UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
Penn African Studies Center Newsletter, Spring 1999

Penn African Studies Center Newsletter, Spring 1999


African Studies Newsletter

of the University of Pennsylvania

Volume 5, no. 1/Spring 1999

Tribute to Professor Sandra Barnes

The African Studies Center at Penn honored its outgoing Director, Professor Sandra Barnes, at a farewell party on November 30. Professor Barnes stepped down as Director of African Studies as of September 1, 1998 (but continued as acting Director until January 1, 1999).

Professor Barnes' boundless energy, enthusiasm, and exceptional vision to develop a dynamic center for academic scholarship, teaching, and outreach about Africa was brought to fruition under her direction. For example, Professor Barnes developed an undergraduate major and minor for African Studies in the School of Arts and Sciences, two certificate programs were made available to graduate students, and four new study abroad programs in Ghana, Senegal, Zimbabwe, and Kenya were developed during her directorship of the Center.

During her tenure, African Studies was successful in application for and receiving a number of important grants. In 1993 and 1996, the Center received successive Title VI grants from the Department of Education to develop a consortium of African Studies between Penn, Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr Colleges. In 1997 the Center received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop "Teaching and Learning about Africa," a televised distance learning initiative in collaboration with the Philadelphia School District to teach Swahili to K-12 students.

In 1997, Professor Barnes and Dr. Donald Silberberg, Professor of Neurology, Sr. Associate Dean and Director of International Medical Programs of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, formed Africa Health Group, initially funded by the Ford Foundation. The Africa Health Group will collaborate with the Ministries of Health in Ghana and Zimbabwe to undertake research and training endeavors to benefit children with

disabilities on the Continent.

In 1998, African Studies received funding for two additional initiatives: one, "Careers in Africa Day, will take place this spring. The second, a "Dual Intellectual Citizenship" program that will take place in Dakar. On the Center's behalf, Professor Barnes joined with Penn's Linguistic Data Consortium to produce dictionaries, lexicons, and teaching materials for uncommonly taught African languages.

Beyond these programmatic and outreach initiatives, Professor Barnes cultivated many other activities. For example, the African Studies website, which began operating in 1993, has became the largest website on Africa in the world. The African Studies Center and its consortium colleagues presented the Sixth Annual African Studies Workshop last October. The workshop has continued to expand under Dr. Barnes' leadership. This past

year, the workshop was attended by scholars from across the United States. Each spring, graduate students present "Scholar for a Day," an all-day workshop presented by an important Africanist scholar.

Professor Barnes will be missed by the staff, colleagues, and students at the African Studies Center. While the Center will continue to grow under its new leadership, the Penn community has been extremely well served by Professor Barnes' fine leadership.

TRI-NATIONAL CHILDREN'S HEALTH PROJECTLAUNCHED BY PENN MEDICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE FACULTY

Professor Sandra Barnes

A group of Penn Medical School and Arts and Sciences faculty, working with some 25 counterparts in Zimbabwe and Ghana, have established a far-reaching research and training program aimed at preventing and alleviating disabilities among African children.

The tri-national program was launched at a series of meetings in November at the University of Zimbabwe's Medical School in Harare and Ghana's Ministries of Health and Social Welfare in Accra.

It is a distinctive program. Participants of the three countries are committed to working toward developing an understanding of childhood disability that is grounded in both scientific and cultural knowledge. Their aims are to help alleviate many disabling childhood conditions, lessen the impact on care givers and families, and improve the quality of life for disabled children and the wider community.

Participants are equally committed to undertaking planning and cooperative endeavors jointly and with full participation of each partner. Representatives of Ghana attended meetings in Zimbabwe, and vice versa, and at least one aspect of training, for Ghanaian rehabilitation experts, will be based in Zimbabwe where experience and expertise is most developed.

At Penn it is hoped the program will lead to activities in which undergraduate and graduate students can participate, and in which faculty can develop research projects.

The children's disability initiative is an outgrowth of nearly three years of work on the part of some 55 members of Penn's Africa Health Group--a group of faculty, graduate students and administrative staff from eight schools in the University with a wide range of interests in African health issues. Penn faculty who attended the overseas meetings represented eight departments in the School of Medicine (pediatrics, epidemiology, and neurology), School of Arts and Sciences (population studies/sociology, anthropology, history, history and sociology of science), and School of Social Work. The overseas

conferences were funded by grants from the Ford Foundation and the Provost's International Research Fund.

