Fall 2001 - Spring 2005 Archives

Spring 2005 [top]

February 1 "Religious Pluralism in Tanzania," Garth Myers, Professor of Geography and African Studies, KU.

March 1 "Islam, Berber, and Culture in Morocco: Ishilhin Women's Religious Rituals," Margaret Rausch, Professor of Religious Studies, KU

March 29 "The Role of Religion in Interpersonal Relationships in West Africa: Management of Potential Enemies," Glenn Adams, Professor of Psychology, KU.

April 12 "Coptic Christianity and the Arab Conquest of Egypt: Amr to Almutawkkil" Mohamed El-Hodiri, Professor of Economics, KU

May 10 "Sudan in an Era of Holy Wars" Karen Farmer, Ph.D. Candidate

Fall 2005 [top]

Fall 2005 African Studies Seminar Series 
   "Celebrating African Languages" 

September 6: "African Language Program at KU: Current State and Future Perspectives," Conversation with Peter Ukpokodu, Naima Omar, Garth Myers, and John Janzen.

September 23: "Articulating KU's African Language Program in Light of National Standards," Forum with Antonia Schleicher, Director of the National African Language Resource Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison.

October 19: "Teaching Swahili Language and Culture: Pedagogy and Marketing Challenges," Leonce Rushubirwa, Asst. Prof. of Swahili, and Jane Irungu, Global Awareness Project Coordinator.

November 1: "Hausa Language and Culture at KU: Challenges of Teaching and Enrollment," with Beverly Mack, Assoc. Prof. of African and African-American Studies, and Aminu Gusau, Hausa instructor.

November 8: "Wolof and Senegalese Culture: Linguistics and Teaching Perspectives," with Harold Torrence, Asst. Prof. of Linguistics and Alassane Fall, Wolof instructor.

Tuesday, November 29: "Arabic Language Program at KU: Reflections on Current Status and Future Developments," with Naima Omar, Asst. Prof. of Arabic, and Sabri Al-Shboal and Abdullah Jaradat, Arabic instructors.

Spring 2004[top]

<<Coming Soon!>>

Fall 2004[top]

KANSAS IMMIGRANT PROJECT [Click Here]

Ujaama Brownbag Events

New  African Immigrants in Kansas: Settlement, Identity, Community Organization, &  Impact

The fall 2004 African Studies Seminar at the University of Kansas will examine recent settlement of African immigrants in Kansas from different perspectives. It will investigate the impacts of this immigration on diversity and multicultural identity, institution building, and community organizing for social services among African immigrant communities in Kansas.  The seminar will feature local scholars, visiting practitioners, and representatives of African communities.  Our ultimate goal through this seminar is to develop a network with African immigrant community organizations in our region.

Calendar of Sessions:

August 31 “Significance of African Immigration and its Impact on Diversity and Multiculturalism in Kansas,” John Janzen, Garth Myers, Suresh Bhana, Khalid El-Hassan, Alcove D, Kansas Union.

September 14 “Peoples of the Horn in the New African Diaspora in the United States and Canada : Bibliographic Resources for Research,” Ken Lohrentz, Africana Bibliographer at KU

September 28 “Adjustment, Employment, Training, and Professional Development for New Americans from Africa,” Martin Okpareke, Community Development Coordinator, Jewish Vocational Services, and Steve Weitkamp, Director of Refuges and Migrant Services, Catholic Charities of Kansas City.

October 12 “African Immigrant Communities in Kansas City: Institution-Building and Community Organizing,” Mohamed Badri, Northern Sudanese Representative, Farah Abdi, Somali Foundation INC, Hassan Kamara: President, Sierra Leone United Descendants’ Association (SLUDA), Akot Lual, Southern Sudanese Representative, Hemed Hemed, Publicity Officer, Zanzibari America Association (ZANAMA), Wichita, Kansas.

