| UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER |
THE TUESDAY BULLETIN Issue No.10 Fall 2002
November 5, 2002 Weekly News from the AFRICAN STUDIES
CENTER MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY 100 INTERNATIONAL
CENTER
EAST LANSING MI 48824-1035
For back issues, see archive <http//www.isp.msu.edu/AfricanStudies>
BULLETIN CONTENTS
MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS CONFERENCES FELLOWSHIPS GRANTS JOBS
November 7, Thursday "Health Care Needs and Services in Zambia The Primary Healthcare Workers' Perspective," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Gretchen Birbeck, Faculty (Neurology, MSU), 1200 noon, Room 201, International Center.
November 14, Thursday "Democratic Transition in Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Elisabete Azevedo, Visiting Scholar (Afro-barometer, Political Science, MSU), 1200 noon, Room 201, International Center.
MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS
Spring 2003 - Course Announcements
Gender, Justice and Environmental Change Issues and Concepts FW 858, ANP 858, SOC 858, FOR 858, RD 858 Instructors Tracy Dobson and Anne Ferguson This course examines conceptual issues related to ecological systems, environmental policy, and gender studies in order to acquaint graduate students with the key debates and theoretical approaches involved in understanding environmental concerns from a gender and justice perspective. A major concern of the course is to critically examine the complex intersections of environmental actors, agencies, and institutions in the global arena through a focus on contested power relations. This global perspective aims to challenge dichotomies of First World and Third World.
For further information on this course, contact Professor
Tracy Dobson at her e-mail address dobson@msu.edu
or call 432-1711; or Professor Anne Ferguson at fergus12@msu.edu;
or call 353-5040.
Religion as Ideology Islam and Contemporary Politics
- PLS 950 This course marries the disciplines of International
Relations and Comparative Politics with the intention
of exploring the interaction of religion and politics
in important Muslim states, including African states
such as Egypt and Nigeria. Students will analyze the
use of political Islam by groups as a way to further
their political goals within states and in the wider
international sphere. In addition to critically reviewing
the conceptual and analytical literature on the subject,
students will be required to undertake research projects
on countries/regions in which they are interested.
Mohammed Ayoob, University Distinguished Professor
of International Relations at James Madison College,
will teach the course. For more information please
contact Professor Ayoob at ayoob@pilot.msu.edu.
Global Festival 2002 - November 24, 2002 Travel the world in a day! Michigan State University international students representing many countries around the world will share their culture and talents with exhibits and demonstrations, exciting and colorful performances, and an entire floor of children's activities and games. The Global CafÈ will be open from 1200- 300 p.m. and "a la carte" foods will be available all afternoon. The festival will be held at the MSU Student Union. Admission is free. Call 372-4305 or 694-2245 for further information.
MSU Compton Fellowship Announcement for Dissertation Research by African Students Beginning in 2001, the African Studies Center (ASC) and the Women in International Development Program (MSU-WID), in cooperation with the Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID), are offering Compton Peace Fellowships to students from Sub-Saharan Africa to support their dissertation field research in Africa. This program is an element of the MSU African Higher Education Renaissance Initiative (AHERI). These dissertation fellowship awards are made possible by a grant from the Compton Foundation through its Peace Fellowship Program for addressing peace, conflict resolution, and security in Africa.
Eligible candidates must 1) be from Sub-Saharan Africa (citizens of a nation in Africa); 2) be enrolled in a Ph.D. program either at Michigan State University or at an African university partnering with MSU in linkage agreements and exchanges (currently, these linkages exist with institutions such as Addis Ababa University, the University of Dar es Salaam, the University of Malawi and the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar); 3) have completed their course work in any of a variety of social science disciplines such as political science, sociology, history, public policy, economics, and law. Candidates must provide evidence that all requirements for the Ph.D. degree have been completed, including comprehensive examinations and departmental approval of the dissertation proposal; and 4) be pursuing a dissertation which requires a period of fieldwork for collection of qualitative or quantitative data.
The awards are for up to $15,000 and are to be used solely to support field research in Sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the Compton activities, Fellows will participate in a directed readings program related to peace and security at MSU. Note that for those students enrolled in African universities, the grant award of $15,000 is expected to cover costs of travel, housing and meals to attend the one month long MSU directed readings program, as well as to support field research in Africa.
Awards will be granted after a selective and competitive review by an MSU committee of African Studies and Women in International Development faculty. Normally, awards are limited to 12 months.
Awards will be made until funding is exhausted. Applicants should complete a fellowship application form which is available from Women in International Development Program, 202 International Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035; Phone 517-353-5040; or download it from the website http//www.isp.msu.edu/AfricanStudies/ The deadline is January 6, 2003.
New Publications Dr. Janice Harper, an alumni of MSU Anthropology department has written a new book; Harper, Janice, "Endangered Species Health , Illness and Death Among Madagascar's People of the Forest," Durham Carolina Academic Press, 2002. ISBN 0-89089-238-5.
"Endangered Species Health, Illness and Death Among Madagascar's People of the Forest" is an ethnography of an indigenous village in the rainforests of Madagascar, where a USAID-funded national park project curtailed residents' access to the forest for preservation of lemurs and other species. Using a political ecology of health framework, Harper shows how the project promoted economic development as a strategy toward resource conservation, basing its policies on ethnic stereotypes that bore little resemblance to people's actual concepts of identity or cultural practices related to the environment. As an image of indigenous prosperity and environmental stewardship gained prominence in the press, behind the scenes, a different story unfolded as economic impoverishment escalated for many, class inequality intensified, and ten percent of the village died from what appeared to be environmentally-related deaths. This book details the efforts residents make to confront illness and death on a daily basis, while contextualizing contemporary land use and ethnic identity in regional histories, as well as in broader debates concerning ethnicity and land use in Africa. Moreover, it is a forceful critique of how efforts to preserve an image of success led project administrators to suppress any effort to explore whether or not the escalating deaths were related in any way to project policies aimed at protecting the forest from those who lived in it. The conflicts between the park, residents, and researchers that are discussed in this book were featured in Alexander Stille's "The Past in the Present" (Farrar- Strauss 2002).
