documentary has won 13 major awards.

This event will be introduced by SIPA alumnus Jakob Lund, Founder and Director of Play 31. Play31 utilizes the unifying power of football to bring together people who have been torn apart by armed conflict. Jakob conceived the idea of Play31 while working on community-based reconciliation in Sierra Leone.

This event is sponsored by the SIPA Pan-African Network.

To learn more about the film, please visit the website: http://www.refugeeallstars.org/

Peace through Development: Columbia University's Darfur Initiative

Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Time: 12:00-1:00pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 901

Featuring David L. Phillips, Research Scholar, Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights; Associate Professor, NYU Department of Politics; and Director of American University's Program on Conflict Prevention and Peace Building.

Columbia University's partners in Darfur -- the Darfur Advisory
Group-- are working to help stabilize, democratize, and rebuild Darfur by focusing on the development horizon in order to create conditions for sustainable peace. Refocusing on a development horizon not only yields practical benefits, it could also positively influence efforts by international mediators to bring Darfuri factions together and broker an accord with Khartoum.

Join us for a discussion on the role of development in bringing about peace in Darfur on Tuesday, November 10th!

Sponsored by the Humanitarian Affairs Program and the Humanitarian Affairs Working Group at SIPA

"Iron Ladies of Liberia" Film Screening

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Time: 8:10p.m.
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 413

Since taking office, Johnson Sirleaf has appointed an unprecedented number of women to leadership positions in all areas in the Liberian government. With the exclusive cooperation of President Sirleaf, "Iron Ladies of Liberia" goes behind the scenes of this groundbreaking administration during its first year, as it works to prevent a post-conflict nation from returning to civil war.

"Iron Ladies of Liberia" follows leaders in the Johnson Sirleaf administration such as Beatrice Munah Sieh, the newly appointed national police chief. A former deputy chief in Liberia's police force, Sieh survived an assassination attempt allegedly ordered by her boss and worked as a special education teacher in New Jersey for 10 years. As the national police chief, Sieh must maintain order while heading an institution known more for its corruption and repressive tactics than public service.

The film also follows Dr. Antoinette Sayeh, the minister of finance, as she battles a crippling national debt of over five billion dollars and a notoriously corrupt staff. As Dr. Sayeh says, “Women have not been, to the same extent as men, party to all of the bad things of the past. They certainly were very strong voices against the atrocities in Liberia in the war, and they fought very, very hard to make sure that the democratic process worked this time around. And so, this is our biggest opportunity to change Liberia.”

Book Talk with Uwem Akpan, SJ, Author of Say You're One of Them

Date: Wedneday, November 11, 2009
Time: 4:30-6:00 pm
Location: New York Theological Seminary Interfaith Center (event to be held in the Cafeteria), 475 Riverside Drive New York, NY 10115

New York Theological Seminary is honored to host a presentation by Nigerian Jesuit author Uwem Akpan on his bestselling collection of short stories, Say You're One of Them. The critically acclaimed stories in Say You're One of Them are written from the point of view of children in a number of African countries. Readers are galvanized by the devastating realities these children confront even as they are inspired by their resolve.

Say You're One of Them is currently #1 on the New York Times trade fiction bestseller list.

There is no charge for admission. Copies of Say You're One of Them will be available for sale. Father Akpan's presentation is co-sponsored by The Institute for Diasporan and African Culture (TIDAC), Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York, and Pax Christi New York Metro.

For further information, contact Marian Ronan at marianronan@optonline.net

African Language Night

Date: Thursday, November 12, 2009
Time: 6:30 - 9:30pm
Location: 509 Knox Hall

Join the African Language Program at MEALAC for an evening of spoken word, skits, music and food to celebrate the continents' languages.

17th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival

Dates: Friday, November 17 through Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Location: Various

The African Diaspora Film Festival (ADFF) presents an eclectic mix of urban, classic, independent and foreign films that depict the richness and diversity of the life experience of people of African descent and indigenous people all over the world.

ADFF 2009 presents: 101 fimls, 1 world premiere, 39 US premieres, 23 New York premieres and films from 46 countries, with an exciting lineup of special events.

IAS Brown Bag: "The Nation-State, the State Apparatus & the Violence in Darfur" A Brown bag presentation by Elsadig Elsheikh, Columbia University Human Rights Advocate

Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Knox Hall, Room 208

Elsadig Elsheikh is one of nine human rights leaders currently in residence at Columbia University for the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP).