October 26 “The Lost Boys of the Sudan: Film and Discussion,” Dut Mawien, KU student, and Peter Dut, the Sudanese Lost Boys Organization’s representative, sponsored by the School of Social Welfare

November 16 “African Americans or Africans in America: The Second-Generation Identities of Young African Adults in Kansas,”  Folabo Ajayi, Professor of Film and Theatre, KU, Nelly Ukpokodu, Professor of Education, UMKC, Jessie Kwatamdia, Douglas County Senior Services, ,  Selbee Diouf, Ph.D. student, and  Gbiake. Ajayi, graduate student at KU

November 30 “African Immigrants: Media and Information Issues,” Rev. John Akinwale, President and Founder, African Chamber of Commerce, and Albert Rwukaro, African Voice Newspaper; Malcolm Gibson, Professor of Journalism: Discussant , Chaired by Ken Lohrentz, Africana Bibliographer at KU

For more information about the African Studies Fall 2004 Seminar Series, contact Garth Myers, (785) 864-4291, gmyers@ku.edu or Khalid El-Hassan, (785) 864-1064, elhassan@ku.edu

Ujaama Brownbag Events 

August 25: "Darfur: The International Response to Genocide in the 21st Century: Darfur, Sudan,"Karen Farmer, Ph.D.candidate, KU.

September 8: "Family Visit, Diplomacy, and Exploration: Report on Sudan," John Janzen KU Professor of Anthropology and KASC DirectoHall.

September 22:"Reflections on Tanzanian Politics," Abdulrahman Mwinyi Jumbe, Former Director of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission

October 6:"New Directions of the Humanities in Africa: A Summer Workshop in Zambia," Garth Myers, Byron Caminero-Santangelo, Brian Daldorph, KU Professors

October 20: "Women's Social Justice and Challenges in Senegal," Jessica Cook, KU Student

October 27: " U.S.-West Africa Relations," Ambassador Harriet L. Elam-Thomas, Former U.S. Ambassador to Senegal.

November 10: . "My First Experience with Africa: Swahili Culture and Language in Tanzania," Sarah Smiley, Ph.D Candidate

November 29: "U.S. Military Policy Towards Africa in an Era of Wars, " General Carlton Fulford,Director of Africa Center for Strageic Studies, National Defense University

Spring 2003[top]

Ujaama Brownbag Events 

January 23. "The Music of Africa and Africa in the Diaspora," Clarence Henry , Assistant Professor, School of Music , KU.

February 13. "Nontraditional Sectors and Prospects for Development in Zambia ," Iwake Masialeti and Simon Nkemba , Visiting Professors, University of Zambia .

February 27. "Senegalese Participation in Peacekeeping Missions," Roy Dietzman , KU Graduate Student.

April 10. "Using Effective Strategic Communications for HIV/AIDS Prevention in South Africa ," Shannon Campbell , Associate Professor, School of Journalism, KU.

April 17. "From the Onitsha Market to the Internet: Digitizing Popular Nigerian Literature," Elizabeth MacGonagle , Assistant Professor, AAAS & History Dept., Ken Lohrentz , KU Libraries, and Ragan Buck, KU student.

May 1. "Modern Utopia and the Post-colony: Politics, Power and Wealth in the town of Maradi , Niger ." Abdourahmane Idrissa , graduate student, Political Science.

For more information about the African Studies Brownbag Series, contact Craig Pearman , (785) 864-3745, cpearman@ku.edu

Fall 2003[top]

Ujaama Brownbag Events 

September 4, The Effects of Non-formal Education on Political Participation and Attitudes in Senegal " Michelle Kuenzi, Assistant Professor, Political Sciences

September 11, "Summer Institutes in Morocco and Northern Nigeria" Mohamed Al-Masri, Aminu Gusau Graduate Teaching Assistants, and KU students Angela Oliver, Zeta Hall, John Gassmann, Samuel Wilder, Tanner Wycoff, and Garrett Miles.

September 25 ". "Role of Urban Planners in Zanzibar , Tanzania ,' Mohamed Adam, Geography Department."

October 6 "White Women Writers and their African Invention," Simon Lewis, Associate Professor of English-College of Charleston

October 16, " America Image in Africa as Conveyed to Africanist Researchers Traveling in Africa Summer 2003," Garth Myers, Liz MacGonagle, and Melanie Hepburn.

November 6, "My First Taste of Africa," Clarence Henry, Assistant Professor of Music, George McCleary, Associate Professor of Geography, and Angela Gray, KU Graduate Student.