The African Health Group interest in children stems from the fact that the causes, incidence, and prevalence of impairments that cause childhood disability are largely undocumented in newly independent countries. Similarly, the relationships between children's disabilities and their social and cultural environments are little studied. Evidence suggests that as a result of improving primary health care in developing countries, not only are more children surviving, but among them the number of disabled children is also increasing at a significant rate. The number born with, or who develop disabilities, probably exceeds the prevalence of 12 to 18% as reported in studies in the US. Yet children are the very future of sub-Saharan African countries, especially given the problems posed by AIDS and increasing incidence of malnutrition.

Most causes of children's disabilities are preventable. And thus the Penn, Zimbabwe, and Ghana colleagues have taken steps toward organizing a program designed to provide a better understanding of the factors involved in improving the prevention, early detection, and intervention involved in children's disabilities and in improving the rehabilitative services provided to them.

Scholar For a Day - Spring 99

This academic year's Scholar for a Day event will be held in the Undergraduate Lounge of Stitler Hall on Friday March 26th, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We are honored to welcome Professor Johannes Fabian, Chair of "Cultural Anthropology and Non-Western Sociology" at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Professor Fabian has published in many areas that range from sociolinguistics to colonial history, epistemology and history of social science and the study of folklore and performance. While the bulk of his work is focused on francophone Africa, he has also done research on other parts of Africa, as well as Europe and the United States. His many publications include "Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object" (New York: Columbia University Press), "Power and Performance: Ethnographic Explorations through Proverbial Wisdom and Theater in Shaba" (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press)--for which he won the Herskovits Award, "Remembering the Present: Painting and Popular History in Zaire" (Berkeley: University of California Press), and most recently "Moments of Freedom: Popular Culture and Anthropology" (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia). He is also author or co-author of eight books and approximately fifty articles in edited volumes and journals.

Since taking his degree from the University of Chicago, Professor Fabian has held academic positions at Northwestern University, Universite Nationale du Zaire, Wesleyan University, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and the New School for Social Research. He has also served on the editorial board, or as a referee, of major Africanist and social science journals.

As in previous years, Scholar for a Day is arranged by graduate students. Thus, this is an unparalleled opportunity to engage with a leading scholar in African Studies. To participate in the event, or if you have questions, please contact Niklas Hultin, Chair of the organizing committee, inhultin@sas.upenn.edu.

From the Desk of the Acting Director

As many of you already know, Professor Tukufu Zuberi (Antonio McDaniel) from Penn's Department of Sociology has agreed to become the next director of African Studies at Penn to replace Professor Sandra Barnes. Given that he is currently on leave, however, and has a variety of commitments that need to be completed, Professor Zuberi will assume his new duties on July 1, 1999. As a result, the Arts and Sciences deans have ask that I step in as Acting Director for six months.

In addition, the Center's Assistant Director, Dr. Leigh Swigart, has taken another position on campus. We wish her well in her new duties. As a result, Dr. Alwiya Omar will become Acting Assistant Director while we search for a replacement for Leigh, and Dr. Ahmed Shariff will become Acting Language Coordinator.

Under the leadership of Professor Barnes, the African Studies Program and Center have become impressive operations, with a wide range of activities. We intend to see that they are maintained at peak levels while we prepare for upcoming challenges and opportunities. We look forward to your support as we work through this important transition period.

A belated Happy New Year.

Best regards,

Tom Callaghy

Acting Director and

Professor of Political Science

African Studies Opportunities and Programs

Careers in Africa

You are invited to attend our upcoming "Careers in Africa" event on Friday, March 26, 1999 on the Penn campus. The event, organized by the Penn African Studies Center with Ford Foundation funding, is designed to expose undergraduate students to professional possibilities in and related to Africa. We are asking practitioners from the fields of international business, health, the foreign service, development, communications, and human rights to speak about their work, training, and the practical steps students can take to pursue that profession. Presentations will be short - about 15 minutes - and there will be a question-and-answer period after all the presenters have had a chance to speak. Students will also have the opportunity to talk informally with presenters during the reception that follows the event.

