MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 04/05/05
THE TUESDAY BULLETIN
Issue No. 12 Spring 2005
April 5, 2005
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
CONFERENCES
FELLOWSHIPS
JOBS
EVENTS
April 7, Thursday
"Coping Strategies and Nutritional Health in Rural Niger: The Role of Wild Plant
Foods," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Rob Glew, Faculty (Anthropology, MSU), Room
201, International Center.
April 14, Thursday
"Building a Food Security and Policy Information Portal for Africa," African Studies
Center Brown Bag with Michael Weber, Faculty (Agricultural Economics, MSU), Room 201,
International Center.
April 18, Monday
"Africa's World War: The Way Forward," Special Seminar with Ambassador Roger A. Meece,
Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., 3rd Floor,
International Center.
MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS
University Human Rights Film Program
The International Conference and Workshop on Ethics
and Development Film program will be April 13th and 14th,
from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. in Room B 108 Wells Hall and
Friday, April 15th, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. in room
1281 Anthony Hall.
Each evening will have a panel discussion after the films
with one or more of the following guests: Mandy
Jacobson, Director of the Emmy Award winner "Calling
the Ghosts;" Stephen Esquith, Professor Philosophy;
Kenneth Harrow, Professor of English; Louise
Mushikiwabo, Co-founder and President of The Rwanda
Children's Fund, and Jeffrey Wray, Professor of
English. All events are free and open to the public. For
more information, please contact Eduardo Junqueira
Rodriques at rodri246@msu.edu.
Special Seminar by Ambassador Roger A. Meece
Ambassador Roger A. Meece arrived in Kinshasa on
July 24, 2004 to assume his position as U.S.
Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Immediately after receiving a Bachelor of Science
degree from Michigan State University in 1971,
Ambassador Meece became a Peace Corps Volunteer in
Sierra Leone. This led to several Peace Corps staff
assignments, including service as Associate Director for
the Peace Corps in Niger and Cameroon, Deputy
Director for the Peace Corps in the Republic of the
Congo (Brazzaville) and as Director of the Peace Corps
in Gabon. His work in the Peace Corps inspired
Ambassador Meece to join the Foreign Service in 1979.
For a complete biography, visit:
http://usembassy.state.gov/kinshasa/wwwhamb.html
Ambassador Meece will speak at a special seminar on
Monday, April 18, 2005. The seminar will begin at
12:00 noon, on the third floor of the International
Center. This event is free and open to the public.
Compton Africa Peace Fellowships
Michigan State University's African Studies Center
(ASC) and Women and International Development
(WID) Program, in cooperation with the Center for
Advanced Study of International Development (CASID),
are offering Compton Africa 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
Partnerships Initiative (AHEPI). 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.
Students eligible for the Compton Africa Peace
Fellowship Program at MSU must:
-
Be citizens of a nation in Sub-Saharan Africa
-
Be enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Michigan State University
-
Have completed their course work in any of a variety
of disciplines such as political science, sociology,
anthropology, history, public policy, criminal justice,
social work, communications, economics or agricultural
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.
-
Be pursuing a dissertation that requires a period of
fieldwork in Africa (minimum of 6 months and maximum
of 12 months) for collection of qualitative or quantitative
data.
Further information on the fellowship and the
application form are available on the African Studies
Center website http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfricanStudies/.
If you have questions, please contact David Wiley in the
African Studies Center (353-1700), or Anne Ferguson or
Kari Bergstrom in the Women and International
Development Office (353-5040).
The application deadline is May 1, 2005, for awards
beginning in the 2005 calendar year.
Miriam J. Kelley African Scholarship Grant
This award is intended to encourage MSU African
students (women are strongly encouraged to apply) to
study at MSU and in turn make a contribution to the
development of their country. Applicants my request
support for tuition or for other educational expenses
such as research gathering or dissertation writing.
Personal, education related, or family expenses will also
be considered, as well as proposals requesting partial
support to attend a professional conference.
The Miriam J. Kelley African Scholarship can make at
least two awards annually of up to $1,000. Number of
awards made and actual award amounts depend on the
quality of proposals and the resources available in the
fiscal year.
Applicants must be MSU African students in good
academic standing; be MSU students on a temporary
visa; must describe the factors that suggest the
likelihood of their returning to their home county; and
have demonstrated capacity to achieve their educational
goals and have the assertiveness to seek further
opportunities to advance their education.