Spring 2002[top]

Shifting Boundaries: The Postcolonial and Postcolonialism 

by Byron Caminero-Santangelo, Department of English, University of Kansas

In his most recent book, Postcolonialism, Robert Young makes a useful distinction between the terms "postcolonial"and "postcolonialism." He defines the postcolonial as "coming after colonialism and imperialism, in their original meaning of direct-rule domination, but still positioned within imperialism in its later sense of the global system of hegemonic economic power. The postcolonial is a dialectical concept that marks the broad historical facts of decolonization and the determined achievement of sovereignty--but also the realities of nations and peoples emerging into a new imperialistic context of economic and sometimes political domination." Postcolonialism names "a theoretical and political position which embodies an active concept of intervention within such oppressive circumstances" (57).

Young's careful distinction between a set of political conditions and a theoretical stance is important in terms of the study of "postcolonial" cultural production because some prominent work in the field suggests that all such production has the same agenda or the same perspective. Commenting on the study of "postcolonial literature," Stephan Sleman writes of the "confusion in which the project of identifying the scope and nature of anti-colonialist resistance in writing has been mistaken for the project which concerns itself with articulating the literary nature of Third and Fourth-World cultural groups" (31). A classic example of this confusion is the claim in The Empire Writes Back that: "post-colonial literatures everywhere . . . emerged in their present form out of the experience of colonization and asserted themselves by foregrounding the tension with the imperial power, and by emphasizing their differences from the assumptions of the imperial centre. It is this which makes them distinctively post-colonial" (Ashcroft 2). This claim is highly problematic, since there are plenty of examples of literature from postcolonial societies which are by no means focused on writing back to the colonizer and to the colonizer's culture. As Arun Mukherjee asserts, "This kind of theorizing leaves us only one modality, one discursive position. We are forever forced to interrogate European discourses, of only one particular kind, the ones that degrade and deny our humanity. I would like to respond that our cultural productions are created in response to our own needs, and we have many more needs than constantly to 'parody the imperialists'" (6). Mukherjee alludes here to the enormous diversity of concerns to which "postcolonial" cultural productions responds-a diversity created, in part, by different forms of imperialism and the multitude of pre-colonial cultures which they impacted. Such diversity is repressed by the kind of definitions of "postcolonial" offered by The Empire Writes Back.

Young's definitions also addresses the complaint of critics like Anne McClintock and Aijaz Ahmed that the term postcolonialism elides continued economic imperial relationships between the former colonizers and colonized and projects a problematic notion of progress which can be "prematurely celebratory" (294). Young carefully distinguishes between colonialism as direct rule which the post in postcolonial designates as over and imperialism which can designate economic and indirect political control beyond the moment of formal independence; in other words, he enables us to mark the important moment of formal independence from European colonialism without ignoring continued forms of imperial control.

Yet, despite the apparent soundness of Young's definitions, they do not entirely escape the kinds of problems that those like McClintock and Ahmed detect in the suggestion of a movement beyond colonialism suggested by the post in postcolonial. The problems with Young's definitions turn on the issue of the nation and its relationship with colonialism. Young claims that the post in postcolonial refers to national liberation from direct colonial rule but not freedom from other forms of imperialism. However, national independence did not necessarily result even in freedom from direct colonial control for many within the new nations; Young's definition only works if we focus on the relationship between newly independent nations and their former colonizers and repress forms of internal colonialism. As Anne McClintock defines it, "Internal colonization occurs where the dominant part of a country treats a group or region as it might a foreign colony" (295). An easy example of internal colonialism would be apartheid South Africa. Because they were free from British rule, Afrikaners in Apartheid South Africa thought of themselves as postcolonial (in Young's terms). Yet, suggesting that blacks under apartheid would see the era of colonialism over in any way is highly debatable. In other words, we need to avoid too strict an equation between freedom from direct foreign control and liberation from colonialism; this equation can all too easily encourage an exclusive focus on the struggle against external forms of control and can, as a result, suppress the varied and abundant forms of internal colonialism in the "postcolonial" world--which themselves often work in contradictory ways with external economic control.

