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The ASA organized the annual Indaba with a range of interesting events and speakers before the annual Ariya Cultural Show.
]]>Please join faculty and students at noon at Ubuntu House (34 Lawn) for a discussion of the African Studies Minor at Wesleyan. Food will be served.
]]>Senior Presentations and Awards
10:30am in the RLL Lounge
Allegra Ayida, Kingdom in the Creeks: A History of the Warri Kingdom
Lucia Proctor Bonbright, Blood and Bones: A Memoir
Claudia Kahindi, Immanent Disaster: An Examination of Climate Change in Turkana
Irvine Peck’s-Agaya, Ibogaism: The Black Man Religion
West African Drumming and Dance Performance
3pm i
n the CFA Courtyard
All Welcome!
Iddrisu “Iddi” Saaka
Iddi is among this year’s recipients of the Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching at Wesleyan. It is a well deserved award!
Iddi has taught at Wesleyan since 2008. He earned a diploma in dance from the University of Ghana and an MFA in dance from UCLA. A dancer, dance teacher, and choreographer from Ghana, West Africa, Saaka has choreographed and performed at the World Festival of Sacred Music, the International Festival of Masks, the Skirball Center, Royce Hall, the Fowler Museum, Dance Arts Academy, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, El Portal Forum Theatre, and the Music Center in Los Angeles. At Wesleyan, he teaches courses in West African dance and also directs the West African Drumming and Dance Concert at the end of each semester. He has served as a visiting instructor of dance at UCLA, University of California San Diego, and the University of Ghana.
]]>This year we had an amazing set of applications from 10 students. We wished we could support all of their projects!
This year’s winners are:
Bridget Adarkwa (’17) and Nailah Hines (’17)
Their project supports the Girl’s Education Initiative of Ghana, in Ghana’s Ashanti and Greater Accra regions. GEIG is dedicated to the professional and academic success of women in Ghana. They will be using their unique skills in communication and marketing, background that includes working with radio stations, the Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, to assist GEIG. They will be creating a new marketing campaign for that organization, and assist their summer internship and volunteer program by conducting a program evaluation, something else they already have background in.
Matthew Shelley-Reade (’17)
Matthew’s work will be in Rwanda, on a project titled: Mitigating Climate Change and Protecting Biodiversity along the Albertine Rift. His unique background includes extensive experience with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) research. And it includes impressive documentary film-making, for projects on Middletown’s history (his senior thesis), on the quinoa industry in Peru (which included travel and interviews in that country), and with a PBS television series. For this project, he will partner with Biocoop an environmental non-profit that promotes issues of environmental sustainability, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity conservation. This organization is a bottom-up organization, working with youth, local communities, and local farmers in its projects. He will be helping the team develop community education projects, using GIS and developing video materials to assist in community outreach. He will film Biocoop activities the entire time he is there, with the purpose of creating promotional materials for that organization.
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One on One Talk & Tea with Dr. Mouanodji Mbaissouroum
“Migrant Stories”
People sharing their stories of how and why they ended up in the U.S.
Dr. Mouanodji Mbaissouroum is a cardiologist and research professor who hails from Chad, in central Africa. Since its independence from the French in 1961, Chad has experienced an eight-year civil war and several military coups. Tensions between North and South, between Muslims and Christians, are fueled by political figures. Dr. Mbaï, a practicing Christian, did his medical studies abroad but returned to Chad to work and teach from 1994 to 2008. However, in 2008, following a failed coup by Northern rebels (and supported by Chad’s neighbors to the North, Sudan and Libya), Dr. fled the country with his family.
Come and talk with Dr. Mbaï himself about his journey through navigating the cultural and professional landscape in the US, and how he is now trying to help Chad with a new organization called Medical Education ProChad.
Inaugural session, with sponsorship from The Thomas and Catharine McMahon Memorial Fund, Romance Languages & Literatures, and the Office of International Student Affairs.
For more information:
By Elysha Netsarh
Tuesday, November 29, 12 Noon, @ USDAN 108
Lunch is provided.
