MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 01/26/10

Topics covered in this issue: Events | Announcements | Other Announcements | Conferences Events
Thursday, January 28, 2010

"Reframing Contemporary Africa: Politics, Economics and Culture in the Global Era: A Book Talk," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Rita Kiki Edozie, Faculty (James Madison College, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Thursday, February 4, 2010

"Some Reflections on Cotton Price Policies in West Africa," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Sonja Perakis, MSU Advanced Graduate Student (Ag. Food, and Resource Economics), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Thursday, February 11, 2010

"Exploring Logistics Complexity among African Nations: A Macro Perspective," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Anthony Ross, Faculty (Supply Chain Management, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Thursday, February 11, 2010

"Incorporating a Global Perspective into K-12 Science and Social Studies Teaching: The Tanzanian Partnership Curriculum Development Project," Global Initiative Forum for Future Teachers (GIFT), with speakers, Dwight Sieggren and Barbara Naess, (Michigan school teachers), 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., Room 252 Erickson Hall. Contact: Margo Glew for more information at: 355-8534 or e-mail: glewmarg@msu.edu. Announcements
SAVE THE DATE: Spring 2010: African Studies Center Prominent Africanist Lecture Series

Lecture I

Date: Feb. 25, 2010 - 5:30-7:00pm -

Location changed to: Kellogg Center, Room 105 A/B.

Guest Lecturer: Oyeronke Oyewumi, Associate Professor of Sociology, SUNY, and author of The Invention of Women: Making an African Sense of Western Gender Discourses, speaking on: "Sarah Palin's `Witch Pastor': African Intellectuals and Gender in a Global Age." Sponsored by the African Studies Center, Center for Gender in Global Context, and James Madison College.

Lecture II

Date: Mar. 26, 2010 - 5:00-7:00pm -

Location: 3rd Floor, International Studies and Programs

Guest Lecturer: Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, Dean and Professor of History, Loyola Marymount Univ., Los Angeles, CA and author of Barack Obama and African Diasporas, speaking on: "African Diasporas: Toward a Global History." Sponsored by the African Studies Center, Department of History, African American and African Studies Department, and James Madison College.

A light reception will follow both lectures. African Studies Center Application for Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS): 2010-2011 AY

The African Studies Center at MSU is now accepting on-line applications for FLAS fellowships for academic year 2010-2011 and for the 2010 Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI). The FLAS fellowship is funded by the U.S. Department of Education Title VI program for the study of African languages and non-language courses on Africa. Up to date information and on-line application forms are available at: http://africa.msu.edu/flas.

Candidates must have completed application procedures by February 19, 2010. Related application materials are to be mailed to the Assistant Director of the African Studies Center, 100 International Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035; Phone: (517) 353-1700; Fax: (517) 432-1209; e-mail: fisseha@msu.edu. Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI 2010)

Summer Cooperative African Language Institute (SCALI) 2010 will be hosted by Michigan State University from June 14 to August 6, 2010. More information on SCALI and the application form are available at: http://www.africa.msu.edu/scali and at http://www.africa.msu.edu/scali/application.php.

Students interested in SCALI need to immediately complete the "Expression of Interest" form found at http://www.africa.msu.edu/scali/interest.php. Graduate students who are interested in the MSU summer FLAS fellowship should apply using the SCALI application form given above. CASID/WID Application for FLAS 2010-2011 AY

The Center for Advanced Study of International Development (CASID) and Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen) at Michigan State University awards graduate fellowships under the Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program of the U.S. Department of Education. The FLAS fellowship program is designed to meet critical needs for specialists in American education, government, and other services of a public and/or professional nature who will utilize their skills in training others and in developing throughout the United States a wider knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures.

CASID/GenCen's FLAS Fellowships are awarded to graduate students enrolled in programs that combine the study of a modern foreign language with advanced training and research in international development studies. Fellowship support includes the payment of tuition and fees (up to $12,000 per academic year) and a stipend of $15,000 for the academic year. To be considered for fellowship support, applicants must be a citizen or national of the United States; or a permanent resident of the United States; or a permanent resident of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Applicants also must have earned a baccalaureate or comparable degree before the fellowship period begins and be admitted to or currently enrolled in a graduate degree program at Michigan State University. The CASID/GenCen application deadline is February 16, 2010.

For application materials please go to: http://www.casid.msu.edu/academic/fellowships.shtml. For additional information, please contact: Dr. Andrea Allen, Associate Director, CASID, Michigan State University, 202 Internat! ional Center, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035; Phone (517) 884-2141; Fax (517) 353-8765. Summer Course Online

STA 491 - This is My World: Online Photography Course for Study Abroad. 2 cr., (Sec 730 1st Summer session; Sec. 731 2nd Summer session).

This is MSU's first online photography course, designed specifically for Study Abroad students, regardless of which program they are enrolled in. No prerequisites. Students will study photography through textbook readings, take quizzes on chapters, and learn from online video and powerpoint presentations, before the Study Abroad program starts.

Students' Study Abroad program experience and learning will be enhanced by this course as they respond to the same assignments as other students across the globe. Students will share their photographs in online course galleries at www.flickr.com. They will post their photos while abroad or when they return, and write comments online about classmates' works. By sharing photos and ideas about how and why they were created with others from different parts of our world, students will not only learn how to make better photographs, but they will also enrich their Study Abroad experience by learning about the other "worlds as well."