Elsadig works as a Research Associate at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in Columbus, Ohio. He joined the staff at Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University in 2008 as a research associate for the international program, where he focuses on the racial/ethnic dimensions of various conflicts around the world. Before joining the Kirwan Institute, Elsadig worked with various grassroots and advocacy organizations in the areas of internally displaced persons, indigenous populations, human rights, immigration, anti-racism, and social mobilizations in Sudan, Greece, Colombia and the United States.

VDM Verlag Dr. Müller recently published Elsadig's book on Darfur entitled, Darfur: Domesticating Coloniality, The Failure of the Nation-State Model in Post-colonial Sudan (2008). Elsadig earned a Master's in Social Justice and Sustainable Development (2008) and a graduate diploma in Conflict Transformation Across Cultures from the School for International Training in 2007. In 2005, he was awarded a Bachelor's in Political Science & International Studies from The Ohio State University and prior to that he studied international relations at Panteion University in Athens, Greece. Originally from Sudan, Elsadig is now a U.S. resident.

"Children on the Front Line": An Evening With Ishmael Beah

Date: Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Time of Panel: 6:00p.m.-8:00p.m.
Location: Faculty House- Columbia University, 64 Morningside Drive, MC2301, New York, NY 10027

On November 18th, Columbia University's UN Studies Program Working Group will be hosting an event on children in armed conflict. The event seeks to celebrate Security Council Resolution 1882 on the rights of children in armed conflict.

Resolution S/1882 on children's rights, addressing the continued use and abuse of children in armed conflict globally, urges all parties to conflict to respect the rights of children and further calls on states to end impunity and prosecute those who are responsible for the egregious crimes committed against children.

Panelists:
Ishmael Beah: Former child soldier, acclaimed author, and Board member of Play31 H.E. Ambassador John McNee: Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations H.E. Ambassador Shekou M. Touray: Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations Jo Becker: Advocacy Director for children's rights for Human Rights Watch Jimmie Briggs: Journalist, Goodwill Ambassador and Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict

After the panel discussion, there will be an exclusive fundraising reception. A limited number of tickets will available this week at the School of International and Public Affairs Building, 4th floor. Funds will go to support Play31's work in Sierra Leone. Co-sponsors of reception: Missions of San Marino, Liechtenstein, East Timor and Chile.

Play31 is based on the 31st article of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, which states that every child has the right to play. The organization currently works in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia where their football tournaments provide local communities with a chance to heal the wounds of the civil wars that have scarred the region. Play31 addresses the psychosocial wounds that war causes and contributes to creating safe and tolerant societies where children can grow and exercise their right to play in peaceful environments. Realizing that sustainable peace can only come through human interaction, Play31 believes that, by teaching children to work together and by fostering a sense of community among players and spectators alike, football can have an important place in local peace-building efforts. By organizing community football tournaments for children, women and men, as well as social gatherings related to the tournaments, Play31 creates a space where the process of healing and reconciliation can take place and transform the absence of war into a sustainable peace.

To learn more, visit Play31's website on www.play31.org

All questions may be directed to Paloma Muñoz at paloma.m.munoz@gmail.com

Sponsors: UNSPWG, HRWG, Human Rights Concentration, CICR, HAWG, CUPID, SPAN, CRWG

TEDtalks: Screening and Moderated Discussion

Date: Wednesday, November 18
Time: 7:00 - 8:00pm
Location: Horace Mann Hall, Room 150 (Teachers College)

Join the African Studies Working Group, The Center for African Education, The Society for International Education and The Office for International Student Services for a screening and moderated discussion of two TEDtalks. TED is a non-profit that brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers and challenges them to give the talk of their lives.

The two talks we will view and discuss are Hans Rosling's new insights on poverty and Andrew Mwenda's new look at Africa. As described on the TEDtalks website, "Researcher Hans Rosling uses his cool data tools to show how countries are pulling themselves out of poverty. He demos Dollar Street, comparing households of varying income levels worldwide. Then he does something really amazing." Come to the screening to find out what it is! Andrew Mwenda "asks us to reframe the 'African question' -- to look beyond the media's stories of poverty, civil war and helplessness and see the opportunities for creating wealth and happiness throughout the continent."

Refreshments will be served. This event is sponsored by The African Studies Working Group, The Center for African Education, The Society for International Education and The Office for International Student Services at Columbia University's Teachers College.

Growing up with/in Zimbabwe: Living & learning in the postcolony

Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009
Time: 1:00 - 2:00pm
Location: Private Dining Room, Grace Dodge Ground Floor (Teachers College)

Join the Center for African Education for a Brown Bag Event: a moderated conversation with a group of 20- and 30-somethings sharing experiences from three decades of Zimbabwean independence. Through reflections on childhood, education, and young adulthood, we hope to shed a more personal light on the big issues confronting Zimbabwe today: the unity government and the country's political future, land and property rights, race and ethnic identity, and Zimbabwe's place in a global society.

