Hey Loves,
So, in case you're unfamiliar with The African Activists Association, we are a UCLA student group committed to generating cultural and political awareness about Africa and its diasporas. We achieve this by organizing annual student colloquiums that bring together new scholarship pertaining to various topics on the countries of Africa. We organize quarterly African Film Screenings, Spoken Word and Performance Art benefits, gallery exhibitions, and other means through which we seek to counter some of the misrepresentations of Africa and the world in general in popular media.
Next week on Friday and Saturday is our 5th annual academic shindig and we would dearly like to see you there. Your colleagues a.k.a. scholars from UCLA and beyond will be giving presentations about their work. Additionally we will have the divine pleasure of seeing a great Senegalese music group, documentary and spoken word poetry (I've just been told I'm supposed to read something, so you might hear me speak for about 95 seconds). Our keynote this year is a special guest because she is an African Studies Alumni. We've decided to scrap the whole hierarchical patterns of having tenured faculty highlight our event - we want scholars who kick ass and that is exactly what Myralyn Nartey does!
Bellow is a schedule. Nourishment will be provided as well.
Senegalese dance and drumming by Baye Fall Yi – recently performing onstage with Baaba Maal – excellent, informative presentations, film screening of the latest documentary on Fela Kuti, A Slice of Fela – the African Activist Association conference promises to be another great event this year!
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The African Activist Association at UCLA
Fifth Annual Conference
The Conflict of Re-Presentation: Re-Presenting Conflict in Africa
May 14 – 15, 2010
Neuroscience Research Bldg. Auditorium
635 Charles E. Young Drive, South
(Corner of Charles E. Young Dr. South & Structure 9)
Friday, May 14 -- 5:30 pm - 9:30 PM
Saturday, May 15 -- 9:30 am – 4:30 PM
Free and open to the public; everyone welcome!
Pay-by-space and all-day ($10) parking available
Schedule:
(Subject to change)
Friday, May 14, 2010
5:30 PM: Reception
6:15 PM: Baye Fall Yi -- Senegalese Dance and Drum Troupe
6:45 PM: Keynote Address by Myralyn O. A. Nartey, Doctoral Student, UCLA School of Public Health
7:15 PM: Spoken Word Performances
8:00 – 9:30 PM: A Slice of Fela Film Screening
Documentary featuring amazing in-concert footage and more of the great Fela Kuti!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
9:30 AM: Continental Breakfast
10:15 – 11:15 AM: Panel I: Violence, Immigration and the State
Moderator: Ghislaine Lydon, UCLA Department of History
· Ann Anaebere, UCLA School of Nursing
“Concept Analysis: Exploring Health Consideration for Aging Nigerian Immigrants in the United States”
· Diana Burnett, Yale Divinity School
“Interrogating the Interstices of Race, Religion & Health in a Transnational Context”
· Marvin Boateng, California Lutheran University
“The New Progress Philosophy: Addressing Development and Psychology from the Traditional Perspective”
11:30 AM – 1:00 PM: Panel II: Gender, Violence and Sexuality
Moderator: Nandini Gunewardena, International Development Studies, International Institute
· Amber Murrey-Ndewa, Syracuse University
“A Myth of Benign Humanitarianism, Militarism and Women’s Rights: A Case Study of the Chad–Cameroon Oil Pipeline”
· Dayo Spencer, UCLA School of Public Health
“Relating Modernity, Conflict and Sexual Violence: Discourses of Violence against Women in Post-war Sierra Leone”
· Kristina Benson, UCLA Islamic Studies
“North African Women in Madrid: Intersections of Race, Religion and Gender and the 2004 Law Against Gender Violence”
· Tina Beyene, UCLA Department of Women’s Studies
“Transnational and Postcolonial Feminist Interpretations of Gender- based Violence in Conflict Zones”
· Rayed Khedher, UCLA Department of Anthropology
“Tracing the Development of the Code of Personal Status: The Tunisian Case”
1:00 PM: Lunch
2:00 – 3:00 PM: Panel III: Art, Activism and Music
Moderator: Damola Osnulu, PhD student, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures
· Christopher Mlalazi, Villa Aurora “Writer in Exile” Feuchtwanger Fellow
“The State and the Performing Arts in Zimbabwe—Friends or Foe?”
· Natasha Himmelman, University of Cape Town
“Hating the Postcolony Properly: Hip Hop Aesthetics in Kenya”
· Amber Reed, UCLA Department of Anthropology
“Creating New Leaders: Youth Involvement in Community Activism in South Africa”
3:15 – 4:30 PM: Panel IV: Navigating Space, Culture and Nationalism
· Duncan Yoon, UCLA Department of Comparative Literature
“Space and Time in Socialist Tanzania: The Dodoma Capital Project”
· Kim Foulds, UCLA School of Education
“A Conflicted Curriculum Students’ Perceptions of Gender in Kenyan Social Studies Textbooks
· Tiffany Man, UCLA International Development Studies
“Chinese Presence in Africa: Trade, Investment, Diplomatic and Cultural Ties”
· Willis Oyugi, UCLA Department of History
“Human–Wildlife Conflicts and Maasai Group Ranches in Kenya”
4:30 PM: Closing Ceremony
We hope you can join us!!
Abstracts and speakers’ bios attached.
The African Activists Association gratefully appreciates its co-sponsors.
· Nnamdi Moweta of Radio Afrodicia, KPFK 90.7 FM
· UCLA African Studies Center
