MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 02/26/08
The African Studies Center at MSU
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Tuesday Bulletin for February 26th, 2008
Topics covered in this issue: Events | Other Announcements
Events
Spring Break — No Brown Bag
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Film series: "Drum" (South Africa)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Shown at the Snyder-Phillips residential college theater, 7:30p.m.
Winner of the first prize award for best film at the 2005 FESPACO festival in Burkina
Faso (Africa's premier film festival). Drum tells the story of Heny Nxumalo South Africa's
leading investigative reporter, exposing the Apartheid regime's darkest secrets in the
pages of Drum, the first magazine in South Africa aimed at a Black readership. To expose
the appalling conditions of African farm-workers in the Transvaal, he gets a job on a farm
where farm workers are treated brutally. He then gets himself arrested so that he can
report on the conditions of Black prisoners in Apartheid's jails. Drum is published from
Sophiatown, which was in the 1950s a multiracial oasis in the heart of Apartheid
Johannesburg. In the 1960s, the regime decides that both Sophiatown and Drum have to be
destroyed in the realization of Apartheid's grand vision.
Social Capital and Political Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa
Friday, February 29, 2008
CASID/WID Friday Forum with Dr. Ravi Bhavnani, Faculty, (Political Science, MSU), 12:00
noon, Room 201 International Center.
Some Reflections on the Evolution of Popular Political Representations in Burkina Faso
Thursday, February 28, 2008
African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Mathieu Hilgers, Research Fellow (Fonds de la
Recherche Scientifique, Belgium and Visiting Scholar, African Studies Center), 12:00 noon,
Room 201 International Cen! ter.
The New Global Economy and the Emerging Financial Services Industry in Africa
Thursday, March 13, 2008
African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Adesoji Adelaja, Faculty (College of
Agriculture and Natural Resources, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center.
Film series: "Amsterdam Diary" (Ghana)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Shown at the Snyder-Phillips residential college theater, 7:30p.m.
Written, produced and directed by Socrate Safo, one of Ghana's leading video producers,
Amsterdam Diary is a exemplar of West Africa's popular video productionwhere over 10
new feature-length narrative videos are released each month. The opening scene of Socrate
Safo's Amsterdam Diary (2005) finds Abasaa's mother excitedly awaiting the return of
Abasaa, her "been-to" daughter, who went to Holland to marry Kobby, a rich and handsome
Ghanaian living well in Amsterdam. Expectations are high as Abasaa's return promises to
bring wealth and prestige to her family. The pastor, who has come to the house to greet
Abasaa, assures her mother that God has blessed her by giving her daughter this
opportunity. But, when Abasaa arrives, the audience knows immediately that something has
gone terribly wrong. Abasaa does not speak. She trembles; her clothes and hair disheveled.
She arrives with only a small, plastic bag, which she clutches tightly. Her mother,
horrified, asks "Who is this? Is that my daughter?" The video, Parts I and II, travels
back through time and across the Atlantic to explain how the once beautiful and articulate
Abasaa was transformed into a stammering mess. Its message is clear: as a character in
Back to Kotoka, another Amsterdam movie by Mr. Safo, puts it, "Europe is a jungle."
Ghanaians tempted by the opportunities and conveniences of Europe's global modernity are
better off staying at home.
Other Announcements
Undergraduate Journal - Call for Papers
Do you have an exciting term paper? Wish you were published? Looking for a way to get your
arguments heard? S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A., in conjunction with Michigan State University's
African Studies Center and Office of International Development, invites students to submit
a manuscript to Articulate: Undergraduate Scholarship Applied to International
Development.
Articulate is a new undergraduate scholarly journal that publishes academic papers and
writings (research papers, field work, interviews, etc.) on issues in international
development, focusing primarily on African studies and healthcare issues. It's a forum for
students to contribute to, as well as make, the debates in international development.
Undergraduate students remain a vital, untapped force that can bring new ideas,
perspectives, and concepts into the development dialogue. The goal is to spark, share, and
spread knowledge to create innovative change now. Articulate is peer-reviewed by an
editorial committee consisting of undergraduates and a faculty advisor. Editorial
decisions are based on relevance, quality, and originality.
Submissions should be roughly 10-15 pages long, preferably in Chicago Manual Style. The author's name, major, college, and university must appear on a separate cover sheet, with no reference to the author within the manuscript. For submissions, potential topic ideas, or more information, please contact the editor in chief, Monica Mukerjee at banana@scoutbanana.org.
The submission deadline is February 29, 2008 at 5pm. For more information on S.C.O.U.T.B.A.N.A.N.A., visit www.scoutbanana.org.
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.