MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 03/14/06

Issue No. 9 Spring 2006
March 14, 2006

Weekly News from the AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 100 INTERNATIONAL CENTER

EAST LANSING MI 48824-1035

For back issues, see archive <http://africa.msu.edu>

BULLETIN CONTENTS

EVENTS

MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONFERENCES
FELLOWSHIPS

EVENTS

March 15, Wednesday

"Hausa Table," every Wednesday brown bag luncheon with Dr. Ibro Chekaraou. Hausa-phones in the Lansing/East Lansing area meet to practice their Hausa in order to maintain or improve their oral skills in the language, 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center.

March 15, Wednesday

"Meza ya Kiswahili" (Swahili table) every Wednesday in the Crossroads Food Court, 12:30 - 1:30. For information, contact Professor Deo Ngonyani, e-mail: ngonyani@msu.edu or call 353-4051.

March 15, Wednesday

"Defiance and Liberation: The People's Power and the People's Rights." Peace and Justice lecture with Jack DuVall, President and founding director of the International Center on Non-violent Conflict and the executive producer of the PBS series, A Force More Powerful. The talk is at 7:30 p.m. in room 118, Psychology Building (formerly the Physics & Astronomy Bldg.).

March 16, Thursday

"Reflections on the Struggle of Democracy under the South African Apartheid Government" African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Dr. Renfrew Christie, Dept. of History and Dean of Research (U. of Western Cape), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center.

March 17-18, Friday - Saturday

Islam and Gender

Social Change and Cultural Diversity in Muslim Communities conference to be held at MSU. Check-in is at 8:30 a.m., Friday in Room 303 of the International Center. Visit http://www.soc.msu.edu/islam&genderconference/index.htm for additional information.

March 23, Thursday

"From Prisoner to Parliament and Beyond in South Africa," African Studies Center Brown Bag with the Honorable Ahmed Kathrada, Parliamentarian (South Africa), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center.

March 24-25, Friday - Saturday

No Place to Hide

Student Activism and the Fight Against the Global AIDS Pandemic conference will be held on the second floor of the MSU Union, Friday, 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. and Saturday, 9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Register by going to http://www.mrule.msu.edu.

MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

East Lansing Film Festival, March 22-30, 2006
Following are Africa-related films to be shown at Wells Hall on the MSU campus:

The Boys of Baraka (84min) - Fri. 3/24 - 7:00 p.m., Hitchcock D.

Yesterday (96 min) - Sat. 3/25 - 1:00 p.m., Capra B.

For more information about the East Lansing Film
Festival, contact Shannon at:(517) 336-5802; e-mail: shannon@elff.com or visit: http://www.elff.com.

Muslim Studies Specialization

There are more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the
world, the vast majority living outside the Middle East. The largest Muslim communities are in Asia and Africa, with significant and growing diasporas in Europe and the United States. The Muslim Studies Specialization at MSU seeks to explore the diversity of these Muslim
communities. It encourages students to acquire a solid background in the history, religion, and culture of Muslim peoples in general, while exploring in depth particular Muslim communities in Asia, Africa, the
Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.

The Specialization in Muslim Studies, administered by James Madison College, is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in bachelor's degree programs at MSU. For Specialization requirements contact the Coordinators of the Muslim Studies Specialization:
Professor Mohammed Ayoob, e-mail: ayoob@msu.edu;
or Associate Dean, Professor Norman Graham, e-mail: grahamn@msu.edu; 358 S. Case Hall, Michigan State
University, East Lansing, MI 48825; Tel: (517) 353- 6753; Fax: (517) 432-1804.

2005 Awards for Work in or with Africa

Michael Bratton, Afrobarometer project:

• Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, $350,000 for Afrobarometer Network Training (at the University of Cape Town). Awarded August 2005, active through April 2008;
• World Bank, $253,724 for a module of questions on Governance and Service Delivery across 16 countries in Afrobarometer Round 3. Awarded March 2005, active through February, 2008;
• Donor Democracy and Governance Group ( a consortium of European development assistance agencies), $56,020 for a Round 3 Afrobarometer survey in Uganda. Awarded February 2005, active through January 2006;
• USAID/Washington, $53,000 for oversampling on Afrobarometer surveys in six African countries (with Carolyn Logan). Awarded February 2005, active through August 2007.