For minority students, "Careers in Africa" goes beyond the March 26 presentations. Penn African Studies will sponsor the attendance of 30 minority undergraduates from Delaware Valley institutions at this event. Sponsorship will include transportation to and from the Penn campus, dinner, and an invitation to African Studies' biannual African Language and Culture Festival where they will meet their counterparts at Penn who are already involved in the study of Africa. Sponsored students who attend the event in 1999 will then be eligible to apply for four internships in Africa for the summer of 2000. The internships will be structured so as to be relevant to the successful candidates' interests and goals, especially as developed during the intervening year. This "Careers in Africa" initiative will be funded by the Ford Foundation for three years, after which we hope to institutionalize it as part of the African Studies Center's annual program.

Friday, March 26, 1999

The Verandah - 3615 Locust Walk

University of Pennsylvania

2-4 PM: Panel presentations and questions

Foreign Language and Areas Studies (FLAS) Fellowships are being offered to Penn graduate students in SAS, the School of Medicine, and the professional schools to study an African language. Students must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The fellowships will pay full course tuition and a $10,000 stipend. Application deadline: February 5, 1999

Eligible languages are Swahili, Yoruba, Amharic, and Arabic (if the student is preparing for research or work in sub-Saharan Africa). The study of other African languages may be approved on a case-by-case basis by the Department of Education.

Recipients will be chosen on the basis of:

- the ability to perform well as demonstrated by grade point average.

- the recommendations of faculty.

- the need for language training to realize research and career goals.

- the seriousness with which a student's area studies courses are integrated with language training.

High priority will be given to students:

- who still have course requirements to fulfill and who can thus benefit from tuition benefits.

- who are working toward high levels of proficiency and demonstrate satisfactory proficiency as they progress from one language level to another.

- whose performance in other courses meets high standards.

- who combine professional school with language and international training.

Consideration will not be given to students:

- who have reached a fluency equivalent to that of an educated native speaker in the language for which an award is sought.

- who seek training in a modern European or Asian language.

For application forms and information, contact Lynette Loose, African Studies Program Coordinator, 898-3883

African Studies Prizes. The AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER is pleased to bring to your attention two prizes that are awarded annually to honor excellence in undergraduate student work in African humanities and social sciences.

Students or faculty may submit an essay (course paper, senior thesis, or other academic paper) about Africa that was written during the past year (Spring, Summer, or Fall, 1998) that they feel is worthy of recognition.

1) the EZEKIEL MPHAHLELE AFRICAN STUDIES PRIZE: This prize is awarded for the best undergraduate essay on African literature (in any language, written or oral) or the arts. Essays on representation of colonial discourse on Africa are also welcome.

2) the NNAMDI AZIKIWE AFRICAN STUDIES PRIZE. This prize is awarded annually for the best Africa-related essay by an undergaduate in any of the social or natural sciences.

3) the W. E. B. DU BOIS AFRICAN STUDIES PRIZE. This prize is awarded annually by Undergraduates to honor excellent teaching by a faculty member in African Studies. Students may vote by e-mail, telephone, or in writing.

Each African Studies prize is named after an important figure in African politics and cultural life who also has been connected to the University of Pennsylvania.

Please submit papers and e-mail votes for best faculty member to:

Lynette Loose, 645 Williams Hall/6305 before February 1, 1999. If you

wish to vote for best faculty member--or have questions, please e-mail Ms.

Loose at lloose@sas.upenn.edu.

Summer Programs

Advanced summer language programs are available for Kiswahili, Zulu, and Yoruba.

For Kiswahili (Dar-es-salaam and Zanzibar, Tanzania from June 21st to August 13, 1999), contact Dr. Alwiya Omar, University of Pennsylvania. http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/afl/gpa.html

For Zulu (The University of Natal, South Africa from June 10th to August 17th, 1999), contact Dr. Sandra Sanneh Yale University.

For Yoruba (IfeIfe, Nigeria from June 13 to August 11, 1999), contact Dr. Paul Kotey, University of Florida.

