MSU Tuesday Bulletin, 03/23/04
Issue No. 10 Spring 2004
March 23, 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
CONFERENCES
SCHOLARSHIPS
EVENTS
March 25, Thursday
"Decentralizing Power in Mozambique," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Joana
Alarcao, Visiting Scholar, Afrobarometer project in Political Science (Political Studies
Institute at the Portuguese Catholic University), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International
Center.
April 1, Thursday
"Victims, National Pride, and Saboteurs: Youth and Political Participation in Post
Apartheid South Africa," African Studies Center Brown Bag with Okey Iheduru (James Madison
College, Political Science), 12:00 noon, Room 201, International Center.
April 2, Friday
"Urban Systems and Global Institutions in an Era of Environmental Change," Urban and
Metropolitan Studies Forum Series with Rodney R. White, Professor of Geography and
Director of the Institute for Environmental Studies (Univ. of Toronto), 12:00 noon, Moot
Court Room, Room 428, Law Building.
MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS
Dr. Ruth Hamilton Memorial Service
Michigan State University's College of Social Science
will host a memorial service in honor of Ruth Simms
Hamilton on April 26, 2004, 11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. The
service will be held in the Pasant Theatre at the Wharton
Center.
Dr. Hamilton was an honored member of the Michigan
State University community, and invited colleagues and
friends of Dr. Hamilton will share their memories about
her life and work during the service. A reception will
follow the service.
In addition, the college is planning an academic
symposium on the subject of the African diaspora,
which represented Dr. Hamilton's primary research
interest and major body of work. The African Diaspora:
Past, Present and Future-A Symposium in Honor of Ruth
Simms Hamilton is scheduled for October 29-31, 2004,
and will be held on campus.
Ruth Simms Hamilton, long-time MSU professor of
sociology, died Monday, November 10, 2003. Upon
joining the university community in 1968, Hamilton
embarked on a remarkable career marked by high-
quality academic research, visionary thinking, and
inspired teaching. She had served as director of the
African Diaspora Research Project since 1987. The
project examines the dispersion and settlement of
African peoples beyond the African continent, and the
project originated in the need for a broader
understanding of African descent communities. A multi-
volume series on the project is being published by the
MSU Press.
African Culture Week - April 12-17, 2004
Gala '04 6:00 p.m., MSU Auditorium, Sat., April 17, 2004.
Production celebrating African culture and heritage;
with African song, dance, skits and much more.
Featuring BET Comic View's Michael K. Blackson as
special guest MC.
Dinner: 8:45 p.m. - 10:00 p.m., Wesley Foundation
For Ticket info contact:
Kelechi: (517) 353-7314
Afolabi: (517) 355-4258
Chris: (517) 214-9107
Anthonia: (517) 355-9132
Fossil Discoveries from Tanzania
MSU Museum Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology,
Mike Gottfried and Patrick O'Connor (Ohio University)
have just concluded another successful summer field
season exploring for Cretaceous-age fossils in the
Mbeya region of southwestern Tanzania, building on
discoveries from the first expedition in summer 2002.
This year's discoveries include larger and better-
preserved sections of dinosaur eggshell; skeletal remains
of both theropod and sauropod dinosaurs; additional
specimens of crocodiles, turtles, and fishes; and perhaps
most significantly, more mammalian fossils that will add
to the very poor record of fossil mammals from this part
of Africa. The trip included significant participation by
Tanzanian collaborators Saidi Kapilima (Univ. of Dar es
Salaam), his student Sifa Ngasala, and Tanzanian
Antiquities Unit representative Remegius Chami. Other
key team members were Nancy Stevens (Ohio Univ.)
and Eric Roberts (Univ. of Utah).
Primary funding for this year's expedition was
generously provided by the National Geographic
Society.
OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS
WARA Summer Institute for College and University
Faculty - Summer 2004, June 14-June 26
(Deadline extended to March 30, 2004)
This is an intensive two-week summer institute on
African literary forms and their contexts, with a focus on
Senegal. Participants will examine a number of specific
texts, meet prominent writers, and explore the interest in
local language literacy and publications. Importantly,
participants will also consider literary production in its
relationship to other contemporary art forms such as rap
and contemporary visual arts. The institute will be based
at the West African Research Center in Dakar, Senegal,
and is intended for faculty who wish to develop and
expand teaching or research related to African literature.
Institute director and the staff of WARC will help
participants pursue individual interests in making
research contacts or developing teaching materials. The
institute will be conducted primarily in English. In order
to provide as broad a perspective as possible on
contemporary literature and its contexts, participants
will be offered a series of lectures, seminars and
discussion sessions at WARC, with academics, writers
and artists from the region. Participants will also have
the opportunity to travel to the historical city of St.
Louis and to "ordinary" non-urban centers outside of
Dakar.
Participation in the seminar will be limited to 12. For
more information or an application form please contact
WARA at wara@bu.edu. A $500 deposit is required to
reserve a space upon notification of acceptance to the
institute. The deadline has been extended to March 30,
2004.