There were four new proposals of which four were
awarded. Total awards for 2005 is $712,744.

Daniel Clay, PEARL project:

• The Maraba Coffee Cooperative in Rwanda won the prestigious Gothenburg Environmental prize (Sweden) in 2005. Maraba is the first PEARL supported cooperative and is where the transformation of Rwanda's coffee industry started. The cash award was for $125,000. Though the award did not come to MSU or the PEARL project, their efforts were an important contributing factor to the success of the Maraba Coffee Cooperative receiving it.
  
  
  

Edward Walker, NIH/NIAD Strategic Partnership

NIH/NIAID Strategic Partnership Award

• Insecticide mosaics and sustainability of treated nets. Research sites are in western Kenya. On-going research support, awarded September 2003, active through March 2008;
• NIHNIAHD Anopheles gambiae: microbial mediation of habitat selection and production. Study sites in western Kenya. Awarded February 2002, active through January 2007.
  
  
  

Lilian Kirimi

Received the Miriam J. Kelley Scholarship in 2005 from the Office of International Students and Scholars.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

Les Ballets Africans, April 14-15, 2006, Detroit, MI

Les Ballets Africains, National Dance Company of the Republic of Guinea will perform at the Music Hall in Detroit, Friday, April 14, 2006 and Saturday, April 15, 2006, 350 Madison St., Detroit, MI 48226.

To see details on the dance company, go to:
http://www.lesballetsafricains.com/index.php. For
ticket information, contact the Music Hall at (313) 963- 2366; or http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/65560.

Summer Intensive Language Studies- Beloit College

Beloit College invites students to apply for first or second-year Arabic beginning June 10 - August 11,
2006. Partial scholarships are available to students who are accepted into the program by April 21, 2006.

For information on how to apply, contact: Patricia Zody, Director, Center for Language Studies, Beloit College, 700 College St., Beloit, WI 53511-5595, USA; Tel:
(608) 363-2277; Fax: (608) 363-7129. Or go to the

website: http://www.summerlanguages.com.

2006 Request for Applications: New IDEAS
(Innovative Development and Engagement Across
Sectors) Partnership Program

Higher Education for Development (HED), in
cooperation with USAID's Bureau for Economic
Growth, Agriculture and Trade, Office of Education, is issuing the New IDEAS Partnership Program RFA for
U.S. colleges, universities and community colleges, together with their overseas higher education partners, to address compelling development issues in USAID
presence countries. Applications may address issues in any USAID development sector.

The purpose of the RFA is to:(1) Allow U.S. colleges, universities and community colleges to propose their own partnership programs that strengthen the capacity of higher education institutions to address development issues in any USAID presence country; (2) Allow the higher education community to demonstrate to USAID
unique or exceptionally innovative approaches and
ideas; and (3) Encourage broader participation by the higher education community in development activities.

HED anticipates making ten (10) awards of up to
$125,000 each over a three-year period, contingent on USAID funding. The application deadline is April 25, 2006, 5:00 p.m. EDT. More information, including the RFA, is available on the HED website:
http://www.aascu.org/ALO/RFPs/newIDEAS/newIDE
AS06.htm

CONFERENCES

African Diaspora Studies & the Disciplines
University of Wisconsin-Madison, March 23-26, 2006

The study of the African diaspora has become a most vibrant area of research and teaching in recent years across disciplines. Few efforts have, however, been made to clearly situate, delineate, and reflect on the practice of diaspora scholarship within the possibilities and constraints afforded and imposed by the disciplines. Interdisciplinary dialogue on the theoretical contours of the African diaspora is even more rare. In order to begin filling these significant gaps, the African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle at the University of Wisconsin brings together leading scholars in over a dozen disciplines for a three-day international
symposium. For detailed information, see
http://africa.wisc.edu/diaspora/ or call (608) 265-9151.