Summer Cooperative African Language Institute: The African Language Institute announces the 1999 Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI), at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut. The institute will support the instruction of a number of African languages as well as provide a program of cultural activities. Some of the language being offered include Kiswahili, Setswana, Gikuyu and IsiZulu. For more information contact: Wiebe K Boer, Coordinator, SCALI, Yale University,

493 College Street, New Haven, CT O6511; Telephone: (203) 787-0696

Intensive Amharic Summer Program, June 21-July 23, 1999, at Michigan State U. It will be immediately preceded by a three-day seminar on Ethiopia. For information: Dr. Yacob Fisseha, Assistant Director, African Studies Center, 100 Center for International Programs, MSU, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035. TEL: 517-353-1700; FAX: 517-432-1209; E-mail: fissehay@pilot.msu.edu

Intensive Kiswahili, May 18th to June 25th, 1999 at the University of Pennsylvania. For registration information please contact: Ms Lynette Loose African Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, 645 Williams Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305, Tel: 215 898 6971, E-mail: lloose@sas.upenn.edu, http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/afl/summer99.html

Graduate Summer School in Dakar: Students are invited to expand their knowledge of African Studies through a summer school program organized by the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), in Dakar, Senegal. Running from June 14 to August 6, 1999, the Summer School will offer seminars on social science and research methodologies as well as special topics of relevance to African Studies. Students in health fields who wish to gain a solid grounding in African Studies to support later work and research will find the school's curriculum highly rewarding.

The African Studies Center, with joint funding from the Ford Foundation and the Penn School of Arts and Sciences Graduate School, will offer four scholarships to the CODESRIA International Summer School in 1999. Graduate and health science students from any Penn school are eligible to apply. Applicants will ideally be fluent in both English and French; fluency in one of the languages and a good reading knowledge of the other are minimal requirements. Application Deadline: January 30, 1999.

Contact the African Studies Center (898-6971) for application information or consult our web site at: http://www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/codesria/codesria.html

Eastern Michigan University's Intensive Educational & Cultural Program in South Africa, Tentative dates: June 28-July 30, 1999. Join Dr. Victor Oguejiofor Okafor of EMU's Department of African American Studies as he leads a group of students to South Africa for four weeks of intensive course-work and cultural excursions. The team will spend its time at several universities including the University of Transkei (UNITRA) and the University of Cape Town. For more information contact Office of Academic Programs Abroad Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti MI 48197. Toll-free 800-777-3541. e-mail: programs.abroad@emich.edu

The University of Dar-es-salaam (Tanzania), in collaboration with the University of Nairobi (Kenya), Makerere University (Uganda) and the University of California, Los Angeles' (UCLA) James S. Coleman African Studies Center, will again host the UONGOZI (Leadership) SCHOOL under the auspices of the UONGOZI INSTITUTE, July 4 to August 15, 1999, in Tanzania and Kenya. This project will involve undergraduate students in the arts, humanities, social sciences, law and related fields from Africa, Europe, and America. Application deadline is March 15th, 1999. Awards will be announced by April 5, 1999. For additional information contact: Professor Edmond J. Keller, James S. Coleman African Studies Center, UCLA, Bunche Hall 10024. P. O. Box 95131o-1310; Fax: 310-206-2250; E-mail: jscasc@isop.ucla.edu.

Awards

African Studies' undergraduate students selected Professor Sandra Barnes to receive the annual W. E.Dubois award for excellence in teaching. Dr. Barnes is a Faculty Member in the Department of Anthropology (and former Director of the African Studies Center). She received her award at a reception held November 30, 1998, an occasion that also paid tribute the her as outgoing Director of the African Studies Center.

The African Studies Center is pleased to announce that Jennifer Ehrhardt was awarded the Nnamdi Azikiwe African Studies Prize for the best essay in the Social Sciences. Ms. Ehrhardt's paper explores the management of persons with HIV/AIDS in Ghana in a cultural context, notions of treatment and cure, who provides care to patients with Aids, and their quality of life. Ms. Ehrhardt is a senior in the Department of History & Sociology of Science. Ms. Ehrhardt's thesis was conducted as an Independent Study Project for the School of International Training program in Ghana.

Ijeoma Akunyili, a Comparative Literature major from Nigeria, has been elected to the University Scholars program. She hopes to do independent research in various African countries on contemporary African Literature.

