Kansas African Studies Center UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
NEWSLETTER
SPRING 2015
Opportunities to Study in Africa KU students are taking advantage of opportunities to study in Africa, both in the summer and during the academic year. KU’s most well-known program in Africa is the Arabic Studies Summer Institute held at Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. KU Associate Professor Naima Boussofara coordinates this program, which offers students the opportunity to learn Arabic and take courses about North Africa. The newest initiative, led by Professor Byron Caminero-Santangelo, is a summer study abroad program on “Sustainability, Development, and Community Empowerment” in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. In addition to these faculty-led programs, KU has also developed linkages with Rhodes University (Grahamstown, South Africa); Université Gaston-Berger (Saint-Louis, Sammy Badran studied Arabic in Morocco with a FLAS Fellowship Senegal); University of Legon (Ghana); and Zanzibar in summer 2014. University (Tanzania). Most recently, KU recognized formal linkages with the University of Development Studies in northern Ghana and the University of Ilorin in western Nigeria. Taking advantage of both formal KU programs and student initiated programs, KU students studied in nine different African countries during the 2011-2012 academic year, seven countries during the 2012-2013 academic year, and five countries during the 20132014 academic year, with a combined total of over 60 KU students studying in Africa during the preceding four academic years. Students’ regional patterns of study track closely with the languages offered at KU, indicating that students are using and developing the language skills that they have gained on campus. Students have studied in Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt (Arabic), Senegal (Wolof), Kenya and Tanzania (Kiswahili), and Ethiopia (Amharic) just to give a few examples. Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships support the study of African languages and area studies. For the summer of 2015, FLAS Fellowships were awarded to 12 students to study languages in Morocco, Senegal, and Tanzania, and in Lawrence at KU’s Summer African Language Institute.
Noemi Tracy traveled to Senegal to study Wolof last summer with a FLAS Fellowship. Continued on page 2
Through the generous contributions of Dr. Allan W. Wicker and Edna Elnar-Wicker, the KU Office of Study Abroad offers one $10,000 scholarship per year to assist undergraduate KU students with demonstrated financial need or high academic merit to participate in semester-long, single country study abroad programs through SIT Study Abroad. SIT offers semester study abroad programs to the following African destinations: Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Morocco, and Tunisia. The winner of the Wicker scholarship for the 2015-2016 academic year is Emily Schwerdtfeger, a Theatre major and French minor. Emily will be studying in Senegal during the spring semester of 2016 through SIT’s “Senegal: National Identity and the Arts” program.
Alumni Spotlight Jessica Cook B.A. in Sociology and African & African-American Studies Minor in Economics Jessica Cook graduated from KU in 2006 with a dual major in AAAS and Sociology and a minor in Economics. Her thesis, “The Effect of Economic Reforms on Women’s Employment in Egypt: A Critical Review on Research,” explored the ways that economic reforms in Egypt have impacted the availability of jobs for Egyptian women. Her thesis came to be an expression of the varying academic interests she developed during her studies at KU and through study abroad. Jessica studied abroad through CIEE Senegal during the spring semester of her sophomore year. There, she was exposed to a range of key issues facing Africanist scholars including African identities, African feminism, the languages of French and Wolof, and issues informing studies in Senegalese and West African cultures. During her stay, she volunteered for an NGO known as Réseau Siggil Jigéen (French and Wolof for “Women’s Support Network”), an organization that works primarily on problems of women’s labor, reproductive rights, and political autonomy as they apply to African contexts. Jessica helped organize projects with member NGOs and even made significant contributions to a grant application that earned the organization nearly $12,000. Jessica’s interests in women’s and workers’ rights, as well as her knowledge of civic engagement, deeply informed her research at KU and beyond. For her 2011 M.A. in Sociology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, Jessica wrote a thesis titled “What We Ask for is Justice!: Immigrant Worker Center Activism in a Suburban New Immigrant Destination,” which explored the complex means by which workers’ centers serve as conduits of political activity. She is now working toward her Ph.D. in Sociology at UIC.