Light refreshments will be served.

This event is co-sponsored by The Center for African Education, The African Studies Working Group and The Office for International Student Services.

For more information, please contact The Center for African Education (cae@tc.edu)

African Diplomatic Forum 2009: "Transitions & Transformation in Africa: The Cases of Ghana, Guinea, Kenya and Rwanda"

Date: Friday, November 20, 2009
Time: 1:00-6:00pm
Location: Jerome L. Greene Hall (Columbia Law School), Room 106, 435 West 116th Street, near Amsterdam Avenue; Campus Map

The African Diplomatic Forum (ADF) is an annual conference that gathers African diplomats, academics, students and activists to discuss the continent's interests and role in international affairs. The ADF this year includes two topic-specific panels featuring African diplomats and experts on African affairs.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

1:00-1:10pm	Conference Welcome: Sarah Walsworth Diouf, Assistant Director, Institute of African Studies
1:10-1:30pm	Opening Remarks: Mr. Sam Ibok, Deputy Director, Africa II Division, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations
1:30-3:15pm	Panel I: "Political and Economic Development and the Question of Transfers of Power: Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda"
3:15-3:30pm	Coffee Break
3:30- 5:15pm	Panel II: "Military Rule, Human Rights Abuses and Elections: Guinea's Quest for a Peaceful Transition"
5:15-5:30pm	Closing Remarks: Monique Tuyisenge-Onyegbula, and Kifle Bantayehu, President and Co Vice-President of the SIPA Pan-African Network at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University Reception to follow

PANEL I:
"Political and Economic Development and the Question of Transfers of Power: Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda"

This panel explores the relationship between transitions of power and the institutional arrangements in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. While Ghana has experienced a relatively stable political transition, Kenya's political transition to a coalition government has been a rather unstable one with many fearing the result of the upcoming 2012 elections. Rwanda, on the other hand, has had no transfer of power since 1994. The rationale for this is often explained by the level of economic development experienced by Rwanda in contrast to Ghana and Kenya. What are the implications of these institutional arrangements on transitions of power?

Panelists:

Dr. Benjamin Dodoo, President of The National Council of Ghanaian Associations
Kimuli Kasara, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Columbia University
H.R. James Kimonyo, Rwandan Ambassador to the United States
Jacqueline Klopp, Assistant Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Moderator: Sara Rakita, Associate Director, The Public Interest Law Center, New York University.

PANEL II:
"Military Rule, Human Rights Abuses and Elections: Guinea's Quest for a Peaceful Transition"

With the recent political unrest and human rights abuses in Guinea, there has been much debate about whether this situation warrants international or regional intervention. This panel seeks to combine panelists' regional expertise and understanding of issues of political transitions to provide a unique and comprehensive point of view from which to discuss the regional implications of Guinea's political transition. The panel will also seek to understand how to ensure that the political transition culminates in the most beneficial and peaceful outcome to all.

Panelists:

Sarjoh Bah, Senior Fellow, Center for International Cooperation at New York University and Program Coordinator for Africa Security Institutions and Global Peace Operations
John Hirsch, Adjunct Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University and Former United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone
Michael McGovern, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Yale University and former West African Director of the International Crisis Group
Peter Rosenblum, International Law Professor, Columbia University Law School

Moderator: Ousmane Kane, Associate Professor, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.

The 2009 African Diplomatic Forum is organized by: The SIPA Pan-African Network at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), the African Law Students Association at Columbia Law School and the Institute of African Studies at Columbia University.

"Trauma as a Political Resource: What Victims Do With the Injuries of their Soul" A talk by Didier Fassin

Date: Monday, November 23, 2009
Time: 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: Maison Française, Buell Hall, East Gallery

The language of trauma - the injuries of the soul, as a humanitarian organization coins it - has become familiar to us in recent years. It is both metaphoric and clinical. On the one hand, we think of our past in terms of collective injuries which may refer to genocides, wars, or slave trade, but also to earthquakes, floods or hurricanes. On the other had, we are accustomed to psychiatrists being summoned to scenes of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, warfare and other tragic events to care for the psychic trauma of victims. Yet the legitimacy and even the evidence of trauma have not always existed.

The very idea of psychic trauma only came into being at the end of the nineteenth century and for a long time was treated with suspicion. Today it is part of our common sense and contributes to the recognition of the victims. Ethnographical work conducted on the 2001 industrial disaster of Toulouse, on the second Intifada in Palestine and on the procedure of asylum in France invites to a critical analysis of this obviousness. It shows in particular that victims are not just passive sufferers but often also active protagonists. They use trauma as a part of their politics of reparation, of testimony and of proof, which leads sometimes to contradictions and ambiguities, tensions between actors and controversies in the public sphere. Considering trauma as a political resource and thus recognizing the agency of the subjects has thus unexpected anthropological consequences but also profound ethical implications.