Visiting Scholars

Dr. Charles C. Soludo, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, will be a Visiting Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Swarthmore in the Spring Semester. He will be team-teaching "Political Economy of Africa" which is Econ 82, cross-listed as Political Science 21 (prerequisite Introductory Econ). Charles is a distinguished macroeconomist working on Sub-Saharan Africa. He has published widely and has active links with the research departments of the World Bank, IMF, and ECA. For more information contact: Stephen A. O'Connell, Professor of Economics, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081, phone: 610-328--8107, fax: 610-328-7352

The International Literacy Institute is sponsoring Dr. Esther Keino, Dean of Students at Egerton University, Njoro, Kenya under Fullbright Visiting Scholar Program. While at Penn, Dr. Keino will conduct research for her project title " The Positive Role of Student Government in the Management of a University." Dr. Keino received a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Nairobi, and took a Master's Degree and Doctorate of Education from Harvard University. African Studies will host Dr. Keino during her stay at Penn. She may be reached through the Center's office at 215-898-6971.

Research Report

A Buzz with the Power to Drive an Economy: Black Economic Empowerment in South Africa, 1998

Paul Bergman

Feel it in the air, feel it in your blood, feel it in your heart. No matter how one looks at it, post-apartheid South Africa is in the midst of socioeconomic change that few societies can boast to have ever experienced. Although South Africa is now a democratic nation, over 300 years of racial oppression has left South Africa's black majority (Africans, Coloureds, Asians) in a deep socioeconomic hole. For most black South Africans, conditions of life in a democratic South Africa are but a small step, if that, above life under the reigns of apartheid.

From May 10 to June 15, 1998, I conducted field research in South Africa under the guidance and support of Dr. Edward B. Shils, Founder of the Center of Entrepreneurial Studies at Wharton, and Professor Sandra Barnes, then director of Penn's African Studies Department. After five weeks of discussion with over thirty members of South Africa's business and academic community from a wide range of occupational and ethnic backgrounds, I left South Africa highly optimistic that the `upliftment' of black South Africa, an extremely difficult task, would occur.

However, socioeconomic upliftment is only possible through a high level of economic growth, something that South Africa lacked throughout 1998 and in all likelihood will struggle to achieve in 1999. If visions of upliftment are to become reality, the South African economy must accordingly grow and create jobs. Thus, the South African government's goal is not upliftment alone, but the combination of growth, employment and redistribution of wealth to the previously disadvantaged, through the national strategy of GEAR. GEAR calls for a GDP growth rate of six percent per annum and job creation of 400,000 per annum by the turn of the century.

And so my task was to discover just how GEAR could be achieved. Fortunately, the solution to GEAR struck me head-on, the moment I arrived in South Africa. The solution was and remains Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). Unfortunately, for me, BEE is such a potent, controversial, and ambiguous concept that developing the concept into a truly practical method of economic growth and socioeconomic upliftment proved a mighty challenge. Nonetheless, by dividing BEE into three models, I attempted to prove that within BEE lie both the obstacles and solution to an auspicious South African future.

The first model is BEE in South Africa's large public sector, which accounts for over a third of South Africa's GDP. Here I call for a veritable and well-planned joint strategy between government and business, which begins, and indeed has already begun, with a strong privatization initiative by the South African government with a short to medium term goal of placing all government-owned enterprise in private hands. The government will benefit through a dramatic reduction in the managerial burdens of a large public sector and the financial burdens of state debt. Likewise, the South African economy will benefit from the reduction in the burden of inefficiency. Previously disadvantaged individuals will be incorporated into privatized enterprises as owners, managers and employees allowing for some redistribution of wealth. Economic growth and employment opportunities as a result of BEE in the public sector, however, will be limited. Rather than spark growth, privatization will prevent decline.

Second is the corporate model of BEE. As the grip by the hands of affirmative action on corporate South Africa continues to grow tighter, the pockets of black South African market grow deeper, and the minds and business acumen of black South Africans expand, black management and ownership will turn from a choice to a necessity. If corporate South Africa is to grow and accordingly promote the achievement of GEAR, South Africa's large corporations must capitalize on the growing black consumer market and maximize the potential, both latent and evident, of South Africa's black business people.

