MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 03/30/04

Issue No. 11 Spring 2004
March 30, 2004

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
SCHOLARSHIPS

EVENTS

March 29, Monday

International Studies and Programs Fourteenth Annual International Awards Ceremony, honoring the 2003-2004 recipients of the Ralph H. Smuckler Award; Joon S. Moon Award; Glen Taggart Award; MSU Award for Outstanding Service to Study Abroad; Gill-Chin Lim Award; Homer Higbee Awards; Special Recognition Awards, Faculty International Awards; and Student International Awards, 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m., 303 International Center.

March 30, Tuesday

"Democracy and Electoral Alternation in Africa: Evolving Public Attitudes," presentations by Professor Michael Bratton and Dr. Carloyn Logan, Department of Political Science and African Studies Center (Afro Barometer Project, MSU), 3:30 p.m., Room 303, International Center. Sponsored by the College of Social Science, International Studies and Programs, Department of Political Science, African Studies Center, and Center for the Advanced Study of International Development. Publications will be available, refreshments will be served.

April 1, Thursday

"Victims, National Pride, and Saboteurs: Youth and Political Participation in Post-Apartheid South Africa," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Okey Iheduru (James Madison College, Political Science), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.

April 2, Friday

"Urban Systems and Global Institutions in an Era of Environmental Change," Urban and Metropolitan Studies Forum Series with Rodney R. White, Professor of Geography and Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies (Univ. of Toronto), 12:00 noon, Moot Court Room, Room 428, Law Building.

MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

New Findings from the Afrobarometer

Did you know that most Africans prefer democracy to
other forms of government? That ordinary people in
Africa roundly reject military, one-party, and one-man
rule?

And were you aware that the popular commitment to
democracy in Africa tends to decline with the passage of time? Encouragingly, however, competitive elections
especially if accompanied by a change of ruling parties help to renew popular perceptions of the extent (or
"quality") of democracy.

These are some of the many exciting findings from
Round 2 of the Afrobarometer that will be released
simultaneously in Cape Town, Accra, and East Lansing
at the end of March, 2004.

The Afrobarometer is an independent, non-partisan
survey research project conducted by Michigan State
University (MSU), the Institute for Democracy in South
Africa (Idasa), and the Center for Democratic
Development (CDD-Ghana). Implemented through a
network of national partners, Afrobarometer surveys
measure the social, economic, and political atmosphere
in a range of countries in West, East, and Southern
Africa. Because we ask a standard set of questions,
countries can be systematically compared and trends can be tracked over time.

Based on over 23,000 interviews conducted in local
languages with randomly selected representative
samples of the adult population in 15 African countries during 2002-3, Afrobarometer Round 2 also reveals that:

1. Economically, the present mood is somber but, despite widespread unemployment, the Africans who were interviewed are optimistic about the future;
2. Culturally, Africans value equality but also express an emergent individualism;
3. Socially, more than half of all adults complain that bad health impairs daily life including, but not limited to, HIV-AIDS; and
4. Politically, most people think they are better off since transitions to competitive electoral regimes.

On the MSU campus, Afrobarometer Round 2 findings
will be discussed at a seminar presented by Professor
Michael Bratton and Dr. Carolyn Logan in Room 303,
International Center at 3.30 p.m. on March 30, 2004.
This event is co-sponsored by International Studies and Programs, the College of Social Science, the African
Studies Center, Department of Political Science, and the Center for the Advanced Study of International
Programs. For more information regarding
Afrobarometer, contact Professor Michael Bratton at
(517) 353-3377; or Dr. Carolyn Logan at (517) 432-
0214.

The following publications will be available at the
seminar:

5. Afrobarometer Working Paper No. 34: Afrobarometer Round 2: Compendium of Results from a 15-Country Survey
6. Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 9: Democracy and Electoral Alternation
7. Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No.10: Africa's Unemployment Crisis
8. Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 11: The AIDS- Poverty Connection
   

Dr. Ruth Hamilton Memorial Service

Michigan State University's College of Social Science
will host a memorial service in honor of Ruth Simms
Hamilton on April 26, 2004, 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. The
service will be held in the Pasant Theatre at the Wharton Center.

Dr. Hamilton was an honored member of the Michigan
State University community, and invited colleagues and
friends of Dr. Hamilton will share their memories about her life and work during the service. A reception will
follow the service.

In addition, the college is planning an academic
symposium on the subject of the African diaspora,
which represented Dr. Hamilton's primary research
interest and major body of work. The African Diaspora:
Past, Present and Future-A Symposium in Honor of Ruth
Simms Hamilton is scheduled for October 29-31, 2004,
and will be held on campus.

Ruth Simms Hamilton, long-time MSU professor of
sociology, died Monday, November 10, 2003. Upon
joining the university community in 1968, Hamilton
embarked on a remarkable career marked by high-
quality academic research, visionary thinking, and
inspired teaching. She had served as director of the
African Diaspora Research Project since 1987. The
project examines the dispersion and settlement of
African peoples beyond the African continent, and the
project originated in the need for a broader
understanding of African descent communities. A multi-
volume series on the project is being published by the
MSU Press.