Business Environment from an Islamic Perspective
Univ. of Kansas, April 7-8, 2006

The Kansas African Studies Center extends an invitation to attend the workshop, "Business Environment from an Islamic Perspective: A workshop on doing business in countries where Islam plays a significant role in the business culture" to be held at the University of Kansas in Lawrence.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Sultan Abu Ali,
Professor of Economics at Zagazig University, Egypt. Sponsors are: the Kansas African Studies Center, the Center for International Business Education &
Research, the Department of Economics, all of Kansas; as well as The Islamic Economics Center at Al Azhar University in Egypt; and Professor Mohamed El-Hodiri of the University of Kansas.

For workshop information, registration, and the
brochure, please visit the website at:
http://www.kasc.ku.edu/Businesses_Islam_Perspectiv
e_Website_Feb7-06.shtml.

Theorizing the African and Black Diaspora
DePaul University, May 19-20, 2006 - CFP

The Center for Black Diaspora at DePaul University is organizing the conference, "Theorizing the African and Black Diaspora: History, Memory and Representation." The conference provides a venue for a critical
exploration of history and memory and how these ideas illuminate the movement (geographic, cultural, political and psychological) of the African/Black Diaspora in the context of globalized and transnational spaces.

Papers are invited. Selected papers from the conference will be published in a special issue of African Identities, (Routledge), and an edited book as an outgrowth of the conference papers is also planned. An abstract of
approximately 300 words should be sent to the
organizing Committee by March 31, 2006. For more
information, visit the conference website:
http://www.depaul.edu/diaspora.

FELLOWSHIPS

Summer 2006 - SSRC Predissertation Fellowship

The Social Science Research Council Predissertation Fellowship for International Collaboration (PFIC) is offering new predissertation funding for three-month immersion at the intended fieldwork site abroad.
Awards are for up to $7000 to be used this summer. The deadline is March 31, 2006 and must include a letter from the scholar-supervisor abroad. For details see: http://www.ssrc.org/fellowships/PFIC/.

UNESCO Fellowships Program (2006-2007)

The UNESCO fellowships program, in support of
priority programme areas, are of short term duration, from one to six months for completion between
September 1 2006 and December 31 2007, and are
intended for specialized training at the post-graduate level. Candidates should be promising and qualified specialists who seek to undertake advanced research or to upgrade their skills and knowledge of state-of-the-art developments in their field of study or work. Principal priority areas are: Education basic education for all, with special attention being given to literacy, HIV/AIDS prevention and education, and teacher training in sub- Saharan Africa; Sciences water and associated
ecosystems; Social and Human Sciences ethics of
science and technology, with emphasis on bioethics; Culture promoting cultural diversity, with special emphasis on the tangible and intangible heritage;
Communication and Information empowering people
through access to information and knowledge with
special emphasis on freedom of expression.

Applications will be accepted from graduate and post- graduate candidates for study abroad wishing to pursue training, undertake advanced research, upgrade skills, or attend specialized or refresher courses. Priority attention will be given to women, and those from the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs). Candidates must have a
university degree, be not more than 45 years of age, and have demonstrated that they possess outstanding
potential that would enable them to make a significant contribution to their country upon their return. The maximum cost should not exceed USD $15,000 to cover, either partially or fully, expenses related to the study program. Should the proposed study program need
additional funds, other sources must be sought. The application deadline is April 30, 2006. For further details, contact, Chief, Fellowships Section, UNESCO, 7, place de Fontenoy, Paris 07 SP, 75352, France; Tel: +33 (0) 1 45 68 13 13; Fax: +33 (0) 1 45 68 55 02/03; e- mail: fellowships@unesco.org; website:
http://www.comminit.com/funding2006/fellowships20
06/awards-1336.html.

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