MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 04/01/08

The African Studies Center at MSU
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Tuesday Bulletin for April 1st, 2008
Topics covered in this issue: Events | Announcements

Events

MSU Graduate Students – 2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop Wednesday, April 2, 2008
2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop, 5:00-7:00 p.m., Room 303 International Center.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals in Africa in a Changing Global Climate Monday, March 31, 2008
Seminar by Dr. Kandeh Yumkella, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), (former MSU faculty member and Minister of Trade, Industry and State Enterprises of Sierra Leone), 2:00 p.m., Kellogg Center, Big Ten Room C. A reception at 3:15 p.m. will immediately follow his seminar. Co-sponsored by the Office of the Dean of International Studies and Programs and the Dept. of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.

MSU Students Graduating in 2009 – 2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop Tuesday, April 1, 2008
2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop, 5:00-7:00, Room 303 International Center.

Darkness and a Blade: The Battle of Algiers in the Black Power Imagination Friday, April 4, 2008
Sohail Daulatzai, (African American Studies/Film and Media Studies, Univ. of California-Irvine), 11:15 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., Panel 2, 3rd floor International Center. Details at: http://www.isp.msu.edu/muslimstudies/calendar/event.php?id=9.

Justifying the Scramble for Africa: The Opponent of Colonization as `Fanatical Muslim' Friday, April 4, 2008
Catherine Vigier, Commonwealth Civilization, (Univ. of Rouen, France). Part of the Muslims, Race and the Public Sphere conference, 9:15 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., Panel 1, 3rd floor International Center. Details at: http://www.isp.msu.edu/muslimstudies/calendar/event.php?id=9.

The Dakar School of History, Constructing and Revising the Historiographies of Africa Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Special African Studies Center seminar with Ibrahima Thiob, Professor and Chair of History (Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal), 3:00-5:00 p.m., Room 201 International Center.

*NOTE THE FOLLOWING SPECIAL TALKS, Thur. April 3, 2008 by Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs

"Africa's Future"
Thursday, April 3, 2008
African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (Dept. of State, U.S.A.), 12:00 noon, Room 303 International Center.

"Darfur"Informal conversation with students. Discussion with Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 3:00 p.m., Room 1961 North Case Hall, James Madison College.

"Africa's New and Old Conflicts" Public lecture by Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, 5:15 p.m., 2nd Floor of the MSU Union, Parlor Room C.

MSU Faculty and Professionals – 2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop Thursday, April 3, 2008
2009-2010 Fulbright Informational Workshop for U.S. Faculty and Professionals, 2:00 - 5:00 p.m., Room 204 International Center.

Muslims, Race and the Public Sphere
Thursday, April 3, 2008
3rd Annual Muslim Studies Conference, with Inaugural Keynote Speaker: Mahmood Mamdani, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.. Reception following. (See MSU Announcements for more details).

Film series

"Les Noms n'habitent nulle part" Thursday, April 3, 2008 "Les Noms n'habitent nulle part" (West Africa & Belgium), with director, Dominique Loreau, at the Snyder-Phillips residential college theater, 7:30 p.m.

Les noms n'habitent nulle part (Names live Nowhere) Docu-drama about a griot, a storyteller who weaves tales of modern Africa and the African diaspora from Senegal to Belgium. The story traces the lives of two Senegalese men whose encounters in Brussels estrange them from home, and yet who maintain those ties in their own ways. The griot's account evokes powerfully the pull of migration and the ties that refuse to unbind.

Announcements

MSU Students for Fair Trade Bash - April 8, 2008 Learn about the social, economic, and environmental impacts of Fair Trade. The Fair Trade Bash will be from 6:30 – 10:30 p.m. in room 303 of the International Center. There will be Fair Trade Refreshments, fair trade coffee tasting and live music.

A panel on Fair Trade will begin at 7:45 with speakers: Dean Cycon, Founder of Dean's Beans and supporter of the Coffeelands Landmines Victims' Trust; Michael Lundquist, CEO of the Polus Center for Social & Economic Development; Gail Catron, Fair Trade advocate and retailer, owner of new local 100% Fair Trade store, Kirabo; and Rebecca Meuninck, Ph.D. Student specializing in Gender, the Environment, and Fair Trade Coffee, MSU Department of Anthropology.

Two New Fellowships for MSU Graduate Students The Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change (GJEC) Program, in the Center for Gender in Global Context (GenCen), is pleased to announce two new fellowships for MSU graduate students for the 2008-09 academic year. Generous funding provided by MSU's Graduate School has allowed for the development of three $10,000 fellowship opportunities in the following categories:

GJEC Dissertation Research Fellowship

Eligibility for Dissertation Research Fellowship: Ph.D. students at MSU who have completed all requirements for their degree with the exception of their dissertation research. Applicants must have dissertation projects that focus on the gender dimensions of environmental and/or agricultural change.

GJEC Dissertation Completion Fellowship

Eligibility for Dissertation Completion Fellowship: Ph.D. students at MSU who have completed all requirements for their degree program including dissertation research. Applicants' dissertations must focus on gender or other social inequalities as they relate to environmental and/or agricultural change.Funding must be used during the 2008-09 academic year. Students must apply for the fellowships by April 15, 2008. Applications are available online at http://www.gjec.msu.edu/fellowship.htm.