Enrollment may be limited. No more than five students in any one Study Abroad Program. Contact Professor Peter Glendinning, glendinn@msu.edu, for more information and/or permission to enroll. Other Announcements
Fulbright-Hays Zulu GPA in KwaZulu-Natal, CFA

University of Pennsylvania African Studies Center announces Fulbright-Hays Intensive Intermediate-Advanced Zulu Group Project Abroad in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa (June 11 – August 08, 2010.)

The 12th Fulbright-Hays Intensive Intermediate-Advanced Zulu Group Project Abroad (Zulu GPA) for the summer 2010 will be held in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, pending receipt of grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The eight-week Fulbright-Hays Intensive Intermediate-Advanced Zulu GPA in South Africa is directed by the University of Pennsylvania, in affiliation with the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. The Zulu GPA is a national, federally-funded program designed to provide students of Zulu from across the United States with an opportunity to advance their competency in the Zulu language and culture in South Africa among native speakers of Zulu. It is directed by the University of Pennsylvania, with funding from the U.S. Department of Education and the University of Pennsylvania.

Applicants must be:

For more information and application materials go to: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/afl/zulugpa.htm or e-mail: Dr. Audrey N Mbeje (Project Director) mbeje@sas.upenn.edu. The application deadline is February 15, 2010. Intensive KiSwahili in Tanzania, Summer 2010

The Association of African Studies Programs (AASP) and the African Language Teachers Association (ALTA) in cooperation with Michigan State University announce the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad for Intensive Advanced Kiswahili in Tanzania (June 18 – August 7, 2010).

The seven-week program is offered by the Association of African Studies Programs and the African Language Teachers Association with the support of the U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) Program. Michigan State University's African Studies Center and Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian, and African Languages, in collaboration with the University of Florida and the University of Dar es Salaam, will conduct the program at the MS-Training Center for Development Cooperation (MS-TCDC) in Arusha, Tanzania.

Applicants must be:

-U.S. citizens/permanent residents of the United States

-Graduate/professional students with a focus on Africa

-Undergraduate juniors or seniors focusing on Africa

Applications will be available at all university African studies centers across the nation and on the Michigan State University African Studies Center website at http://africa.msu.edu/kiswahili.php. Applications can be submitted electronically. The application deadline is February 19, 2010.

For more information contact: Dr. Deo Ngonyani, Michigan State University, A-614 Wells Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824-1027; Phone: (517) 353-4051; Fax: (517) 432-2736; e-mail: ngonyani@msu.edu. Conferences
International Conference & Humboldt Kolleg

The University of Calabar and University of Nigeria's organizing committee invites papers for the Islam in Nigeria's Eastern Region and the Lake Chad Basin conference to be held in Calabar, 26-30 September 2010. Academic studies on Islam in Africa generally have advanced considerably in the last decades. Notwithstanding, the academic community is yet to engage seriously with the developments in the old Eastern Region of Nigeria, one of Africa's supposedly "homogenous Christian regions," home to the Igbo, Efik, Ibibio, Ijaw, and other ethnic groups. Eastern Nigeria is the only region of the country that was not touched by the nineteenth century Islamic jihad. But, what many decades of jihad wars failed to do, the establishment of colonial control over territories that became "Nigeria" successfully accomplished. Thanks to the colonial wars of conquest and colonial attempts to open up the Eastern Region, Muslim refugees and traders found themselves in the territory eventually igniting local interest in Islam. This formed the nucleus for the emergence of an indigenous Muslim population in the region before the outbreak of the Nigeria-Biafra war in 1967. Eastern Nigeria presents an interesting case of the uneventful extension of Islam in the twentieth century.

The committee invites papers dealing with all aspects of the introduction, extension, and development of Islam and Islamic institutions in this new frontier since 1900. Submissions should include, but! not be limited to, topics on origins and developments; Muslim converts and their neighbors; Muslim converts and the state; indigenous Muslim communities during the Nigeria-Biafra war; socio-religious changes; Shari'a and the prospects for Islam in Eastern Nigeria; Women in Islam; Islam and militancy in the Nigera Delta.

The deadline for abstracts and panel proposals is February 15, 2010. Abstracts should not exceed 250 words and should include title, author's name, address, e-mail and institutional affiliation.

Submit all abstracts, panel and film proposals to southeastproject@gmail.com.

More details about the conference may be found at: http://www.unn.edu.ng/arts/images/flyer.pdf.

Please direct questions to the Conference Convener: Egodi Uchendu, PhD, History and International Studies, Univ. of Nigeria; e-mail: southeastproject@gmail.com; Tel: +234 (0)803 961 7898; or Committee members: Dr. Ikechukwu Amadi, Univ. of Calabar, Tel: +07035107344; Dr. David Imbua, Univ. of Calabar, Tel: +08038996147; Dr. Tochukwu Ukasonwa, Univ. of Calabar, Tel: +08033244695; or Ms. Nkiru Awachie, Univ. of Nigeria, +08037782982.

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