Didier Fassin is James Wolfensohn Professor of Social Science at the Institute of Advanced Study of Princeton and Director of Studies in anthropology at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales. He directs the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Social Sciences (CNRS- Inserm- EHESS- University Paris North). Trained as a medical doctor, he has been vice-president of Médecins sans Frontières and is currently president of the Comité Médical pour les Exilés. His field of interest in political and moral anthropology, more specifically focused on inequalities and discrimination, immigration and racialization, health and humanitarianism, memory and trauma. His recent publications include: Les constructions de l'intolérable (with Patrice Bourdelais, La Découverte, 2005), De la question sociale à la question raciale? (with Eric Fassin, La Découverte, 2006), Les politiques de l'enquête. Épreuves ethnographiques (with Alban Bensa, La Découverte, 2008), as editor; When Bodies Remember: Experience and Politics of AIDS in South Africa (University of California Press, 2007) and The Empire of Trauma: An Inquiry into the Condition of Victimhood (with Richard Rechtman, Princeton University Press, 2009), as author.

IAS Brown bag: "Challenges of the Return Process in Post Conflict Northern Uganda" by Evalyne Achan, Field Coordinator, CARE International (Gulu, Uganda), Co-Founder for Charity for Rural Development and Vice Chairperson of the Great Lakes Center for Conflict Resolution

Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Time: 12:00pm - 1:30pm
Location: Knox Hall, Room 208

Evalyne Achan is one of nine human rights leaders currently in residence at Columbia University with the Human Rights Advocates Program (HRAP) at the Center for the Study of Human Rights.

Evalyne is a field coordinator with the A Stake in Our Future project at CARE International in Uganda. The project was designed to build the capacity of the government to implement peacebuilding projects modeled on the framework of the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) designed for Northern Uganda. By monitoring implementation of the PRDP, the project also aims to empower communities in the Amuru and Pader districts of Northern Uganda to hold their government accountable for the transparent and efficient provision of goods and services. Prior to her appointment as a field coordinator, Evalyne worked for five years as a team leader/program officer for the Agency for Co-operation and Research in Development on issues of conflict, good governance, civic education, sexual and gender-based violence, and human rights programming and protection. Evalyne holds a Bachelor of Law (2001) from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and a diploma in Conflict Transformation and Peace Building from the School for International Training in Vermont (2006).

"Madhinga Bucket Boy": Book Reading and Discussion with Philemon Matibe, Founding Member of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change

Date: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Knox Hall, Room 208

The Institute of African Studies, in conjunction with Mbedzi Publishing, welcomes author Philemon Matibe, noted political asylee from Zimbabwe, to read from his recent memoir, Madhinga Bucket Boy: From Boyhood in Colonial Rhodesia to Manhood in Zimbabwe, A Native Son's Story.

In his compelling memoir Matibe recounts his experiences, from growing up in white-supremacist Rhodesia to speaking out in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. As a political opponent and founding member of the political party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Matibe's strong democratic principles and belief in the rule of law resulted in a choice: Leave the country and live, or stay in Zimbabwe and risk death.

Council on Foreign Relations Fall 2009 Academic Conference Call

Date: Thursday, December 3, 2009
Time: 12:00 - 1:00pm (EST)

Students are invited to participate in the final conference call for Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Fall 2009 Conference Call Series.
Michael A. Levi, the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment and director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at CFR, will discuss priorities and challenges facing the upcoming Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. This is the final call of the semester; the schedule for the CFR Spring 2009 Academic Conference Call series will be distributed shortly.

Dr. Levi recently served as the project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on Climate Change. He is the author of the book On Nuclear Terrorism and coauthor, with Michael O'Hanlon, of The Future of Arms Control. Dr. Levi has been invited to testify before Congress and has published essays in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Nature, Scientific American, Slate, and the New Republic, among others.

In order to encourage an interactive dialogue, we ask that professors convene students in a group to participate. Typically, professors have found it most convenient to gather in a classroom or host a few students in their office around a speaker phone. Please contact Irina Faskianos at the contact below to participate in a group, and we will send you the toll-free dial-in number and password. As background for the discussion, please review the background materials:

Contact:
Irina A. Faskianos
Vice President, National Program & Outreach ifaskianos@cfr.org

Background materials:

Film screening: "All the World's a Stage"

Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Time: 6:00 pm
Location: Teacher College at Columbia University, Cowin Center

Film Description: The Sidis came to India from East Africa 800 years ago. Centuries of discrimination have pushed them down the socio-economic ladder but their unique devotional music has given them a strong sense of identity.