Last and most importantly is the third model of BEE, which takes place at the small business level. To achieve small business capacity, South Africa must first create an enabling environment for the development of small business. An enabling education system must emphasize skill development, business success and entrepreneurship. An enabling banking system must recognize the social and self-profits of providing financial services to all South Africans. And an enabling government must see value rather than danger in tendering contracts to small businesses. Small business development will translate almost directly into national economic development and prosperity for South Africa and its people.

During the Fall 1998 semester Penn was fortunate enough to have two ANC government officials, Ketso Gordhan and Moss Ngoasheng, who chose to leave their posts in South Africa to study for a semester at Wharton. I was all too anxious to speak with them to learn how BEE had progressed in South Africa over barely six months, and to hear what they thought of my researched recommendations. Both Mr. Ghordan and Mr. Ngoasheng verified what I knew would be the case right from the beginning. For you see, BEE is a process that has moved and changed so rapidly that all I was able to do in my research was to step on the brakes for a moment. To capture an updated picture of BEE in South Africa might require another five weeks of discussion and research. Nonetheless, South Africa still strives towards the day when BEE is no longer a buzz of excitement, but a buzz of fulfillment.

Workshops and Conferences

The African Literature Association will hold its 25th annual meeting on March 10-13, 1999 in Fes, Morocco. The conference theme is: Continental NorthSouth and Diaspora Connection and Linkages. For more information contact: Edris Makward, ALA 1999 Coconvener, 1414 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Drive, Madison, WI 53706, Telephone: (608) 262-2487, Telephone: (608) 262-2487, Fax: (608) 265-4151, Email: emakward@facstaff.wisc.edu.

The African Women Global Network, together with the Center for African Studies and Ohio State University, will host the second annual international conference on women on April 15 - 17, 1999, in Columbus, Ohio. The theme of the conference is: "Technology, Art and Culture". For more information write to: The Ohio State University, AWOGNet at AWOGNet, Center for African Studies, Ohio State University, 314 Oxley Hall,

1712 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210-1219; Telephone: (614) 292-3238.

Africa Telehealth Project / Nairobi Regional Conference. The upcoming Africa Telehealth Project's Nairobi Conference will be held February 19-21, 1999. "The Africa TeleHealth Project" will provide a staged introduction of telehealth programs to the African market focused on geographic cover-age and service issues. Initially, the service will be introduced in cooperation with a variety of international development agencies, the long-term goal of which is to create a commercially viable service targeted to the needs of the following three sectors within the African Continent: For more information contact Carolyn Manjourides, President, Project SCOPE Incorporated 232 W. Canton Street, Suite 100, Boston, MA 02116, USA mailto:cmanjourides@projectscope.org, http://www.projectscope.org.

Department of Folklore and Folklife announces its Equatorial Folklore Planning Workshop March 26-28, 1999.

Friday March 26, 1999: 7:30 PM Reception at the home of Batsheva and Dan Ben-Amos 539 East Durham Street, Philadelphia, PA

Saturday, March 27, 1999: 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM Workshop: Woody Room, Van Pelt Library, 2nd Floor.

Chair: Dan Ben-Amos

Welcome: Roger D. Abrahams & Kwesi Yankah

1:00 PM - 3:00 PM Lunch

3:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Research Reports and Plans: Discussion with students of the Department of Folklore and Folklife, African Studies Program, Latin American Studies

History Seminar Room, 3401 Walnut Street, Room 329A

5:00 PM - 6:00 PM Reception

Sunday, March 28, 1998: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Conclusion: Woody Room, Van Pelt Library, 2nd Floor

Media Workshop: A Success

In November 20th, 1998, the African Studies Center hosted a workshop entitled: "Reporting Africa: African News Coverage in the US Mass Media" The main objectives of the workshop which was organized by the Outreach office are: provide an understanding about the complexities and variations in African cultures and polities; create a forum for media personnel to share and to discuss their views about Africa and how they cover it; discuss effective ways of reporting about Africa and how to eliminate preconception in reporting about Africa; and introduce the African Studies Center as an appropriate resource for information about Africa and as a potential source for future contacts. The workshop was attended by more than sixty participants including media practitioners in the Delaware Valley, faculty members from local colleges and universities, and the general public.

