MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 12/08/09

Tuesday Bulletin for December 8th, 2009

"Language in African (Ghanaian) Traditional Jurisprudence," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Faculty (Linguistics, Indiana Univ.), 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Room 201 International Center. Thursday, December 10, 2009

"The Political Ecology of Urban Farming," African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Stephanie White, MSU Advanced Graduate Student (Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resources Dept.), 12:00 noon - 1:30 p.m., Room 201 International Center. Announcements
Online Courses offered for All Majors-Spring 2010

HM 832: Global Public Health, 3 cr

This online course will provide a general understanding of factors/dynamics that affect global public health. The three-credit course will address 1) application of public health principles and policies in international settings, 2) major issues and trends in global health, 3) Key international stakeholders and their roles in global public health.

Instructor: Connie Currier, DrPH, MPH, Assistant Professor, MSU Program in Public Health Email: currier3@msu.edu.

HM 836: Global Comparative Health Systems, 3 cr

This online course will compare healthcare systems within a cultural and global context. Quality outcomes, access and cost form the framework for healthcare systems analyzed in this course.

Instructor: Patricia Lambert, MA, MSN Affiliated Faculty MSU Program in Public Health Email: lamber73@msu.edu.

HM 837: Poverty and Public Health, 3 cr

This course provides an in-depth examination of the concepts of health and poverty and their interrelatedness from a global and public health perspective. The roles of international agencies, national policy, gender, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, culture, access to resources, and conflict will be considered.

Instructor: Rosina Hassoun, PhD, Affiliated Faculty MSU Program in Public Health Email: hassoun@msu.edu.

These courses are open to graduate students from all majors. For more infor! mation, contact Leslie Johnson, Program in Public Health, Michigan State Univ., 519 West Fee Hall, Phone: (517) 353.4825; http://www.publichealth.msu.edu. Spring Course Announcements

ENG 431b - Third World Cinema: Africa, The Caribbean, the Edges of Globalization

Third World Cinema is a loose and generic title intended to group together films from outside the mainstream Hollywood or European studios. Initially this grouping naturally included films from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. With time, the concept of Third World cinema has come to include "ethnic" films, and more generally, films associated with a minority, or Fourth World, population within First World countries or films made by peoples of the Third World, regardless of whether they actually live in their home countries or abroad.

Work in class this semester will be focused on the films from Africa and the Caribbean, with particular attention to such issues as race, urban settings, globalization and melodrama. Students will view a number of films that present the current moment in their countries as experiencing varying degrees of crisis as seen! in the worlds that children come to inhabit, the illegal immigration flows, and especially the consequences of a world order that has left their societies in difficulty. Not all the films deal with crises, but the settings are urban and as such set the stage for issues involving the passage into modernity, the failures of the state, the day-to-day scramble for living for many, and ultimately the drama of children who live on the edge, in the street, often on their own. For more information, contact Professor Ken Harrow at: harrow@msu.edu.

ANP 491 - An Anthropological Introduction to Islam in Africa, Section 002, Wed. 1:50-4:40 p.m.

This course aims to provide an overview of "African" Islam through the work of Muslim and non-Muslim scholars from anthropology and other related disciplines. The instructor will begin with an overview of the fundamentals of Islam before turning to the diverse accounts of the historical spread of Islam to Africa, the religious implications of the African slave trade and European colonialism, and Islamic philosophies, education, prayer, novels, law and politics in different African countries and contexts. Themes of religious conversion, gendered dynamics, migration, and the relationship of Islam to human rights will also be explored. Case studies will focus on Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Mayotte, Kenya, Sudan and the Americas. The class will visit the Islamic Center of East Lansing, watch films, and hear alternative accounts of Islam in Africa from guest speakers. Seminar participants will post weekly reactions to readings and activities to a listserv, and create, through research, their own accounts of African Islamic worlds. Rita S. Gallin Award for Best Graduate Paper

The Center for Gender in Global Context invites you to submit a paper for its annual graduate student paper competition. The paper should have been written wit! hin the past year, should be approximately twenty double-spaced pages in length, and should focus on issues related to women, gender, international development, and globalization.Papers will be reviewed by a faculty committee, and the award will be presented at the annual GenCen Open House in January. The winning paper may be peer reviewed for publication in the GPID Working Paper Series or on the GenCen website. Authors will receive a $200.00 prize.Papers should be submitted to the GenCen office via email (in Word or WordPerfect) or by mail (both hard copy and on diskette/CD). Please indicate you are submitting the paper for the Graduate Paper Competition and be sure to include a contact phone number and email address. For more information, visit: http://www.gencen.msu.edu/documents/Graduate_Paper_Competition_Announcement.pdf. The deadline to apply is Friday, December 18, 2009. Mary Anderson Award - Best Undergraduate paper