Yet, despite the many problems with the term "postcolonial," it has certain advantages. As Rajeswari Mohan points out, using it when referring to cultural production from what is still often called the "Third World" encourages a focus on political relationships and discourages an eliding of the way that past and present imperial connections between "the west and the rest" have helped produce contemporary global conditions: "As a historical and epistemological category, postcoloniality immediately draws attention to the historical and cultural contexts of producing and reading texts in a world riven by political hierarchies, economic manipulations, and hegemonic interests" (34). Mohan's explanation of the benefits of using the term "postcolonial" or "postcoloniality" points to an important connection between the use of this term and "postcolonialism" because those who ascribe to postcolonialism insist on understanding the "Third World" and its relationship with the "First World" in the light of the colonial past. As Young asserts, Postcolonialism "involves a reconsideration of the history of modern European colonization, particularly from the perspective of those suffering its effects, together with the defining of this history's contemporary social and cultural impact." (Postcolonialism 4). This intellectual work enables an exploration of the common elements that linked different forms of European colonialism; as a result, it continues the work of anti-colonial liberation movements which found common cause, despite the wide variety of colonial situations from which they developed. This is not to deny that we must remain attuned to the plethora of colonial and postcolonial situations. As Young claims in Colonial Desire, "at this point in the postcolonial era, as we seek to understand the operation and effects of colonial history, the homogenization of colonialism does also need to be set against its historical and geographical particularities. The question for any theory of colonial discourse is whether it can maintain, and do justice to, both levels" (165).
This need for careful attention to the interplay between the universal and particular should certainly be applied to the term "postcolonial." As Ania Loomba notes, the postcolonial "is a word that is useful only if we use it with caution and qualifications." It "is useful in indicating a general process with some shared features across the globe. But if it is uprooted from specific locations, [it] cannot be meaningfully investigated, and, instead, the term begins to obscure the very relations of domination that it seeks to uncover" (19).

Works Cited

• Ashcroft, Bill, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back. New York: Routledge, 1989.
• Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New York: Routledge, 1998.
• McClintock, Anne. "The Angel of Progress: Pitfalls of the Term 'Post-colonialism'." Williams and Chrisman 291-305.
• Mohan, Rajeswari. "Dodging the Crossfire: Questions for Postcolonial Pedagogy." College English 19.3 (1992): 28-44.
• Mukherjeee, Arun P. "Whose Post-Colonialism and Whose Postmodernism." World Literature Written In English 30.2 (1990): 1-9.
• Slemon, Stephen. "Unsettling the Empire: Resistance Theory for the Second World." World Literature Written in English. 30.2 (1990): 30-41.
• Young, Robert. Colonial Desire. New York: Routledge, 1995.
• _____. Postcolonialism. Malden: Blackwell, 2001.

Fall 2002[top]

THEME:  NEW DIRECTIONS IN AFRICAN HISTORY: PERSPECTIVES AND METHODOLOGIES

September 12, 2002 “Gandhi, Indians, and Africans in South Africa”, Surrendra Bhana, Professor of History, University of Kansas, History Dept.

September 26, 2002 Diana Jeater History School, The University of the West of EnglandSt. Matthias Campus, Bristol, England  UK

October 10, 2002 Steven Feierman, Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania 

October 24, 2002 Keletso Atkins, Chair, Department of African American & African Studies, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 

November 14, 2002 "Slavery and Beyond: The Making of Men and Chikunda Ethnic Identities in the Unstable World of South Central Africa, 1750-1920", Allan Isaacman, Professor of History, Department of History, University of Minnesota 

November 21, 2002 Professor Tom McCaskie, Center of West African StudiesUniversity of Birmingham

Spring 2001[top]

U.S. - African relations and development issues.  

March 15 - "The work of  Zo-Simli-Naa in the Sister Cities Exchange between Louisville, Kentucky and Tamale, Northern Ghana." Susan Herlin (Professor of History, U. of Louisville, KY); discussant, Ass't Professor Elizabeth Asiedu, U. of Kansas.

March 29 - "President Clinton's address to the Nigerian Parliament: Did it make any difference?" Aminu Gusau (Lecturer, Hausa, U. of Kansas) and Emmanuel Nnadozie (Professor of Economics, Truman State U).

April 19 - "Privatization and Employment in Tanzania,"  Jean Due, University of Illinois AND "Tax Changes and Economic Development in Tropical Africa," John Due, University of Illinois.

Fall 2001 [top]

Theme: The re-shaped roles of Africa's media