AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER - UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
 

MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 08/29/06

Issue No. 1 Fall 2006
August 29, 2006

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
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

EVENTS

August 31, Thursday

"Nigerian Universities Today: Structural Reform, Information Revolution: Problems and Prospects," African Studies Center Brown Bag Panel discussion with Nwando Achebe (MSU, Dept. of History), Justina Ekere (Univ. of Nigeria, Nsukka), Folu Ogundimu (MSU, Dept. of Journalism), and Isaac Ohaji (Univ. of Nigeria, Enugu campus), 12:00 - 1:15 p.m., Room 201, International Center.


August 31, Thursday

"Writing Proposals to Fund International Dissertation and Pre-Dissertation Research," an open two-hour workshop for all MSU graduate students (US and International) planning to write proposals to seek funding for dissertation or pre-dissertation research abroad for 2006-2007 deadlines. This is the first session of the semester-long, 1-3 credit seminar "International Social Science Research (ISSR) in Africa, Asia, and Latin America: Concept, Design, and Praxis, 5:00 - 7:30 p.m., third floor, International Center.


September 2, Saturday

International Friendship Festival, 2:00 - 7:00 p.m., Trinity Church, 3355 Dunckel Road, Lansing, MI., sponsored by the Fellowship Christian Internationals. FREE Transportation, free food, meet new friends from other countries, games and a fun time. Contact John and Inge Diehl at 332-1935; or Rex and Vangie Alocilja at 333-4504 for a ride or more information.


September 6, Wednesday

"Economic Climate in South Africa Today," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Yusuf Omar, Consul General (South Africa), 12:00 noon, Room 303 International Center.


September 7, Thursday

"Building African Scientific Capacity in Food and Agriculture: A Report Commissioned by the World Bank," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Carl Eicher, Distinguished MSU Emeritus Professor (Agricultural Economics, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center.


MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

Letter from David Wiley, Director
Terrible Tragedy: Death of Kimberly Perez

Dear MSU Colleagues,

I write to tell you of a terrible tragedy - that Kimberly Rosario Perez, MSU Ph.D. candidate in Sociology and African Studies, died in a vehicle accident in Accra, Ghana, Monday afternoon, August 14. Kim was in Ghana on a short break from her intensive research in Kano in northern Nigeria.

Arrangements are being made for the return of her body from Accra to her family in San Diego, California. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alberto and Estrella Perez and is survived by two brothers, Kenneth Perez and Kevin Perez. She was 30.

After completing her BA at University of California-Santa Cruz, Kim served in the Peace Corps in Phokoane, South Africa, north of Johannesburg, on HIV/AIDS awareness and community development. She then completed an M.A. in Public Diplomacy and International Affairs at the Fletcher School at Tufts University in Boston - and in 2003 enrolled in a Ph.D. program at Michigan State.

In 2005, she completed all requirements of the Ph.D. in Sociology except for her dissertation -- completing her comprehensive exams faster than any of my graduate students that I can remember. After receiving several Title VI African Language and Area Studies Fellowships and reaching advanced proficiency in Hausa language, in a national competition in 2005 she was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. In 2006, the U.S. National Science Foundation granted her a Doctoral Dissertation Enhancement Award in Sociology.

Since January 2006, Kim has been living in Kano, Nigeria where she was consulting with faculty at Bayero University and conducting field research on "Decentralization and Representation in Nigerian Local Government: Bridging Ethnic, Religious, and Gender Cleavages in Kaduna, Nigeria," a topic she had developed at MSU from her extended travels in West Africa in 2004-05.

In Accra, visiting on holiday, Kim was riding a "passenger lorry" near the center of the city. The driver swerved to avoid a vendor's pushcart in the road, and the vehicle flipped over. The vendor was hit and killed, and Kim also died immediately. Several other passengers were badly injured, and she and they were rushed to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the premier national referral hospital in Ghana.

The funeral or memorial service for Kim will be held in San Diego, CA where her family lives at a date yet to be determined. Another memorial probably will be planned at MSU early in the fall semester.

Our hearts go out to Kim's family and all who knew this very intelligent, creative, venturesome, courageous, and industrious woman. She was one of the good people, making many contributions to the human community during her too few years among us. We have been enriched by Kim's presence, and we are lessened by her absence. We shall miss her very much and hold dearly to our memories of her.

If you wish to send condolences to the family, you can reach them at: Kim's brother, "Kenneth Perez"
<atzin@earthlink.net>, cell: 619-261-0411. With sadness,

David Wiley
Academic Advisor to Kim Perez
Department of Sociology and African Studies Center


MSU Global Focus - Photography Competition

The entry deadline for the Eighth Annual International Photography competition is Monday, October 2, 2006, 5:00 p.m. EDT. The competition is open to MSU students, faculty, staff, retirees, alumni and Alumni Association members.

For more information, to see the official competition rules and entry form, or contact the MSU Office of International Studies and Programs, visit http://www.isp.msu.edu/photocontest/ or contact the MSU Office of International Studies and Programs, Michigan State University, 209 International Center, East Lansing, MI 48824-1035; Tel: (517) 355-2350; or e-mail riel@msu.edu..


Distinguished Rural Sociology Award

MSU's George and Nancy Axinn will receive the 2006 Distinguished Rural Sociologist Award this August, presented by the Rural Sociology Society. This award has always been given to an individual before, but this time they are making an exception and giving it to a couple. George Axinn is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Resource Development at MSU and an African Studies Center Consulting Faculty member.