The Center for Gender in Global Context invites MSU undergraduate students to submit a paper for its annual competition, named to honor former women's rights activist and MSU Women's Studies scholar Mary Anderson, who lost her battle with breast cancer in 1993. The paper should have been completed within the past year and should focus on issues related to women and gender in global perspective. Papers should be approximately 20 double-spaced pages in length.

Papers will be reviewed by a faculty committee, and the award will be presented at the annual GenCen Open House in January. The winning paper may be peer reviewed for publication in the GPID Working Paper Series or on the GenCen website. Authors will receive a $200.00 prize. Submissions are to be made to the GenCen office via email (in MS Word or WordPerfect) or by mail (both hard copy and on diskette/CD/DVD). Please indicate that you are submitting to the competition and be sure! to include a contact phone number and email address. Submission deadline is December 18, 2009.

The contact information for GenCen is: Center for Gender in Global Context; 206 International Center; Michigan State University; Tel: (517) 353-5040; e-mail: gencen@msu.edu; web address: http://www.gencen.msu.edu/documents/Undergraduate_Paper_Competition_Announcement.pdf. Fellowships
Ruth Simms Hamilton Research Fellowship

TIAA-CREF is pleased to invite students to apply for the TIAA-CREF Ruth Simms Hamilton Research Fellowship. Honoring the work and service of Dr. Ruth Simms Hamilton, outstanding educator, visionary scholar and pioneer of the study of the African Diaspora. This fellowship recognizes graduate academic achievement and research at the cutting edge to further the study of the African Diaspora-the global dispersion and settlement of African and African-descendant people.

For the 2010-11 academic year, TIAA-CREF will provide awards – up to a total of $30,000 to eligible graduate students at U.S. colleges and universities, in recognition of their groundbreaking research that advances the intellectual discourse on the African Diaspora and its people. Applications will be evaluated by a blue ribbon panel of judges from some of America's most prestigious institutions. The submission period ends December 15, 2009. For more information and eligibility requirements go to: tiaa-crefinstitute.org/awards/hamilton. Jobs
Adjunct Lecturer - Eastern Michigan University

The Department of African American Studies is looking for a suitably qualified applicant for a winter, 2010 Adjunct Lecturer position. The appointee will teach its research methods course, namely: AAS 401 African American Studies Research Seminar (3 hrs). The course provides intensive exposure to research methods in African American studies, and offers an opportunity for primary research in the field. The winter, 2010 semester begins on January 5, 2010 and ends on April 26, 2010.

Interested applicants s! hould send/e-mail a cover letter, a C.V. and names and contact information (including email addresses and telephone #s) of at least two references to Dr. Victor O. Okafor, professor & head of the department of African American Studies, Eastern Michigan University, 620 Pray Harrold, Ypsilanti, Michigan 48197. Assistant Professor - Arcadia University

Arcadia University, just outside of Philadelphia, invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professorship in International Studies beginning in August 2010. Candidates should have teaching experience and scholarly expertise in one or more regions: the Middle East, Latin America, or East Asia/South Asia. Thematic specialization in the broad area of globalization, development, and human rights is preferred. Ph.D. is required, in hand no later than June 15, 2010. While it is expected that candidates will potentially come from a number of scholarly fields (including but not limi! ted to International Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology, and Anthropology), the ideal candidate will have a strong interdisciplinary background as well as international research interests and a record of teaching effectiveness. International Studies is a relatively new and fast-growing interdisciplinary major at Arcadia, and demonstrated interests and abilities in curricular and programmatic development are preferred. Applicants for the assistant professorship should send a letter of application, curriculum vitae and three letters of recommendation to Professor Jennifer Riggan, International Studies Search Committee Chair, Department of History & International Studies, Arcadia University, 450 South Easton Road, Glenside, PA, 19038. Review of applications will begin on January 4, 2010 and continue until the position is filled. Additional materials will be requested if the applicant's candidacy moves forward.

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