African Culture Week - April 12-17, 2004

Gala '04 begins at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, April 17, 2004
at the MSU Auditorium.
Production celebrating African culture and heritage;
with African song, dance, skits and much more...

Featuring BET Comic View's Michael K. Blackson as
special guest MC.

Dinner will be served at 8:45 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., at the Wesley Foundation (1118 South Harrison, East Lansing).

For Ticket information for the Gala, contact:
Kelechi: (517) 353-7314
Afolabi: (517) 355-4258
Chris: (517) 214-9107
Anthonia: (517) 355-9132

Progress Report:
Relations between MSU and the University of Dakar

With the support of the Office of the Provost, the
VPRGS, the Office of Intellectual Property, the College of Agriculture, the African Studies Center and
MATRIX, the linkage program between MSU and
UCAD has made significant progress on different fronts
since the framework agreement signed by President
McPherson and Rector Sourang in April 2001, the visit
of 10 Natural Science faculty in September 2002, and
especially since the Intellectual Property Seminar hosted by MSU in July 2003.

To a substantial degree the progress has been due to the enthusiasm and support of Dakar colleagues and the
leadership of Dean, now Rector Abdou Salam Sall.
UCAD has hosted MSU visitors and put their fine new
facilities, many of them at the new campus UCAD II, at
the disposition of common endeavors. MSU
representatives have also received excellent support
from the Public Diplomacy section of the US Embassy
in Dakar; who is providing not just logistical support, but financing per diems for the MSU people
participating in the IPR workshop.

Matrix continues to develop the www.aodl.org site,
which will serve as a place to report on progress in the relationship, as well as information on some of the
precious resources in science, agriculture and medicine in Senegal. Matrix has just submitted a proposal to the US Institute for Peace to develop the site more, around the theme of tolerance and diversity in the Islamic
practice of Senegal.

Fall 2004 Course Announcement

Issues in International Development; SSC 490
(Section 001), 3 credits; Tu & Thur,
3:00 - 4:20 p.m.; 218a Berkey Hall

This course focuses on the dilemmas facing
industrialized and developing nations in ending severe
global inequalities and poverty. The class will explore how these dilemmas are explained and the solutions
offered to solve them. Special attention will be given to issues of the environment, external assistance, women,
and grass-roots participation within the context of
historical legacies and contemporary globalization.

This course meets the requirements of a senior-level
capstone course for the Undergraduate Specialization in International Development. For more information
contact: Dr. Robert Glew at 353-4818; or e-mail:
robert.glew@ssc.msu.edu.

SCHOLARSHIPS

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship

The Institute of International Education (IIE) is pleased to announce the opening of the Fall 2004 application
cycle for the Benjamin A. Gilman International
Scholarship. This congressionally-funded program is
sponsored by the US Department of State, Bureau of
Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is administered by IIE through its office in Houston, Texas.

The program awards grants of up to $5,000 for US-
citizen, undergraduate students to pursue study abroad
opportunities worldwide. The Gilman Scholarship
Program aims to diversify and expand participation in
international education by assisting those students who have been traditionally under-represented in US study
abroad. This includes, but is not limited to students
studying in non-traditional locations outside of Western Europe and Australia, students with high financial need, community college students, students with diverse
ethnic backgrounds, students with disabilities, and
students of non-traditional age.

To be eligible the applicant must be an undergraduate
enrolled at a US institution of higher education, and be receiving a Pell grant at the time of application.
Applicants must be applying or accepted into a credit-
eligible, single-country program. Programs must be
between four weeks and one academic year in length.
Students may apply to study in any nation with the
exception of Cuba and those countries currently under a US Department of State Travel Warning. Preference is
given to those students studying outside of the
traditional study abroad destinations of Western Europe and Australia.

The Fall 2004 cycle is open to students participating in programs that begin between July 15 and October 15,
2004 - excluding summer-only study abroad programs.
The online application deadline is April 15, 2004. To
access the online application and timeline please go to the Gilman website;
http://www.iie.org//programs/gilman/index.html.

Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship

The Stanley J. Tarver Scholarship fund was established
by the Tarver family in memory of their son, Stanley.

The fund provides a scholarship to a graduate student
of African descent, an African American, or a Black
person of another nationality who is matriculating
toward a Doctorate or a Masters Degree in African
History and/or Culture, and who has completed at
least one year of graduate study at a college or
university in the United States.

The Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship will be a
$1,000 per semester award, for a maximum award of
$2,000 per academic year. Applications can be obtained from the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.
(MSU students may obtain application packets from the
African Studies Center, Room 100, ISP; tel: 353-1700).

Applications must be postmarked by April 19, 2004.
Send to: Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship, c/o
the Community Foundation of Dutchess County, 80
Washington St, Suite 201, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601;
Tel: (845) 452-3077;Fax: (845) 452-3083; website:
www.communityfoundationdc.org.

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