Tuesday Bulletin, No. 5
THE TUESDAY BULLETIN
Issue No. 5 Fall 2004
September 28, 2004
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
JOBS
EVENTS
September 30, Thursday
"The Americas as Methodological Aid for the Interrogation of Africa's
History: Reflections on Santiago de Cuba," African Studies Center Brown Bag
with Harry Nii Koney Odamtten, Graduate Student (African and African
American Studies, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.
October 7, Thursday
"New Fossil Discoveries From Southwestern Tanzania," African Studies Center
Brown Bag with Michael Gottfried, Curator, MSU Museum and Associate
Professor of Geological Science, 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.
October 14, Thursday
"Institutions, Investments and the Uncertain Future of Agricultural
Research Networks in West and Central Africa," African Studies Center Brown
Bag with Brent Simpson, Faculty (Center for Global Change and Earth
Observation, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.
MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS
New Book by Michael Bratton, et al on African
Democracy
Michael Bratton, Robert Mattes and E. Gyimah-Boadi,
Public Opinion, Democracy and Market Reform in
Africa (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005).
This book is a groundbreaking exploration of public
opinion in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on the
Afrobarometer, a comprehensive cross-national survey
research project, it reveals what ordinary Africans think
about democracy and market reform, subjects on which
almost nothing is otherwise known. The authors find
that support for democracy in Africa is wide but shallow
and that Africans feel trapped between state and market.
Beyond multiparty elections, people want clean and
accountable government. They will accept economic
structural adjustment only if it is accompanied by an
effective state, the availability of jobs, and an equitable
society. What are the origins of these attitudes? Far from
being constrained by social structure and cultural values,
Africans learn about reform on the basis of knowledge,
reasoning, and experience. Weighing supply and
demand for reform, the authors reach cautious
conclusions about the varying prospects of African
countries for attaining fully-fledged democracy and
markets.
Funding for the Malaria Project in Malawi
Drs. Gretchen Birbeck (Departments of Neurology &
Epidemiology) and Terrie Taylor (COM Department of
Medicine) have received a 5-year, $805,000 award from
the National Institute of Health to study cerebral malaria
as a risk factor for epilepsy. Their study will utilize both
perspective and retrospective epidemiological study
designs to assess outcomes among survivors from the
Blantyre Malaria Project's Research Ward where Dr.
Taylor has had ongoing work for several years studying
the clinicopathological findings of malaria.
Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change (GJEC)
Please join the GJEC to learn more about this exciting
new field of inquiry. There will be an informational
meeting on Friday, October 8, 2004, 3:00-4:30 pm,
Room 204 International Center. Refreshments will be provided.
The Gender, Justice, and Environmental Change (GJEC)
Graduate Specialization, administered by Women and
International Development (WID) and sponsored by the
College of Agriculture & Natural Resources and the
College of Social Science, is the first of its kind to focus
on local and global intersections of gender, social and
environmental justice, and environmental change.
The GJEC Program seeks to promote collaborative
research, scholarship, and public awareness. Program
activities include the offering of two core courses in
GJEC scholarship, one on theories and issues and the
other on research methods and their application, as well
as a speaker series, dissemination of relevant
information such as bibliographies and video guides, and
development of collaborative training and research
projects. For more information, call 353-5040, e-mail
gendenvr@msu.edu, or visit the GJEC Website
http://www.msu.edu/gendenvr.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa to visit
Alma College, September 29 - October 1, 2004
Discovering Vocation: The Lilly Project at Alma
College will welcome a special guest : The Most
Reverend Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape
Town, South Africa will visit Alma College from
September 29 - October 1, 2004.
Archbishop Ndungane, the successor to Nobel Laureate
Desmond Tutu, became Archbishop in 1996. His
journey includes life under apartheid, imprisonment and
a passionate commitment to a new and just South Africa.
His book, A World with a Human Face, was published
last year.
While at Alma College, the Archbishop will give
evening public lectures on Sept 29th and 30th and an
afternoon seminar on October 1st. There are also
afternoon and evening sessions designed for academics.
On Thursday, September 30th from 4:00 5:30 pm,
scholars who are interested in the history, politics and
religion of South Africa are invited to gather for a
private conversation with the Archbishop. This informal
conversation will be followed by dinner at 6:00 pm and
the Archbishop's lecture at 8:00 pm on "Building a Just
Society: Challenges in Today's South Africa". Space is
limited for the conversation and dinner with the
Archbishop and so reservations are required.
If questions, please contact the Discovering Vocation
office at 989-463-7981 or e-mail: soto@alma.edu.
African Studies Association 2004 Annual Meeting
The ASA Secretariat is pleased to provide the following
update for the 2004 Annual Meeting.
I. THE PRELIMINARY PROGRAM
The Preliminary Program for the joint ASA and
CAAS/ACEA 2004 Annual Meetings, "The Power of
Expression: Identity, Language, and Memory in Africa
and the Diaspora," November 11-14, 2004 at the New
Orleans Marriott, is now available on the ASA website:
www.africanstudies.org. Please note: the program
currently is available in Word. It will be available in
PDF format shortly.