Job Opportunities and Announcements

The Morgan Log House is looking for a graduate student to do inventory of their collections, comparing existing registration records with objects. Familiarity with material culture, styles, and/or art history are preferred. The Morgan Log House is located in Central Montgomery County in Culpsville, PA Transportation costs would be provided in addition to $10/hour salary, up to 100 hours. Send a letter of interest and resume to: Curator, The Welsh Valley Preservation Society, P.O. Box 261 Culpsville, PA 19443 or e-mail Joan Hauger at: jhauger@llpptn.pall.org

Volunteering in Tanzania. Volunteers are needed to assist in the development of our Internet sites and construction of schools in Tanzania. If you know of anyone (students or faculty) who would like to take off 3-12 months and help us, please have them check out the details at: http://www.Swahili.com, http://www.SafariTanzania.com. For more information contact: Bob Manire, Trustee, The Paul & Delilah Roch Charitable Trust, safariba@flash.net

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation seeks a Country Coordinator of the Fund for Leadership Development. The person selected will be based in Nigeria. For position announcement please check our website at www.macfdn.org. To apply please mail, fax or e-mail cover letter and resume to: Search Director, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, 140 S. Dearborn Street, Suite 1100, Chicago, IL 60603; Fax: (312) 920-6284; E-mail: jobs@macfdn.org. The Foundation is an

Equal Opportunity Employer.

Calender of Events

January 29, 1999 (SLS)

Koffi Anyinæfa, Haverford College "Plagiarism and African Fiction". 12 Noon to 1:30 p.m., History Lounge (Room 329A), 3401 Walnut Street

February 12, 1999 (SLS)

Mimi Mortimer, University of Colorado, Boulder "Travel and the Quest for Identity in the Francophone Novel". 12 Noon to 1:30 p.m., History Lounge (Room 329A), 3401 Walnut Street

February 26, 1999

Glenn Adler

University of Witwatersand

Scholar-in Residence, American University

"The Fate of Anti-Apartheid Social Movements in a Democratic South Africa"

12 Noon to 1:30pm, TBA.

March 5, 1999 (SLS)

Michael Valdez Moses, Duke University "Big Daddy: Postcolonial African Dictatorship and Achebe's ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH". 12 Noon to 1:30 p.m., Class of 1955 Conference Room, Van Pelt Library

Tuesday, March 16, 12:30-1:30 p.m.,

Sam Clark Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania "INDEPTH in Africa: An Organizer's View of A New Health Information Network" Africa Health Group, Place to be Announced.

March 26, 1999 (SLS)

Johannes Fabian, University of Amsterdam. Annual "Day With an African Scholar" Event

TBA, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

March 26, 1999 2:00 - 5:00pm

Careers in Africa Day

Panel presentations and reception

March 26, 1999, 5:00 - 7:00 pm

African Language Cultural Day

The Verandah - 3615 Locust Walk

University of Pennsylvania

April 2, 1999 (SLS)

Dragoss Quedraago, Visiting Professor at Carleton College, Universite de Bordeeaux 2

"The African Epic in Oral Tradition Cinema: Another Way to Visual History" 12:00 - 1:30pm. Cherpack Lounge (Room 543), Williams Hall.

April 9, 1999 (SLS)

Henri Lopes, UNESCO and Congolese Embassy in Paris "Trajectory of an African Writer"

Kelly Writer's House, 12 Noon to 1:30 p.m.

April 16, 1999 (SLS)

Mark Sanders, Barnard College "Testimony Literature after Apartheid". 12 Noon to 1:00 p.m., Class of 1955 Conference Room, Van Pelt Library

April 16, 1999 (SLS)

Barbara Harlow, University of Texas at Austin "Sindiwe Magona's 'Mother to Mother':

Contemporary South African Literature and the Truth Commission". 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Class of 1955 Conference Room, Van Pelt Library

April 23, 1999 (SLS)

James English, University of Pennsylvania "The Globalization of the Post Colonial"

12 Noon to 1:30 p.m., Class of 1955 Conference Room, Van Pelt Library

*SLS=Spring Lecture Series

Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar

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