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Ryan Gibb Ph.D. in Political Science Certificate in African Studies Ryan Gibb studied Political Science and International Studies in the context of East Africa. He received his Graduate Certificate in African Studies in 2010 and his Ph.D. in Political Science from KU in 2013. His work has largely analyzed the complexities of land rights regimes in Uganda. Dr. Gibb received a Fulbright Research Abroad Fellowship to conduct this research, which won a Argersinger Prize for distinguished dissertation analysis in 2013. Since graduating, he has published several book chapters and journal articles related to his work. Today, Dr. Gibb is an Assistant Professor at Baker University with a joint appointment in the departments of International Studies and Political Science. Amy Hunt M.A. in African & African-American Studies Amy Hunt received her M.A. in African & African-American Studies in May 2014 from KU. Her thesis “No Readership for Peace?: The South Africa and Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in the American News Media” compared the ways that reconcillation in two African contexts was represented to and perceived by the American public following the end of the apartheid regime and the Sierra Leonian Civil War. Amy now works at the University of Kentucky’s International Center promoting internationalization efforts in Kentucky by establishing agreements and partnerships with foreign institutions and encouraging intellectual exchange between students and foreign researchers. Amy is also pursuing a certificate in Global Health at the University of Kentucky.
KASC Hosts Fifth Annual Graduate Research Workshop The Kansas African Studies Center hosted the Fifth Annual Graduate Research Workshop on April 3, 2015. Partnering with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the event featured presentations from graduate students representing a wide range of disciplines related to area studies, including English, political science, communication studies, geography and more. Presentations were offered in the format of paper presentation or in the style of a traditional workshop, depending on the preference of the student. Audience members, including students, faculty and staff, offered constructive commentary for potential future research directions. The event lasted all day, and featured a keynote address by Dr. Jeremy Prestholdt from the Department of History at the University of California, San Diego. Over lunch, he discussed Tupac Shakur and postCold War alienation. After breakfast and a reception period, the first KASC showcase featured two visiting scholars, Marlino Eugénio Mubai from the University of Iowa and Mor Gueye from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. They English student Sarah Ngoh discussed gender issues in presented fascinating “insider’s perspectives” on key issues of civil society the Zimbabwean novel Nervous Conditions. in Mozambique and education in Senegal. A third visiting scholar, Nate Daugherty of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, presented his work on electoral legitimacy in West Africa, which took a regional approach to issues of democratization and electoral politics. A second KASC session in the afternoon featured KU scholars with African research interests. The first by Sarah Ngoh of the Department of English took a feminist approach to understanding Tsitsi Dangarembga’s famous novel Nervous Conditions. Lindsay Harroff in Communication Studies wrapped up the day with her unique take on Kenya’s Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, which sought to understand the rhetoric of nation building that arose from the activities of this group using emerging theories in Africanist communication studies. The collective work of these scholars showcased the large variety of research being carried out in the region by students interested in fostering a deeper understanding of issues in Africa, and provided a communicative space for this work to be discussed and elaborated. The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies participated in two afternoon panel sessions with KASC, where a variety of student researchers offered perspectives on some of the key issues facing diasporic and indigenous communities in those regions. This offered KASC students a unique purview into a number of problems currently being addressed by researchers outside of Africa that often go unstudied by Africanist scholars. The combination of these presentations demonstrated the many connections between area studies programs and encouraged collaboration and understanding between members of the two centers.
KASC faculty, students, and guests gathered during the morning session. 3
KASC Highlights
Faculty Spotlight
Dr. Marie Brown History Dr. Brown was awarded the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation 2015-2016 Career Enhancement Fellowship for junior faculty. This award provides researchers a year-long release from teaching responsibilities to focus on personal research endeavors. She will use this time to complete her manuscript Khartoum at Night: The Politics and Pleasures of Fashion in Imperial Sudan.
Congratulations on your retirement Dr. Omofolabo Ajayi-Soyinka!
