MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 05/22/07

The African Studies Center at MSU

Tuesday Bulletin for May 22nd, 2007

Topics covered in this issue: Announcements | Other Announcements | Fellowships | Conferences Announcements
Faculty News

Michael Bratton, Professor in Political Science and African Studies Center Core Faculty member has been selected to be a University Distinguished Professor. Congratulations to Professor Bratton on this outstanding accomplishment. AAAS Proposal for Nigerian Affiliate Accepted

Dr. Gloria Smith, Acting Director in the African American and African Studies (AAAS) program and professor in the College of Education at MSU, has been informed by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars (CIES) and the sponsor of the Fulbright Scholar Program, and the U.S. Department! of State, that her proposal has been accepted to affiliate Dr. Saheed Olurotimi Timehin, Lecturer/Researcher at Lagos University in Nigeria with Michigan State University. Award Announcements

Leslie Hadfield, Ph.D. candidate in History and African Studies has won one of six Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research awards for South Africa, for which there were more than 100 applicants nationally. Leslie plans to conduct archival work and oral interviews for a study of the history of Black Community Programs in the Eastern Cape area in the 1970s. Leslie was also offered a Fulbright-IIE award to South Africa earlier this Spring.

Amy Jamison, Ph.D. candidate in Education Policy has won a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research award. Amy will conduct research on the history of international knowledge exchange, globalization, and higher education in Tanzania at ! the University of Dar es Salaam.Jill Kelly, a first-year stude! nt in Hi story, won a 2007 Fulbright-Hayes fellowship for the Zulu Group Project Abroad in South Africa. Jill will spend eight weeks in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, studying isiZulu and laying the foundation for a pre-dissertation visit next year. The African Studies Center extends congratulations and best wishes to each of these students.

Jill Kelly, a first-year student in History, won a 2007 Fulbright-Hayes fellowship for the Zulu Group Project Abroad in South Africa. Jill will spend eight weeks in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, studying isiZulu and laying the foundation for a pre-dissertation visit next year. The African Studies Center extends congratulations and best wishes to each of these students. Performances at Wharton Ctr. -Fall 2007/Spr 2008

The following performances will be performed in the Cobb Great Hall at the MSU Wharton Center. For ticket information, call 1-800-WHARTON, or (517) 353-1982 or visi! t www.whartoncenter.com.

-Sweet Honey in The Rock - Fri., Nov. 16, 2007, 8pm, an international-renowned a cappella ensemble, which has a vital presence in the music culture of Washington, D.C., and communities around the world. Sweet Honey in The Rock possesses a stunning vocal prowess that captures the complex sounds of blues, spirituals, traditional gospel hymns, rap, reggae, African chants, Hip Hop, ancient lullabies, and jazz improvisation.

-African Children's Choir- Sat., April 12, 2008, 8pm, Features delightful children ages 7 through 11, from Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Many have lost one or both parents through the devastation of war, famine and disease, and in spite of the tragedy that has marred their young lives, these musically-gifted children are radiant with hope and wonderfully entertaining. Other Announcements
ASA Book Donation Award: Call for Submiss! ions

The African Studies Association (ASA) is currently! accepti ng applications for the 2007 Book Donation Award. The ASA makes available up to $3,000 annually to assist groups with shipping costs for book donations to African libraries and schools. The Committee generally provides grants ranging from $200 to $1,000.

Applications are due in the ASA Secretariat on or before June 1, 2007. Electronic submissions are welcome if all accompanying documents can be sent via e-mail or are on the web. Please send electronic submissions to: Kristina Carle at asapub@rci.rutgers.edu or mail to: Attn.: Kristina Carle ­ Book Donation Award, African Studies Association, Rutgers University, Douglass Campus, 132 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1400.

A report on the project and brief summary for ASA News are required of all Book Donation Award recipients at their project's completion. For more information, please visit: http://africanstudies.org/asa_bookdonation.html. Call for S! ubmissions - Ghanaian Women and National Development

As part of the celebration of Ghanaian women and their contributions to national development during the past 50 years, the Gender Programmes Unit (GPU) of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in collaboration with the Ghana Journal of Development Studies (GJDS) is putting together a special issue on Ghanaian women in National Development.

The coordinator of the GPU and Editorial Chair of GADS, extends an invitation for participation in the form of paper or artistic/aesthetic contributions to the special issue.Women tend to express themselves in a variety of ways. As such, the hope is that this special issue will capture and reflect that variety. Hence, submissions in the form of articles, poems, reviews, biographies, songs, etc. are encouraged. Unfortunately, audio-visual submissions cannot be submitted at this time. Articles may cover areas such as economics, politics, health, education, agriculture! , culture, religion, community development, ICT, women's! organiz ing and leadership, and related social issues such as poverty, violence, human rights, migration, etc. Papers that deal with policy, programmes, projects, and practices are encouraged. The main requirement is a link to national development during the last fifty years. The deadline for submission is June 30, 2007. A slightly modified standard guide for paper contributions to the GADS can be accessed at http://www.wid.msu.edu/Documents/GJDS_Notes_to_Contributors.pdf. Those interested in paper submissions may find it useful. Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop / Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, August 15-17, 2007

The Grant Institute's Grants 101: Professional Grant Proposal Writing Workshop will be held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, August 15-17, 2007. Interested development professionals, researchers, faculty, and graduate students should register as soon as possible, as demand mea! ns that seats will fill up quickly.All participants will receive certification in professional grant writing from the Institute. More information on the program is available at http://www.wid.msu.edu/Documents/Grants_101.doc. or contact `The Grant Institute' at (888) 824-4424; or visit their Website: http://www.thegrantinstitute.com. Fellowships
Institute for Advanced Study Visiting Member Awards and Frederick Burkardt Fellowships

The Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, was founded in 1930 as a community of postdoctoral scholars where intellectual inquiry could be carried out in the most favorable circumstances. It provides libraries, offices, personal computers, seminar and lecturer rooms, subsidized dining and housing facilities and some secretarial services.

