MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 09/02/03

MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

September 4, Thursday

"Partnerships for Food Industry Development - Fruits and Vegetables Newest Model in Economic Development: The Ghana PPP Project," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Peter Achuonjei, Project Coordinator (Partnership for Food Industry Development, PFID), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.

September 11, Thursday

"Farmers, Markets and Empowerment,"African Studies Center Brown Bag with Jim Bingen, Professor, Department of Resource Development (MSU), 12;00 noon, Room 201, International Center.

September 18, Thursday

"MSU's Collaboration with the University of Mali's Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources: An Update and Future Opportunities," African Studies Center Brown Bag with John Staatz, Gretchen Sanford, Brent Simpson, Mel Yokoyama, Russ Freed, Pascal Kamdem, Steve Longabaugh, Youssouf Camara, Mary Anne Walker, Brian Adams, (Participants from MSU/CANR and Office of International Development), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.

MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

Bambara Tutor Needed

The African Language Program at Michigan State University is looking for a speaker of Bambara (also known as Bamana, Bamanakan, Mandingo) to participate in a supervised tutorial for the 2003-04 academic year.

The weekly time commitment will be about 7 hours.

For more information, please contact Professor David Dwyer, Coordinator of the African Language Program at dwyer@msu.edu.

Course Announcements, Fall 2003

Correction:

RD826 International Development and Sustainability There will only be one Instructor: Jeffrey Riedinger, and the course will be taught on Tuesday 3:00 - 5:50 pm (not Monday), 306 Natural Resources Building.

This course is intended to situate the current controversies about various approaches to international development and world poverty in the context of the evolution of international development theory and conceptualizations of development and poverty over the past half century. The continuing challenges of world poverty are central to this course. Students will better understand the concept of development, the dominant paradigms of international development, the shift in development paradigms over time, and recurrent themes in international development and efforts to address world poverty over the past half-century.

Special Offering - Fall Semester 2003 ONLY New 1-3 Credit Graduate Course WS 890 HIV/AIDS and Gender Inequality Instructors: Jayne Schuiteman - Women's Studies Program and Women's Resource Center and Anne Ferguson - Women and International Development Program and Department of Anthropology First class will meet Friday, September 5, 2:00 p.m., Room 204 International Center. Class will meet two times per month (time and place to be identified at the first meeting), plus students will be required to attend the CASID/WID Friday Forum Speakers
series on HIV/AIDS: A Development Crisis which will meet 5-6 times during the semester from 12:00 - 1:00 on Fridays.

This variable credit graduate seminar provides the opportunity to explore the relationship between HIV/AIDS and gender inequality. For further information contact Jayne Schuiteman at schuite1@cal.msu.edu or Anne Ferguson at fergus12@msu.edu.

Walker Hill International Scholarship

Deadline: February 2, 2004 The Walker Hill International Scholarship is now available. An approximate $1,500 scholarship will be awarded to a graduate student to be used for predissertation visits to the site of the doctoral research in a country outside of the U.S. (For international students, research in one's own country does not qualify).

Criteria: * MSU Doctoral Student at Predissertation Stage * Predissertation research objectives to be
accomplished during the period spent abroad * Scholarly excellence * Character and personal attributes that contribute to a
high probability of success in an international setting * Financial need may be considered

Application Procedure: * A letter of application describing the use which the
scholarship funds would be put in the context of the student's overall program of study * A copy of student's official academic transcript * Two letters of support from faculty, including one
from student's advisor, specifically endorsing and describing the proposed use of funds * Applicants one-page CV

Submit application and supporting documents to: Murari Suvedi, Assistant Dean, International Studies and Programs, 209 International Center; Phone: 355-2350; Fax: 353-7254; e-mail: suvedi@msu.edu.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

African World Expo and Conference October 6-9, 2003

The 2003 African World Expo and Conference will be held October 6-9, 2003 at the St. Regis Hotel, 3071 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit, Michigan USA.

The conference theme is: Trade and Business Opportunities with Africa. Workshops include: * (African Growth and Opportunity Act)
AGOA Pros and Cons * Manufacturing * Pharmaceutical * Information Technology * Transportation and Shipping * Finance and Health Care * Import/Export and Trade

There will be representatives from North Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, West Africa and South Africa. Please call (313) 964-7025 or fax: (313) 964-7043 for more detailed information.

New Nigerian Historian Nearby at CMU

Prof. Chima J. Korieh, a Nigerian and African historian has joined the faculty Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant. Professor Korieh's main fields of interest are African social and cultural history, agriculture, food security, gender and women, African Diaspora,and comparative slavery. He earned his BA with first class honors at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He holds an MA degree from University of Helsinki, Finland, M.Phil from the University of Bergen, Norway, and PhD from the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the recipient of many academic awards and distinctions including the Rockefeller African Dissertation Internship Award. He was the 2001-2002 Jacob Jimeson Teaching Fellow at Hartwick College, New York. He has authored many articles and essays in journals and encyclopedia.