Visions in Action
Volunteer in Africa or Mexico with Visions in Action,
an organization providing hands on educational
experiences where participants make a real difference in
the developing world. Volunteers not only learn a
different language and culture, but also have a chance to
work with local communities and professionals in the
development field.
Visions in Action is an international nonprofit
organization based in Washington, DC. Founded in
1989, Visions in Action provides six and 12 month
volunteer programs in Africa (South Africa, Tanzania,
Uganda) and Mexico. Positions are available with
nonprofit development organizations, research institutes,
health clinics, community groups, and the media. The
program features a 3 to 4 week summer program
available in Tanzania which involves working with
children in an orphanage. Visit online for more
information at: www.visionsinaction.org.
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
Explore the world of children's masquerade and
discover how African children learn through playful
inventiveness and creativity. The preview of Playful
Performers, an exhibition about children for children
will take place on Wednesday, April 7, 2004, beginning
at 9:30 a.m., followed by the tour at 9:45a.m. Please
RSVP at (202) 633-4649.
CONFERENCES
South Africa at Ten - April 15 - 17, 2004
Assessing the Transformation Process
Goucher College invites the public to join scholars,
journalists, and political activists to commemorate and
assess 10 years of democracy in South Africa. Hear
journalists who have covered South Africa. Examine
civil society's role in the country's political, economic,
and cultural transformation. Talk with scholars about a
decade of change on Africa's southern tip. Co-
sponsored by Goucher College and the Center for Public
Participation, located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Musical performance by Vusi Mahlasela on April 17th at
8:00 p.m.. For information and conference registration
visit www.goucher.edu/southafricaatten.
Security, Reconstruction, and Reconciliation: When
the Wars End - April 23-24, 2004 (Free Symposium)
Countries emerging from conflict will almost always
need to depend upon the international community to
varying degrees for resources (financial, technical, and
human), in order to conduct effective reconciliation,
institution building and reconstruction. Typically the
role is played through the United Nations pursuant to a
Security Council resolution. International intervention
may contribute to the legitimacy of the peace process.
On the other hand, the legitimacy of the peace process
may be undermined where the international community
is perceived as attempting to impose a result. A matter
of great importance, therefore, is a consideration of the
appropriate role for the international community and
regional organizations in the resolution of conflicts and
reconstruction in post conflict societies.
The symposium will bring together an interdisciplinary
group of experts in comparative constitutionalism,
conflict resolution, governance, development and
security to discuss issues raised above. An attempt will
be made to derive common lessons learned; identify
pitfalls to be avoided and to articulate issues and
guidelines to be considered in the design of post conflict
processes. It hoped through an exchange of views and
experiences, the symposium would determine the
variables that underline success in the approaches
adopted to achieve reconciliation and reconstruction in
post conflict societies.
This conference is free and open to the public.
Attendees are asked to fill up a form of attendance. An
evening reception, breakfast and lunch are all free and
open to the public. For information regarding the
symposium and hotel accommodations, contact: Jackie
Sayegh, Program Coordinator, Institute for African
Development, 170 Uris Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca,
NY 14853; e-mail: CIAD@cornell.edu; Tel: (607) 255-
5684; website: http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/Africa.
African Refugees: Reexamining Practices,
Partnerships and Possibilities - May 24-26, 2004
The Ethiopian Community Development Council,
African Resource Network's (ECDC/ARN) tenth
national conference will provide opportunities to explore
new responses to the new challenges and dramatic
changes in the African refugee resettlement program in
the United States. The conference will review the past,
present and future of shared efforts to respond to the
needs, hopes and dreams of African refugees on the
continent; those awaiting imminent resettlement; and
those who have recently arrived and are now beginning
new lives in a new homeland.
The conference will be held at the Hilton Crystal Hotel,
just five minutes from downtown Washington, D.C. For
more information regarding the conference, contact:
ECDC, Attn: ARN Conference, 1038 S. Highland St.,
Arlington, VA 22204; Tel: (703) 685-0510; Fax: (703)
685-0529; e-mail: arn@ecdcinternational.org; website:
www.ecdcinternational.org.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship
The Stanley J. Tarver Scholarship fund was established
by the Tarver family in memory of their son, Stanley.
The fund provides a scholarship to a graduate student
of African descent, an African American, or a Black
person of another nationality who is matriculating
toward a Doctorate or a Masters Degree in African
History and/or Culture, and who has completed at
least one year of graduate study at a college or
university in the United States.
The Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship will be a
$1,000 per semester award, for a maximum award of
$2,000 per academic year. Applications can be obtained
from the Community Foundation of Dutchess County.
(MSU students may obtain application packets from the
African Studies Center, Room 100, ISP; tel: 353-1700).
Applications must be postmarked by April 19, 2004.
Send to: Stanley J. Tarver Memorial Scholarship, c/o the
Community Foundation of Dutchess County, 80
Washington St, Suite 201, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601;
Tel: (845) 452-3077;Fax: (845) 452-3083; website:
www.communityfoundationdc.org.
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.