The School of Social Science, each year, invites as Members some eighteen to twenty vis! iting scholars who constitute a genuinely interdisciplinary an! d intern ational group. A completed doctorate or equivalent is required by the application deadline, and memberships are awarded at both the junior and senior levels. Memberships providing stipend support are awarded for the full academic year. Unfortunately, applications for a single term cannot be considered. Visiting members are expected to pursue only their own research, while the School organizes a weekly seminar at which Members, as well as invited guests present their on-going work. The School welcomes applications in economics, political science, law, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It encourages social scientific work with an historical and humanistic bent and also entertains applications in history, philosophy, literary criticism, literature, and linguistics. "Social Norms and Cooperation" is the theme for 2008-2009. The thematic focus is neither an exclusive nor excluding theme; it is expected that eight to twelve of the accepted scholars will pursue! work relating to the theme. Applications are strongly encouraged from scholars across the social sciences, whether or not their research corresponds to the theme. Applications must be submitted through the on-line application system, available at: http://www.sss.ias.edu/applications. The application deadline is November 15, 2007.

Frederick Burkhardt Fellowships- In the 2008-09 academic year, the Institute for Advanced Study will take part in this program sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). These fellowships support more adventurous, more wide-ranging and longer-term patterns of research than are current in the humanities and related social sciences. Depending on the availability of funds, ACLS will provide funding for up to eleven recently tenured faculty, most of whom will spend a year at one of several residential research centers, including the Institute for Advanced Study. Applicants must! submit a research plan typically covering a three to five yea! r period . For a more detailed description of the terms of the fellowship and information on how to apply, visit the ACLS website: http://www.acls.org.Applications for this program must be submitted through the ACLS online fellowship application system (OFA) at http://ofa.acls.org by October 3, 2007. Conferences
2nd Annual International Conf. on Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion, Oct. 25-28, 2007 Dearborn, Mi

This is an international, multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary conference examining concepts of "The OTHER" from a universal, cross-cultural perspective to promote wider public dialogue about concepts of "Us and Them" being held October 25-28, 2007 at the Dearborn Inn Marriott Hotel, Dearborn, Michigan USA. Sponsored by Common Bond Institute, Co-sponsored by HARMONY Institute, the International Humanistic Psychology Association, and The National Resource Center for The ! healing of Racism. Also, supported by a growing international list of over 85 organizations and universities.

Join an extraordinary international pool of over 45 leading presenters to address the roots of negative stereotypes and prejudice, and how to move past artificial barriers of misunderstanding and distrust to cultivate our capacity for appreciation of diversity, reconciliation, and peace.

This is the 2nd in an ongoing series of annual international conferences. For full details on program, registration, fees, hotel, and exhibits, contact: Common Bond Institute, Steve Olweean, Director, Conference Coordinator, 12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax, MI 49034 USA; Ph/Fax: 269-665-9393; e-mail: Solweean@aol.com. Full details found at: http://www.cbiworld.org. 4th International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies

Western Michigan Univ., Kalamazoo, Aug. 2-4, 2007

The Western Michigan University! (WMU) Center for African Development Policy Research (CADPR) ! announce the 4th International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies (ICEDS), a multidisciplinary conference on the "Challenges of Peace and Development in Ethiopia and Northeast Africa."

The conference will be held August 2-4, 2007 on the campus of Western Michigan University, Haworth College of Business, 2000 Schneider Hall, Kalamazoo, Michigan. For registration details, please visit: http://international.wmich.edu/content/category/15/66/174/ or contact Professor Sisay Asefa, Center for African Development Policy Research (CADPR), Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, e-mail: SISAY.ASEFA@WMICH.EDU. African Film Conference 2007

Submission deadline May 31, 2007

The African film conference in Urbana-Champaign will explore how an appreciation of films, as mode of expression and form, can be combined with an understanding of their content. The conference will be November 9-10, 2007! at the Center for African Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Cinema has a more pronounced public dimension than some of the other arts; it creates an audience and depends on it for its survival, and filmmaking itself can be situated within the history, economy, politics, and broader cultural trends of postcolonial Africa. The conference will aim to foster a dialogue between film scholars, critics, and the social science interpreters, users, and enthusiasts of African films, and will try to achieve, among other things, a greater sensibility for film as a medium among the latter. The organizers seek abstracts from scholars and writers interested in participating in this project.Contributions on thematic and stylistic development in African filmmaking and on the way the films reflect and feed upon urban popular culture are invited. A subset of related themes involve the connections to international film making styles or to the ethnographic and documenta! ry film traditions, including considerations of emerging regio! nal and national styles within Africa.

Please send abstracts of 250-300 words by e-mail or by post to: Mahir Saul, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois, Davenport Hall, 607 S. Mathews Ave., Urbana, IL 61801; m-saul@uiuc.edu or Ralph Austen, Dept. of History, University of Chicago, Pick Hall 214, 5828 S. University Avenue, Chicago IL 60637; wwb3@uchicago.edu. Deadline is May 31, 2007.

For more information, visit the African Studies Center Website. Please submit information on Africa-related events or news seven to ten days in advance of publication. Send to the African Studies Center, 100 Center for International Programs, Michigan State University. Telephone: (517) 353-1700; Fax: (517) 432-1209; E-mail: africa@msu.edu.

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