For information on how to submit applications, contact
the Office of International Students and Scholars, 103
International Center; Tel: 353-1720; website:
http://www.isp.msu.edu/oiss
Application consists of two parts, a narrative and two
supporting letters. Applications may be submitted at
any time, but must be presented by May 13, 2005.
CONFERENCES
Conference on African Art
Visual Cultures, African Cities/Now is the title of this
conference to be held April 22 - 23, 2005.
Cities in Africa, like their counterparts elsewhere in
the world, are intensely perhaps even
unrelentingly visual environments. In Dakar as in
Nairobi, in Johannesburg as in Lagos, the urban
terrain's unparalleled resources enable myriad
visual phenomena including paintings and
sculptures, modernist architecture and public
monuments, sartorial expression, as well as printed
and electronic media such as cartoons,
advertisements, video, television, and the internet.
This conference focuses on the visual propositions
constituting the urban environment and seeks to
consider how visual culture is produced, interpreted,
and consumed in contemporary urban Africa.
The conference will be hosted by the African
Studies Program at Ohio University in Athens,
Ohio. For more information contact Nana K.
Owusu-Kwarteng, Assistant Director, Institute for
the African Child, Center for International Studies,
Yamada International House, Athens, OH 45701; e-
mail owusu-kw@ohio.edu; Tel: (740) 597-1368;
Fax: (740) 593-1837; website:
http://www.ohiou.edu/afrchild/visual_cultures/ind
ex.htm
Institute for the African Child- Athens, OH
In recognition of the International Day for the African
Child on June 16th, the Institute for the African Child at
Ohio University will host its Sixth Annual Conference,
Children @ Work: From farm to street in Africa.
The organizers seek quality papers, panels, poster
displays, and exhibitions that engage the challenges of
African children on the continent and in her Diaspora
from multi disciplinary dimensions as the strive to eke
out survival on the farms, workplaces and streets of
villages, towns and cities and orient them to possibilities
that are the due rights of children.
Themes may include, but are not limited to:
The human rights of the African Child after the
adoption of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the
Rights and Welfare of the Child; Educational systems,
child labor and the future of the African child;
Governmental polices and their impact on the African
Child; Global agencies, policies and the African Child;
Child emigration to farms, towns and cities and their
prospects; Emerging and existing social systems and
their impact on the African Child; Religious factors
associated with the African Child at work and on the
street; etc.
Please send one-page abstract with paper title and theme
by May 15, 2005. Do not include any reference to the
name(s) of the author(s) on the abstract. On a cover
page, include the paper title, theme and author(s)
contact information including bios and e-mail address.
Presenters will be expected to submit registration and
payment for the conference by May 25, 2005.
For further details about the conference or regarding
registration, transportation and accommodations, please
contact Nana K. Owusu-Kwarteng, Assistant Director,
Institute for the African Child, Center for International
Studies, Yamada House 216, Ohio University, Athens,
OH 45701; Fax: (740) 593-1837; e-mail: owusu-
kw@ohio.edu.
FELLOWSHIPS
International Fellowships Program, West Africa
The International Fellowships Program (IFP) is a
program supported by the Ford Foundation and
administered in West Africa by the Association of
African Universities (AAU) in collaboration with
Pathfinder International, Nigeria and AAWORD,
Senegal. IFP provides fellowships for advanced study
to exceptional individuals who will use their education
to further development in their own countries and
greater social and economic justice worldwide. IFP
fellowships will be awarded to applicants from diverse
backgrounds, including social groups and communities
that lack systematic access to higher education.
For more information, please visit the Association of
African Universities IFP website at:
http://www.aau.org/ifp/.
JOBS
National Institute of Health (NIH)
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National
Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
currently seeking qualified, interested candidates to
work on a fellowship in Mali, Africa. The position is
through the Office of Global Affairs, a department
within the NIAID's Office of the Director. This person
will be based in Bameko, Mali for a period of less then
one year with the possibility of up to five years. The
ideal candidate will have experience working on public
health issues, setting up financial management
structures, and establishing relationships with
governments in developing countries, preferably in
Africa; fluent in Fluent in French; have a PhD, MPH or
MD and must be a U.S. citizen. This person will be paid
solely on a stipend and will be a contract employee
through an ORISE appointment. All benefits, housing,
expenses, etc., will be part of the stipend.
For more information visit
http://healthresearch.niaid.nih.gov/omni/ or call: (888-
798-4991.
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.