Thank you for 25 years of excellent service to the university and the Kansas African Studies Center. Professor Ajayi-Soyinka celebrates with KASC Director Dr. Liz MacGonagle and Dr. Hannah Britton (above) and Dr. Peter Ukpokodu (below)
Dr. Giselle Anatol English Dr. Anatol released The Things That Fly in the Night: Female Vampires in Literature of the CircumCaribbean and African Diaspora, her new book on myth and representation in post-colonial literature. In it, she explores the use of vampirism, questioning its western construct and asserting that the same figure has played a vital role in post-colonial cultures in challenging gender and racial stereotypes. Anatol has described her work as a means of reminding us of the diversity of our world through a deeper understanding of the diversity of our myths, both in the way they are presented and the way they are interpreted. Dr. Jessica Gerschultz African & African-American Studies Dr. Gerschultz recieved a prestigious American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship to work on her book Decorative Arts of the Tunisian École: Fabrications of Modernism, Gender, and Class in Tunisia, 1948-1972 during the calendar year 2016. She will also be a Research Fellow in the Hall Center in the next academic year and was awarded the Tony Arnold Faculty Research Stipend by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Musa Olaka Librarian in African and Global and International Studies KASC is pleased to welcome KU’s new African and Global and International Studies subject librarian, Dr. Musa Olaka. Dr. Olaka received his B.A. in Education and his M.A. in Library Studies from Kenyatta University in Nairobi. Dr. Olaka worked in Kenya and later in Rwanda where he was instrumental in developing libraries and organizing archives. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri in the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies and his research interests include information policy, library and information science education, and genocide studies. His extensive library experience includes work in Kenya, Rwanda and in the United States where he worked at Universities in Missouri and in Florida. Ibrahima Ba Wolof Lecturer in the Department of African and African-American Studies Ibrahima Ba is a graduate student from Senegal. He is working towards his Ph.D. in Linguistics with a focus on syntax and morphology. He participated in organizing the Annual Conference on African Languages in April 2014 at KU at which he presented a paper on “Factive Clauses in Pulaar.” Currently, he is working on his dissertation about “Nominalization in Pulaar,” his native language. In addition to his work in linguistics, Ibrahima is teaching Wolof in the Department of African and African-American Studies. 4
Student Spotlight Bakary Suso is a graduate student from the Gambia in the Department of Architecture at KU. Combining his extensive first-hand knowledge of the needs and cultural practices of rural Gambians with his growing understanding of architectural techniques, Suso recently launched KINitative, a non-profit organization aimed at improving existing health infrastructure in the Gambia using design that engages the community. The core team that makes up KINitiative is diverse and interdisciplinary. Combining imaginative construction with a richly detailed assessment of social need carried out in conjunction with Gambia’s Ministry of Health, Suso hopes to build 280 clinics that he says will “help address social issues and reflect a deep sense of place.” In order to meet this goal, Suso has developed an innovative modular layout for Gambian health centers, which can be adapted to fit a variety of circumstances and expanded in future years to accommodate a growing population. The facilities include not only expanded health care for reproductive and basic health services, but also spigots designed to provide water to adjacent villages, a children’s playground which allows young children to play and develop safely from the problems of traffic congestion, and a pavilion for community-building activities and events, such as naming ceremonies and public meetings. Current planning is for a model facility to be constructed in Kolior; this model will include a waiting room that converts to a classroom, allowing the space to be a multipurpose center when not in use. Suso states, “We are going beyond architecture, beyond the building,” indicating that the projects will also create micro-economies within the communities. For more information, visit kinitative.org
Proposed design for the medical facility at Kolior, Gambia.
2015-2016 FLAS Fellows Summer 2015 Graduate Students: Sammy Badran, Political Science, Arabic in Morocco Sonya Bailey, CGIS, Arabic at KU Anita Easterwood, AAAS, KiSwahili at KU Madeline Farron, French & Italian, Wolof at KU Jamie Fuller, AAAS, Wolof in Senegal Aminata Seck, CGIS, Wolof in Senegal Undergraduate Students: Destiny Coleman, Social Work, Somali at KU Morgan Hopson, CGIS, Arabic in Morocco Adam Jamieson, Journalism, KiSwahili in Tanzania David Simon, AAAS, KiSwahili at KU Resalla Yousif, AAAS, KiSwahili in Tanzania Kat Youtsey, History & German, Arabic in Morocco
Academic Year 2015-2016 Graduate Students: Sammy Badran, Political Science, Arabic Jamie Fuller, AAAS, Wolof Lindsay Harroff, Communications, KiSwahili Berlin Merlyn, AAAS, KiSwahili
FLAS fellow Paeten Denning traveled to Tanzania in the summer of 2014 to study KiSwahili.