*** ASA guidelines for submitting proposals state that
all proposals must be accompanied by the appropriate
membership and pre-registration fees. Panel and
roundtable presenters who have not paid membership
and/or pre-registration fees are not listed in the
Preliminary Program (hence the blanks) and will only be
listed in the Final Program if fees are paid on or before
September 30. ***
All participants are urged to pre-register and save.
Registration will be substantially more expensive onsite
in New Orleans. To pre-register, participants may go to
the ASA website: www.africanstudies.org. Click on the
link for the Online Membership System to pay by credit
card or check. Participants may also complete the
Membership/Pre-registration Form in the ASA News
and return it with a check or credit card information.
Forms may also be downloaded from the ASA website.
*** Participants will be required to pay onsite fees in
New Orleans if the pre-registration materials are not
postmarked on or before September 30, 2004.***
The program information is subject to change.
Corrections to the program must be submitted in writing
on or before October 15, 2004 to: Annual Meeting
Coordinator, African Studies Association, Rutgers
University, Douglass Campus, 132 George Street, New
Brunswick, NJ 08901-1400; Fax: 732-932-3394; Email:
asaamc@rci.rutgers.edu. The Final Program will be
distributed onsite in New Orleans at the Annual Meeting.
II. ANNUAL MEETING LOGISTICS
Participants may visit www.africanstudies.org to make
hotel and travel arrangements online by clicking on the
relevant link.
To make reservations at the New Orleans Marriott
Hotel, click on the link ONLINE HOTEL ROOM
RESERVATIONS. You may also call 1-888-364-1200
or 504-581-1000. Mention the Group Code "ASA" to
receive the hotel discount. The discounted rates are valid
from November 9-15, 2004. *** The discounted rates
are only guaranteed until Wednesday, October 20, 2004.
To make travel reservations, click on the link ONLINE
TRAVEL RESERVATIONS. Click on the "Register
Now" button to register with Travizon, the ASA partner
travel agency. Upon registration, a Travizon
representative will contact you via telephone or email to
finalize your travel reservation. You may also call 1-
800-462-6461 or 585-436-1701. Mention the Group
Code "ASA" to receive the discount.
Requests for Letters of Invitation to help secure visas or
funding should be postmarked on or before September
30, 2004. Requests received after September 30 will
incur a $25 administrative fee.
The ASA and CAAS/ACEA look forward to successful
meetings in New Orleans!
JOBS
Three Faculty positions - Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University has undertaken steps
to expand the Department of African and African
American Studies. As part of that expansion, the
department will be filling three new faculty positions
and invites applications from candidates at all ranks.
Preference will be given to those at the professor or
associate professor level, although junior candidates
with strong records will also be considered. The
successful candidates will be expected to participate in
cross-disciplinary teaching in the department and in
research activities of the Africana Research Center,
which deals with economic, political, social, and cultural
dimensions of people of African origin.
-
One position is for a scholar whose research focus
deals with policy on social and economic issues,
including social and criminal justice, education, housing,
the politics of race in contemporary urban context, and
the political economy of urban development/decline in
the U.S.
-
The second position is for a scholar whose research
focuses on socioeconomic development, socio-cultural
protest ideologies, or the political economy of gender
relations and social mobilization among people of
African origin in Africa, the U.S. or the Western
Hemisphere.
-
The third position is for a scholar whose training
focuses on issues of environmental justice and/or
economic development of people of African origin in
Africa and/or the U.S. Scholars who are qualified to
teach quantitative and qualitative research methods will
be given preference.
Applications, consisting of a letter of application
curriculum vitae, the names of three references, and
writing sample should be sent to Chair of Search
Committee, African and African American Studies, The
Pennsylvania State University, 214 Willard Bldg.,
University Park, PA 16802. Applications received by
November 1, 2004 will be assured of consideration;
however, all applications will be considered until the
position is filled. Penn State is committed to affirmative
action, equal opportunity and the diversity of its
workforce.
African Anthropology - Harvard University
The Harvard University Department of African and
African American Studies and the Department of
Anthropology invite nominations and applications for a
joint appointment in the social-cultural anthropology of
Africa. The position may be filled at the level of
Assistant, untenured Associate, or tenured full
Professor. Nominees and candidates should demonstrate
achievement (or, at the untenured level, the promise of
excellence) in ethnographic field research, theoretical
innovation, and teaching. Topical and regional
specializations are open, but the search committee seeks,
among others, specialists in urban life, the arts and
popular culture, gender and sexuality, transnationalism,
mass media, development, environmental and refugee
issues, military conflict, or changing forms of
governmentality in Africa.
Duties in both departments include teaching
undergraduate and graduate courses, individual
mentoring of students, and service on departmental
committees. The appointment will begin on July 1,
2005, and untenured candidates should expect to have
completed the Ph.D. prior to appointment.
Please send nominations or applications (including CV,
a letter outlining research and teaching interests, and at
the untenured level writing samples and the names of at
least three people who may be contacted for letters of
recommendation) to: Africanist Anthropology Search
Committee (attention: Prof. J. Lorand Matory),
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 33
Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138.
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.