Fall 2006 Course Announcement

ANP 491, Sec. 012, Anthropology of the Middle East

Tu & Th 1:00-2:20 pm, Union Building (location may change). This course provides a critical examination of the anthropological literature of the Middle East, which is defined here to include the Arab World, Israel, Iran, and Turkey. Major areas of research are reviewed and analyzed, introducing students to the variety of cultural traditions, religions, and ethnicities in the Middle East. Several book-length ethnographies and one novel will be read, in addition to various articles and chapters. A further goal of this course is to provide students with the conceptual tools necessary to evaluate reports and news about the region, and to understand the subjectivity and bias that often permeates these reports. We will also visit the Arab American National Museum and the newly constructed Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, watch films, and learn from guest speakers. Seminar participants will create, through research papers, their own accounts of the Middle East. For details, contact Professor Mara Leichtman at 432-7048, e-mail: mara.leichtman@ssc.msu.edu.


ENG 823/991B - Postcolonialism/Postmodernism

This is a course about the culture that is being produced under conditions of globalization, viewed primarily from an African and North African, Asian, and diaspora perspective. Globalization and postmodernism appear differently when seen from a postcolonial point of view. The course will include a range of works of literature and of visual cultures, including film. Contact Prof. Ken Harrow, English Dept., e-mail: harrow@msu.edu;

Phone: 353-7243 for more information.



EAD 813 - Education and Development

This course will be offered by Professor David Plank, Tu., 12:40-3:30p.m. Open to MA or Ph.D. students. May be taken for Teacher Education credit as TE 813. This course examines the role of education in the process of economic, social, and political development. This course will be especially valuable for students who are planning careers in educational development, whether in national planning agencies or in international agencies, including the World Bank and the United Nations, or for students who expect to conduct research in these areas. For further details about this course, contact: Professor David Plank at 355-3691; e-mail: dnplank@msu.edu.


MC324b - Africa in International Affairs

This course will be offered by Professor Rita Kiki Edozie, Tu/Thur., 12:40-2:00p.m. The course will focus on US-Africa relations as well as normative international relations theory by examining the theories of realism, liberalism and the new globalisms against Africa's contemporary 'place' in international relations. In presenting case studies on the African Union and NEPAD, the course content will also cover 'Africa' as a dynamic region consisting of fifty-three diverse and sovereign independent nations with distinctive foreign policies that present challenges to a single continental policy. For further details about this course contact Professor Rita Kiki Edozie, Political Science (JMC), e- mail: rkedozie@msu.edu; Phone: 432-5291.


SSC 490 -Issues in International Development,

meets Tu/Th, 3
00 - 4:20p.m. This course focuses on the dilemmas facing industrialized and developing nations in ending severe global inequalities and poverty. We 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 further information, contact: Dr. Rob Glew at 353-4818; e-mail: glew@msu.edu for further information.


PHL 452 Ethics and Development;

meets M/W, 3:00-4:20. Taught by Prof. Stephen L. Esquith, e-mail:
esquith@msu.edu This course is about ethical issues
such as war, genocide, famine, agricultural

intensification, economic liberalization, democratization, gender discrimination, and environmental degradation. It talks about the ethical questions and issues that face developing countries, about the ethics of the very process and discourse of development that more industrialized, as well as developing countries have helped to shape. The overall goal is not to answer these questions or resolve these issues, but rather to clarify them and understand why they are important. The class will be drawing upon research from several different disciplines as well as philosophy. This course is intended for a wide audience. Students who have not taken either two courses in philosophy or three courses in relevant social science fields, should consult with the instructor before enrolling in the course.


HST 364
South Africa and Its Neighbors: History, Biography, and Memory, meets M/W, 10:20 - 11:40. This course is taught by Professor Peter Alegi. It covers South(ern) African history from the nineteenth century to the present. It explores the region's complex past through biographies or black and white men and women. The central themes of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and age are examined through the lives of black leaders such as Shaka Zulu and Nelson Mandela, as well domestic servants, sharecroppers, and even privileged whites. The overall goal of the course are to a) provide specific knowledge of Southern African people's colonial/apartheid past and its legacy; and b) strengthen skills of critical analysis, oral communication, and writing. Contact Professor Alegi at: 432-8222 ext. 129; or e-mail: alegi@msu.edu.


HST 830
African Spectatorship and Consumerism in a Global Context, 1880s - Present, meets Tu, 4:10 - 7:00 p.m. This course is taught by Professor Peter Alegi. Using the prism of leisure and popular culture, this seminar explores aspects of the history of Africa in an increasingly global context, from the dawn of the colonial period to the present. Via in-depth case studies of Nigeria, Ghana, Congo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, this seminar adopts a flexible, interdisciplinary approach to critically engage with the themes of race, ethnicity, class, nation, gender, and age. A serious exploration of public spectacles and the rise of consumerism n Africa will enable the class to practice the historian's craft of analyzing continuity and change over time. It should also spark rethinking of the very concepts of "spectatorship" and "consumerism" and, in the process, highlight the creative power of Africans in making their own history and shaping global popular culture.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

African Art from a World-Wide Array of Artists

Collective Exhibition: Contemporary Art at its Best runs September 5 - September 27, 2006 in Agora Gallery's SoHo location at 415 West Broadway, Chelsea, New York.

Contemporary Art at its Best showcases art by Trudie Canwood-Kruger, Wesley Mawema and Berenice Michelow.

The three artists present works that comment on the life of African peoples in the United States, the Caribbean and South Africa.

Images of Canwood-Kruger's art can be seen at: http://www.agora-gallery.com/ArtistInvite/Trudie_Canwood__ Kruger.aspx;
Mawema's work can be seen at: http://www.agora- gallery.com/ArtistInvite/Wesley_Mawema.aspx; and images of Michelow's work can be seen at: http://www.agora-gallery.com/ArtistInvite/Berenice_ Michelow.aspx.

Please contact Sam Green, Public relations department at: (212) 226-4151, ext. 207 for additional information or visit the Agora Gallery website at http://www.Agora- Gallery.com.



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

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