Undergraduate Students: Alison Andersen, AAAS, KiSwahili Cal Bayer, Chemical Engineering, Arabic Tessa Scott, Linguistics & AAAS, KiSwahili Morgan Hopson, CGIS, Arabic Madison Nigus, Human Biology, Amharic Megan Peat, Political Science, Arabic 5
KASC Welcomes Interim Director At the end of the summer, Dr. Byron Caminero-Santangelo will begin serving as interim director of KASC for the 2015-2016 academic year. Dr. Caminero-Santangelo brings diverse interests and expertise to the KASC offices as a professor in English and Environmental Studies, specializing in African and Diasporic literatures. Drawing on work in environmental studies, Dr. CamineroSantangelo integrates ideas about social justice, sustainability, and global poverty as they apply to African contexts in terms of both literature and lived experience. Classifying himself as a “nomadic academic,” Dr. CamineroSantangelo engages in research that attempts to explicitly connect literary studies to real-world issues. His work sits within the intersection of global geopolitics, environmentalism, and art to engage critically in the dialogue occurring between Africans and members of the Diaspora that contest African environmental spaces and govern resource extraction on the continent. His scholarship attempts to reframe this discussion in a way that recognizes the African tendency to view environmental issues as part and parcel of local, indigenous politics governed by exploitative practices, or what is often referred to as an “environmentalism of the poor.” His recent publications, including his book Different Shades of Green: African Literature, Environmental Justice, and Political Ecology, connect problems associated with environmental South African field site for summer study abroad program inequity to those of social justice and global poverty. on “Sustainability, Development, and Community Dr. Caminero-Santangelo’s involvement with KASC and African Studies Empowerment”
extends well beyond his scholarly research. He is an active participant in the Center at a number of levels and has taken a deep interest in the promotion of Africanist research on campus and the reproduction of a new generation of Africanist scholars through mentorship and support. Likewise, he encourages student engagement with the African continent through the lens of South Africa, his predominate geographic area of interest. His summer study abroad program in South Africa endows students with narratives of conservation as well as social and environmental justice, and he encourages them to apply these concepts to contemporary problems facing Africans and Africanist environmentalists through direct observation at a wildlife refuge and various tourist and resource extraction points in the Eastern Cape. Dr. CamineroSantangelo will draw on the expertise he has developed over years of working with students on African issues when he assumes the role of interim director. We welcome Dr. CamineroSantangelo to our team of dedicated faculty and staff in the Center that share the goal of promoting African studies and languages, and we look forward to a successful year under his leadership.
Kickoff June 9th
See www.kasc.ku.edu/summerlanguage for more information and schedule of events
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Dr. Elizabeth MacGonagle will return to KASC as the Director in August of 2016 after a year of leave with a sabbatical and a research fellowship from the Hall Center for the Humanities. She will be working on her book manuscript that examines history and memory at several heritage sites related to slavery on the African continent.
Event Highlights January 28 “History and Memory in Southeast Africa” Communication Studies Colloquium Series Elizabeth MacGonagle, Director, Kansas African Studies Center February 16 KASC Faculty Seminar Featuring Peter Ukpokodu, AAAS; Mickey Imber, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies; Sandra Gray, Anthropology February 25 International Expo: The World and You at KU
March 9 “The Decolonial Park: Nature and Race on Safari in Tanzania” Cassie Hays, KASC Visiting Scholar, Gettysburg College March 30 Film Screening: “God Loves Uganda” followed by discussion with Okaka Dokotum, Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda, and Ebenezer Obadare, Sociology April 3 Fifth Annual KASC Graduate Workshop
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April 15 African Literature in Rhythmic Cadence: Wole Soyinka @ 80 April 22 “The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa” Ujamaa Food for Thought Elizabeth Asiedu, Economics
April 27 KASC Faculty Seminar Featuring Hannah Britton, WGSS/Political Science; Ebenezer Obadare, Sociology; Beverly Mack, AAAS; Harold Torrence, Linguistics
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Support KASC
GIVING TO THE KANSAS AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER Your contribution to the Center supports academic activities, outreach, special events, and research programs related to Africa. •
KASC supports the development of new courses on Africa, faculty and student research in Africa, the study of African languages, and the Africana Library at KU.
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KASC promotes knowledge of Africa through academic conferences, seminars, workshops, lunch talks, public lectures, film festivals, cultural performances, exhibits, recitals, and other celebrations.
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KASC offers outreach programs that serve K-16 students and educators, as well as the public throughout the Great Plains region.
Alyssa Rivera performs original choreography at the Center’s celebration of the work of Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka.
The Center receives funding from the university and actively pursues other ares of support. However, contributions from individual donors are essential not only to underwrite activities not covered by other sources, but also to demonstrate to corporate sponsors and foundations the value that our alumni and members attach to the Center and its mission.
KASC Outreach Coordinator Mackenzie Jones attends a KASC faculty seminar showcasing the work of KU’s Africanist researchers
You may donate to an unrestricted fund and allow the Center to decide where your contribution can be used most effectively, or you can direct your donation to a particular area or activity such as student scholarships, faculty research support, curriculum development, or library acquisitions. Please go to the KASC website, www.kasc.ku.edu to give online, or send a donation, marked for the Kansas African Studies Center, to: Gift Processing Department KU Endowment P.O. Box 928, Lawrence, KS 66044-0928
Kansas African Studies Center University of Kansas Bailey Hall 201, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd. Lawrence, KS 66045 Phone: 785-864-3745 Email: kasc@ku.edu Web: www.kasc.ku.edu
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