"All The World's A Stage" weaves together the lives and aspirations of a group of men who form an internationally successful performance group called SIDI GOMA. The film celebrates the joyous energy of their songs and dances, while tracing their struggle to survive in a world that threatens to marginalize them even further.

"HIV/AIDS and Health Systems in Africa" with Wafaa El-Sadr, Director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP)

Date: Thursday, December 10, 2009
Time: 3:30pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 1512

The Institute of African Studies welcomes Wafaa El-Sadr, one of the pioneers in global HIV/AIDS care and treatment. Dr. El-Sadr is the Director of the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP) at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, where she leads a staff of more than 800 people in 13 African countries. Dr. El-Sadr was named a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and Rolling Stone listed Dr. El-Sadr as one of their “100 People Who Are Changing America.”

ICAP is a global leader in supporting HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs. Currently, ICAP supports more than 1,000 sites in Africa, which provide HIV services to nearly 800,000 people, including antiretroviral treatment to more than 391,000 individuals. In addition, ICAP-supported sites have provided HIV counseling and testing services to nearly 700,000 pregnant women.

Her talk with focus on ICAP's work, what it means to scale-up services for HIV/AIDS, why ICAP is focusing on strengthening health systems, and what it's like to do this work in Africa. The discussion will also include information on opportunities for students to get involved in ICAP's work.

For more information on ICAP, please visit the website at www.columbia-icap.org.

"Living in Emergency": Stories of Doctors Without Borders

Date: Friday, December 11, 2009
Time: 4:00pm (Movie Screening, followed by Q&A Session at 5:30pm)
Location: Columbia University, Dodge Hall, Room 511 (Lifetime Screening Room)

For the first time in its history, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), winner of the 1999 Nobel® Peace Prize, gave an independent documentary crew uncensored access to film its field operations. Shot in war-torn Congo and post-conflict Liberia, Living in Emergency interweaves the intense stories of four doctors as they struggle to provide emergency medical care under extreme conditions with limited resources. The documentary takes you into the never-before-seen raw reality of MSF field life: the medicine, arguments, tears, laughter, beer, cigarettes and all.

A Question and Answer session with director Mark Hopkins and producer Naisola Grimwood, moderated by Maureen Ryan, will follow the movie screening.

Reception to follow. No RSVP is necessary for this event.

First Annual Cote d'Ivoire Diversity Week Festival

Date: Saturday, December 12, 2009
Time: 5:00 - 9:00pm
Location: Aaron Davis Hall, in New York, NY

This festival will serve as the culmination of a series, of events that were planned under the direction of Mr. George Konan, Founder and Executive Director of Cote d'Ivoire Diversity Week (CIDW). Our mission is to raise awareness about the rich cultural heritage of Cote D'Ivoire and to bridge the gap between the continental African, and the larger New York community. “We are working to make the presence of continental Africa a part of the cultural and diversified landscape of New York City, and beyond”, states Konan. Noting that there are more than 20,000 Ivorians living in New York City alone, Konan adds, “It is imperative that people learn about Cote d'Ivoire's resources because cultural education creates a form of balance—a balance that is needed in today's world where bigotry and racism threaten the fabric of our everyday existence.”

The program of events includes a tribute to the King of Pop, "Prince of the Sanwi Tribe" in Cote d'Ivoire His Majesty Michael Jackson a.k.a. the Prince Michael Amalaman Anoh; traditional African Dance and drummers; Arts and Crafts of Cote d'Ivoire Exhibit; live musical performance; front row fashion show of Cote d'Ivoire Textile; face painting, poetry, and spoken word; cocktail refreshments with the tastes of Cote d'Ivoire.

In celebrating Cote d'Ivoire's qualification to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Festival salutes individuals who have influenced style & creativity, with African philosophy, within the African American and Ivorian Community. They embody the spirit of excellence and commitment to the education of their traditions, languages, and talent.

The Festival is free and open to the public, with special guests of electives officials, Academics, celebrities, international guests, humanitarians, Community religious and advocacy leaders and major media outlets.

Institute of African Studies, South Asian Institute and Middle East Institute Holiday Party

Date: Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Time: 5:30pm
Location: Knox Hall, Rooms 207 and 208

Join the Institute of African Studies, South Asian Institute and Middle East Institute for a holiday party to celebrate the festive season and an end to the fall semester.

Fall 2009 Events