CONFERENCES
Towards an Africa Without Borders Call for Papers The University of Wisconsin-Madison invites papers for a conference to be held in October 2003. The conference is titled, "Towards an Africa without Borders Unification and Fundamental Change." The purpose for the conference is to bring scholars, writers and political activists concerned with fundamental change together under one roof to discuss the future of Africa, the future of theoretical and practical approaches to change and the role of African languages and literature in the quest for African unification. The conference is open to all activists regardless of the specific locality of their struggle.
This conference is geared towards bringing together conscious voices of all those struggling to bring change to their societies so that they can recognize in both word and deed, each others' struggles. The organizers hope to provide a forum by which a unified voice can generate a platform that is, in praxis, cognizant of struggle, not only in Africa, but in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. This is the right time to take such a step for the world keeps tilting to the right and to the west day by day. Anticipated key-note speakers include Ngugi Wa Thiong'o, Angela Davis, and Maina Wa Kinyatti.
Call for papers should address, but are not limited to the following topics 1) Feminism and Pan- Africanism/Feminist critique of Pan-Africanism; 2) African American and African relationships in political struggles; 3) The future of change in Africa; 4) Latin American and African connections in political struggle; 5) Globalization and the struggle against neocolonialism; 6) Racism, imperialism and literary expression; 7) Pan-Africanism and political struggles - historical and contemporary; 8) African unification; 9) The Congo and Pan Africanism; 10) Palestine What does it mean to the Political activist in Africa and America? 11) The African Writer and Language; 12) Art in social change visual, dramatic, literary, musical; 13) African and African diaspora connections; 14) North African and Sub-Saharan African connections 15) Native American and African American historical relationship.
Please can send abstracts to the following address Towards an Africa without Borders, Department of African Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin, 1414 Van Hise, 1212 Linden Drive, Madison, Wisconsin 53715; or to the following e-mails; mwngugi@wisc.edu; sdgeraghty@wisc.edu. For more information, please contact Mukoma Wa Ngugi at 608- 251-6136 or visit the website at http//adn.bizwebdir.com
FELLOWSHIPS
SCALI 2003 - Univ. of Illinois-UC The Center for African Studies invites applications for the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships for African Language for the summer term, 2003. Pending funding from the U.S. Department of Education, the Center anticipates awarding fellowships for the intensive study of an African language. The Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois works in conjunction with other African Studies units nationwide to offer African language courses during the summer.
For details on applying for the SCALI 2003 program, contact FLAS Committee, Center for African Studies, 210 International Studies Building, 910 S. Fifth Street, Champaign, IL 61820. The application deadline is March 7, 2003.
GRANTS
Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund (MMMF) The Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund (MMMF) was established in 1981 to honor the late Margaret McNamara and her commitment to the well being of women and children in developing countries. The purpose of the grant is to support the education of women from developing countries who are committed to improving the lives of women and children in their home countries. Previous grant recipients studied agriculture, architecture and urban planning, civil engineering, education, forestry, journalism, nursing, nutrition, pediatrics, public administration, public health, social sciences, and social work.
Applicants must be women who are already living in the United States and enrolled in the program for which they will use the grant. The MMMF does not provide pre-enrollment funding, even if the candidate has received notification of acceptance. The MMMF awards up to six grants of about $11,000 each year; they are not renewable. Application forms are currently available, through January 31, 2003. The deadline for completed applications is February 1, 2003. Recipients are notified by May 1.
To be eligible, a women applying for an MMMF grant must
meet ALL the following criteria 1)She must have a record
of service to women and/or children in her country;
2) She must reside in the U.S. at the time she submits
the application; 3) She must already be enrolled in
the accredited U.S. educational institution where she
will use the grant and remain enrolled during the entire
year of the grant; 4) She must use the grant to continue
to study for her degree; 5) She must be a national
of a developing country that is currently eligible
to borrow from the World Bank and cannot be a U.S.
Green Card holder; 6) She must intend to return to
a developing country in about two years, 7) She must
demonstrate financial need; 8) She must be at least
25 years old by December 31, 2002, 9) She must not
be related to any World Bank Group staff member or
his or her spouse.
Students who meet all the criteria may request an application by e-mail, fax, or letter or visiting the MMMF website http//www.worldbank.org/yournet - and click on the link to Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund. Please refer to the Country Eligibility List. Or write MMMF, World Bank Group Volunteer Services, 1818 H Street NW, MSN H2-204, Washington, DC 20433; Phone (202) 473-8751; Fax (202) 522-3142; E- mail mmmf@worldbank.org.
JOBS
Assistant Professor - University of Florida The Center for African Studies and the Department of History at the University of Florida seek an assistant professor of West African history to begin August 2003. The successful candidate must have demonstrated excellence in teaching and research and be able to teach undergraduate and graduate classes in the Department of History. Send letter of application, C.V., and the names and addresses of three references to Luise White, Department of History, University of Florida, 025 Keene-Flint Hall, P.O. Box 117320, Gainesville, FL 32611-7320 before December 30th, 2002. University of Florida is an AA/EOE/ADA employer.
Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar
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