MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 09/04/07

Thursday, September 20, 2007

African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Terrie Taylor, Faculty (Internal Medicine, Osteopathic Medicine, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Under-appreciated Facts about African Agriculture: Implications for Poverty Reduction and Agricultural Growth Strategies

Thursday, September 13, 2007

African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Thom Jayne, Faculty (Agricultural Economics, MSU), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Soccer and Ethiopian Identity ! Politics in America

Thursday, September 6, 2007

African Studies Center Brown Bag talk with Solomon Addis, Faculty (History, Central Michigan Univ.), 12:00 noon, Room 201 International Center. Announcements
Faculty Announcement

Birbeck Named Research Ambassador

Gretchen Birbeck, associate professor of neurology and ophthalmology and of epidemiology, and African Studies Center Core faculty was named an ambassador in Research!America's Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research.

Birbeck becomes one of 51 of the nation's top global health experts who have joined forces to increase awareness of the need for greater U.S. public and private investment in research to improve global health.

"Our nation's leaders must understand that increased U.S. investment in global health research will not only! help improve health conditions in impoverished countries,&quo! t; Birbe ck said, "it will help prevent the emergence and spread of diseases that can endanger Americans here and abroad."

The society is named for former U.S. Rep. Paul G. Rogers of Florida, who was known for supporting research to improve health. The society was established by Research!America in 2006 with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Reprinted from MSU News Bulletin, VOL. 38, NO. 23 – Aug. 9, 2007 Sankofa Black Studies Graduate Student Association, 2nd Biannual National Conf.

March 27

28, 2008 - Kellogg Conference Center Conference Information forthcoming. Please visit: http://www.msu.edu/~aaas/m/conferences.html. Free English Life Skill Classes with Leslie Eubank

Leslie Eubank, a volunteer with the Volunteer English Tutoring Program (VETP) at MSU is offering Free English Life Skill classes fo! r any international students who are attending MSU. Classes will be on Monday's from 7:00-9:00pm. For more information contact Leslie Eubank at: esl2u@yahoo.com. Free on-line exercises are also available at: leslie2k.com. MSU Africanist Graduate Student Research Conference: September 28-29, 2007

The graduate students and African Studies Center at MSU are hosting this conference with the hope to foster an engaging atmosphere in which students can discuss their research and receive important feedback. The conference is interdisciplinary (encouraging presentations from students of political science, history, anthropology, sociology, women and gender studies, etc.), and open to students at all levels of their graduate careers. Michigan State University has over 175 faculty members that focus on Africa and some faculty will serve as discussants in the hope that they will offer constructive feedback to the conference participants. ! The conference is also designed to help prepare students who w! ill pres ent at the 2007 African Studies Association Meeting to be held in New York. A $20 conference fee can be paid upon registration at the start of the conference. Please direct inquiries to msuasgc@msu.edu. Fall Course Announcements

ENG 886 "Modern Criticism: Black Feminist Theory," Mondays, 7:10 - 10:00pm, 111 Morrill Hall, Instructor: Professor Jennifer Denise Williams.

This course will introduce students to the major concepts, debates, and theoretical perspectives in Black feminism in the United States. Using theory, novels, music, and film, the class will interrogate the intersections of class, gender, sexuality, and race in the traditions of Black feminist theory. In order to chart the development of Black feminist theory over time, the class will explore how feminist sentiments, exhibited in female slave narratives, inform the evolution of Black feminist theory. Besides a chronological investigation! , this course also focuses on Black women's cultural production, Black female sexuality, motherhood, male/female relationships, female friendships, and violence against women. Throughout the course, special attention will be given to the ways in which Black women reform stereotypical constructions and images of Black womanhood and how they redefine mainstream feminism in light of race, class, and sexual difference. Readings and viewings in this course will consist of such diverse texts as Harriet Jacobs's Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Nella Larsen's Passing, Patricia Hill Collins's Black Feminist Thought, Angela Y. Davis's Blues Legacies and Black Feminism, Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham's Righteous Discontent: The Women's Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920, Rachel Raimist's documentary Nobody Knows My Name, and Christine Dall's film Wild Women D! on't Have the Blues. !
Cong ratulations to the following Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellows

1. Thomas James Darnell Jr. (Linguistics: -- Advanced Mandingo/Bambara)
   
   
2. Jenni Anne Fetters (Political Science: -- Intermediate Xhosa)
   
   
3. Kyle Wade Grove (Linguistics: -- Beginning Malagasy)
   
   
4. Leslie Anne Hadfield (History: -- Advanced Xhosa)
   
   
5. Marcy Maria Hessling (Anthropology -- Intermediate Yoruba)
   
   
6. Sara Katherine Hillman (Second Language Studies: -- Advanced Modern Standard Arabic)
   
   
7. Jill Elizabeth Kelly (History: -- Intermediate Zulu)
   
   
8. Matthew Fitzrobert Kirwin (Political Science: Intermediate Modern Standard Arabic)
   
   
9. Lumumba Hamilcar Shabaka (History: -- Beginning Mandingo/Bambara)
   
   
10. Stephanie Ann White (Community, Agriculture, Recreation! and Resource Studies (CARRS): --Beginning Mandingo/Bambara)
    
    
11. Danielle Shamika Carter (Political Science: --Beginning Zulu) 2nd Annual Black Religion & Spirituality (BRS) Conf.

November 7-9, 2007 - Kellogg Conference Center

Conference Information forthcoming. Please visit: http://www.msu.edu/~aaas/m/conferences.html. Other Announcements
African Journal of Political Science & International Relations - Call for Reviewers

African Journal of Political Science and International Relations (AJPSIR) is seeking qualified reviewers as members of her editorial board.

(AJPSIR) publishes rigorous theoretical reasoning and advanced empirical research in all areas of the subjects. Articles or proposals from all perspectives and on all subjects pertaining to Africa, Africa 's relationship to the world, public policy, ! international relations, comparative politics, political metho! dology, political theory, political history and culture, global political economy, strategy and environment are welcome. The journal will also address developments within the discipline. Each issue will normally contain a mixture of peer-reviewed research articles, reviews or essays using a variety of methodologies and approaches. (AJPSIR) serves as a great resource for researchers and students across the globe and provides open access to all her publications and hope to continue this tradition.If interested, please contact Dr. Mojubaolu O. Okome, Acting Editor, Acting Editor, African Journal of Political Science and International Relations at: ajpsir@academicjournals.org. To learn more about the journal, please visit http://www.adacemicjournals.org/AJPSIR. Conferences
Human Development Conf. - Univ. of Notre Dame

CFP - February 22-23, 2008

The Millennium Devel! opment Initiative of the University of Notre Dame announces an international student conference on human development entitled "Rhetoric vs. Reality: The Status of Global Development," to be held at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana USA, February 22-23, 2008. All undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit proposals for papers to be presented at the conference. The conference is intended to discuss the meaning of human development, to highlight what has been learned about how and why human development takes place, and to assess the effectiveness of governmental and non-governmental institutions with regard to human development. Students are especially encouraged to submit proposals for papers that present the results of original research and address issues that express any relationship between human development and:

1. definitions and philosophies,
   
   
2. humanitarian work, including the implications of trade and non-governme! ntal actors,
   
   
3. democracy, justice and human righ! ts,
   
   
4. health and psychological well-being,
   
   
5. micro-finance, micro-venturing and enterprise creation,
   
   
6. the familial entity, gender issues and children's rights,
   
   
7. religion, faith, and spirituality, and
   
   
8. education and vocational training.

Please submit proposals/abstracts (300 words or less), and questions to jsteine1@nd.edu or ssnider@nd.edu. Only proposals received by September 21, 2007 will receive consideration. Invitations for participation will be extended by October 1, 2007. Students who accept invitations to present at the conference will be responsible for securing outside funding for travel, lodging and other related expense. Please send questions and/or comments to Timothy Lyden, Assistant Director, Notre Dame Millennium Development Initiative at: tlyden1@nd.edu. Jobs
Council on African Studies/Middle East Studies

The MacMillan Ce! nter at Yale University seeks to sponsor the appointment of an assistant professor of social sciences with expertise in Africa and the Middle East, beginning July 1, 2008. The successful candidate may specialize in North Africa and/or comparative work focusing on Africa and the Middle East. The appointment will be made in one of the following Departments: Anthropology, Political Science or Sociology. Yale University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, and actively encourages applications from minority and women scholars.Send a cover letter (indicating qualifications, plans for research and writing, as well as interest in the Department of Anthropology, Political Science, or Sociology), a CV, one or more writing samples up to a total one hundred pages in length and three letters of reference to the Council on Middle East Studies, The MacMillan Center, P.O. Box 208206, New Haven, CT 06520-8206. Please send four (4) copies of application materials. No electron! ic submissions are being accepted. Inquiries may be directed t! o: lora. lemosy@yale.edu. All application materials must arrive by September 15, 2007. For more details visit: http://www.yale.edu/macmillan/african; or Tel: (203) 432-3436; Fax: (203-432-5963.

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.