Penn Museum: Africa-related Events, 02-03/05

World Culture Day: Celebration of African Cultures
Sat February 12 11:00 am to 4:00 pm The 16th annual Celebration of African Cultures features special programs to delight the entire family! Enjoy the explosive energy of West African dancing and drumming by the Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble, the enchanting vocal harmonizing of the Women's Sekere Ensemble, and more. Discover African arts and crafts, join in on a dance workshop, participate in African storytelling, and try African foods in the Museum Café. Free with Museum admission donation. Museum-wide. Information: 215/898-4890.

Children's Workshop: Shake, Shake, Shake Your Sekere
Sat February 19 10:00 am to 12:00 pm In this "Anthropologists in the Making" program, children ages 8 through 12 explore African rhythm as they listen to the percussive sounds of sekere music. In a craft workshop, children decorate gourds and transform them into miniature sekeres of their own. $10.00 materials fee. Pre-registration required: 215/898-4016.

International Symposium: Life and Death in Ancient China and Ancient Egypt Friday, March 18th, 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm
and Saturday, March 19th, 9:00am to 6:00 pm

Two of the world's greatest tomb-building civilizations are compared and contrasted in this unique symposium, which brings together 24 leading scholars of ancient Egyptian and ancient Chinese cultures from four continents. Although separated from each other by thousands of miles, these two civilizations, which had no contact with each other, still had an astonishing range of commonalities. The speakers will investigate issues such as why the Egyptian pharaohs placed sphinxes near their temples and the Chinese emperors lined the approaches to their tombs with monumental mythological creatures. Why did the Shang kings execute thousands of slaves to join them in the afterlife and yet such sacrificial burial was rare in ancient Egypt? What did Chinese and Egyptian tomb builders desire for the afterlife, how was it different from their lives on earth, and what did each civilization record in word and image about life and death? $100 non-members; $75 members. Information and a brochure: email events@museum.upenn.edu, or call 215/898-4890.

Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.