His Ph.D. dissertation at University of Toronto concerned "The State and the Peasantry, Agricultural Policy, Agricultural Crisis and Sustainability in the Igbo Region of Southeastern Nigeria, 1900-1995."

Other publications include: Chima J. Korieh and Ugo G. Nwokeji (Eds.) Religion, History and Politics in Nigeria. University Press of America, (Forthcoming, 2004); "The Nineteenth Century Commercial Transition in West Africa: The Case of the Biafran Hinterland,"Canadian Journal of African Studies 34, 3 (2000): 588-615; "The Invisible Farmer? Women, Gender, and Colonial Agricultural Policy in the Igbo Region of Nigeria, C. 1913- 1954,"African Economic History 29, (2001): 1-37; "Dependence and Autonomy: Widowhood, Gender and Inheritance in Igbo Society,"IMSU Journal of Gender Studies 1, 2 (2003) (forthcoming); and "State Policy, Agricultural Transformation and Decline in Eastern Nigeria, 1960-1970" in A. Adebayo (ed.) Transformations of Nigeria: Essays in Honor of Toyin Falola. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2002, 223-260.

FELLOWSHIPS

Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) Fellowship Competition, 2003-04

The Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA) invites applications for Africa-based junior scholars to take part in its 2003-04 program on "Sufism, Popular Islam, and Gender." The fellowships will be tenable at Northwestern University during the 2004 spring quarter (29 March - 11 June).

The Institute will focus on Sufism (mystical Islam) and other forms of popular Islam in Africa. Sufism has been and is a dominant element in African Islam. In this respect, Muslim Africa is closer to Turkey and Iran than to the Arab world. The turuq, or Sufi brotherhoods, have been studied extensively, but mainly as political and social movements. Fortunately, in recent years a number of scholars have begun to look at the ideas behind these movements. Thus recent research has revealed how widespread the influence of Ibn al-'Arabi has been in Muslim Africa. Sufism transcends political movements and intellectual systems, and encompasses patterns of belief and behavior that combine literary and popular elements. Among the themes that ISITA seeks to explore in 2003-04 are Sufism as mystical philosophy; its forms of transmission; the role and organisation of the turuq; and the relationship between Sufism and the various spirit possession cults (zar, tambura, bori and upepo, etc.) found throughout Muslim Africa. Attention will also be focused on the interaction in Africa between "popular" Islam and other versions of Islam that stress conformity with what are considered to be universal Islamic practices.

While resident at Northwestern, ISITA fellows will be expected to pursue their research with special reference to the above themes and to work in close collaboration with the 2003-04 Preceptor who, along with ISITA co- directors John O. Hunwick (history and religion, Northwestern University) and R. Sean O'Fahey (history, University of Bergen and Northwestern University), will provide the intellectual leadership of the ISITA program. Fellows will have full access to Northwestern University's Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, participate in ISITA's ongoing program of seminars, and present their research at the ISITA colloquium in late May 2004. The fellowship competition is open to Africans who are either advanced doctoral students (studying in an African university or abroad) or junior scholars/researchers working in African universities who have received their last degree within the past five years. Women are particularly encouraged to apply. ISITA will provide fellows with round-trip airfare from the applicant's country of residence to Chicago and pay a stipend to cover living expenses in Evanston.

Application Process All applicants must submit: 1. A cover letter indicating their interest in competing for the ISITA fellowship and assuring ISITA that they are able to secure research leave from their institution of study or employment for the period of the fellowship. 2. A research proposal of no more that 1,200 words that addresses the applicant's current research interests and explains the relevance of the proposed project to the 2003-04 ISITA theme. The research proposal may be written in either English or French, but the applicant must be sufficiently fluent in English to present a paper and participate in discussions in English. 3. A curriculum vitae that includes full contact information (e-mail and postal addresses, telephone and fax numbers, etc.). 4. Two examples of the applicant's scholarship-- preferably a chapter of the applicant's thesis and one other substantial piece of scholarly writing, published or unpublished. 5. Two signed and sealed letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the applicant's scholarly work.

The cover letter, research proposal, and writing samples may be submitted electronically as attachments, and must be received by 15 September 2003 in order to be considered. The signed and sealed letters of recommendation should be sent by post, and must be received by 30 September 2003. Successful applicants will be informed by 31October 2003.

Electronic submissions or queries should be sent to: r- shereikis@northwestern.edu. Letters of recommendation and non-electronic submissions should be sent to: ISITA Coordinator, Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, 620 Library Place, Evanston, Illinois 60208-4110, U.S.A.