Application requirements for GJEC Research Fellowship:
> Completed Application Form with Research Budget
> Copy of Approved Departmental Dissertation Proposal
> Two-page (double-spaced) Executive Summary of the Dissertation Proposal
> Letter of Recommendation from Dissertation Committee Chair

Application requirements for GJEC Dissertation Completion Fellowship:
> Completed Application Form
> Five-page (double-spaced) Summary of the Dissertation Research
> Letter of Recommendation from Dissertation Committee Chair

Submit completed application and supporting documents by April 15, 2008, to: Kate Patch, GenCen Specialist Advisor, Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change Program, c/o Center for Gender in Global Context, 206 International Center, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824; E-mail: gencen@msu.edu; Tel: 517-353-5040; Fax: 517-432-4845.

*Additional information available on the website: http://www.gencen.msu.edu.

Muslims, Race and the Public Sphere
The 3rd Annual Muslim Studies Conference will commence at MSU beginning April 3, 2008 at 3:30 p.m., with introductory remarks from Mohammed Ayoob, Director of Muslim Studies Program, followed by the Keynote speaker, Mahmood Mam! dani who will speak on: "Blasphemy and Bigotry in contemporary Freedom of Speech Debates." He is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University. He is also the author of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War and the Roots of Terror (2004); When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism and Genocide in Rwanda (2001); and Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Colonialism (1996).

2008 International Awards Ceremony
Congratulations to the following for their work on and commitment to Africa.

Mohamed Faisal received the Ralph H. Smuckler Award for Advancing International Studies and Programs at Michigan State University. Dr. Faisal is Professor in the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine (Pathobiology) and Agriculture and Natural Resources (Fisheries & Wildlife). In his role with the "Science without Borders"Foundation, Dr. Faisal has collaborated with more than 45 universities in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. His strong belief in enhancing local expertise has led to his training numerous students from developing countries during the scientific expeditions of this Foundation. Most recently, he was recognized with a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), a premier university of West Africa.

Sieglinde S. Snapp received the John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Programs Award. Dr. Snapp is Associate Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and the Kellogg Biological Station. She has made outstanding contributions to international research, scholarship and outreach since joining MSU in 1999. Dr. Snapp has developed innovative research techniques in her field to improve the livelihoods of the poor. These participatory strategies include involving small-scale African farmers in the research process,! thus ma king it more likely that the research will yield results that will actually benefit poor farmers. Dr. Snapp recognizes that many of these farmers are women and that their access to resources and their goals may be different from those of their male counterparts. Her innovative agriculture research trial designs are now used by researchers in more than thirty countries. Dr. Snapp is a Core Faculty member of the Center for Gender in Global Context and the African Studies Center.

Bilal Butt received the Gill-Chin Lim Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Global Studies. Dr. Bilal Butt received his Ph.D. in geography from MSU in 2007. Under the guidance of his advisor, Dr. Antoinette Winklerprins, Dr. Butt's dissertation titled "Grazing on the Edge: Cattle Mobility, Ecology and Maasai Herding in Southern Kenya" sought to understand the spatial patterns and processes of pastoralists and livestock around the Maasai Mara National Reserve. Many of the issues that his research has addressed have relevance not only for southern Kenya, but across Sub-Saharan Africa. An indication of the caliber of Dr. Butt's scholarship and research is the fact that he was funded by the National Science Foundation (Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant), the Compton Foundation for Peace and Security Studies, fellowships from the Department of Geography, and one of the first fellowships from the Residential College of Arts and Humanities at MSU.

He is currently a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a visiting scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya.

Alex Hill received the Homer Higbee International Education Award. Alex Hill comes from Grand Blanc, Michigan and is a junior in James Madison College, majoring in International Relations and Global Area Studies with a specialization inInternational Development and African Studies. Inspired by the medical needs of Africa following the visit of an Ugandan priest to his hometown, Alex founded a nonprofit organization that supports health-related projects in Africa. The organization called S.C.O.U.T. B.A.N.A.N.A. has 18 university chapters across the U.S. and Canada and Alex is the Executive Director. He has spent years doing public speaking and has now raised more than $67,000 for the people of Bukuumi parish in Uganda and more than $150,000 in total for a variety of international development projects. Alex has engaged students across the campus in raising awareness for international development issues. He is currently in the process of establishing a peer reviewed undergraduate development journal. Though Alex's additional list of accomplishments is extensive, he finds time to volunteer at the Refugee Development Center in Lansing.

2nd Annual Family of Strength (FOSO) 5k Walk/Run Help support MSU's student group FOSO (Family of Strength Organization) 2nd Annual 5k Walk/Run on Saturday, April 19, 2008, 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Akers/Hubbard Courtyard.

This event is to help support fund-raising efforts for orphans in Western Kenya affected by HIV/AIDS and have fun while doing it. There will be field day games, a moon bounce, African drummers, and other entertainment.

The first 200 people to register receive a free walk/run T-shirt. For more information and to register visit: www.msu.edu/~foso .

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                  African Studies Center
100 CIP, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035
           Phone (Area 517): 353-1700 - Fax: 432-1209
                             www.africa.msu.edu

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