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Busy Term for Center for African Studies
The Center for African Studies spearheaded three major events in the Fall 2013 term: the Africa and Information Technology Conference, the Deborah Brautigam MillerComm on China in Africa and an inspiring celebration of the life of Nelson Mandela.
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CAS Hosts Africa and Information Technology Conference
CAS hosted three prominent African scholars and practitioners in the field of online education for a major conference in September attended by some 200 people.
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Deborah Brautigam Delivers MillerComm on China In Africa
In October CAS sponsored a MillerComm lecture and community conversation about her research on China In Africa. Professor Deborah Brautigam, of Johns Hopkins University, was the featured speaker. Read more about her fascinating presentationson China’s growing presence on the African continent.
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CAS Celebrates the Life of Nelson Mandela
On December 10 CAS joined the world in bidding farewell and celebrating one of the great figures in the African freedom struggle, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the first democratically elected President of South Africa.
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History Professor James Brennan Garners Book Award
James R. Brennan, an associate professor of history, has won the 2013 Bethwell A. Ogot Book Prize, awarded by the African Studies Association (ASA) for the best book on East African studies published the previous year. His book is titled, Taifa: Making Nation and Race in Urban Tanzania.
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African Studies 222 Back Online
We are happy to announce that Dr. Maimouna Barro will be offering African Studies (AFST) 222 Online this summer. She developed the online version of the course in 2010 after revamping it and teaching it as a regular (face-to-face) course for four years. AFST 222 Online has been offered for two consecutive spring semesters. From now on, we are hoping to teach it during the summer to attract a wider pool of students both on and off-campus. We thank the College of LAS for its support in maintaining this course, which has, over the years, served as a core course for undergrads and a gateway to African Studies.
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CAS Hosts South African Scholar Uma Mesthrie
Uma Meshtrie, a renowned scholar of the history of South Africa and India, visited U of I this past fall. She delivered a major address for IPRH (Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities) and also presented at a CAS noontime brown bag.
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U of I Student Takes African Languages to the Community
Social work grad student Mabinty Tarawallie has taken African languages to local primary schools. Read Ashley Sheriiff’s story about this remarkable effort.
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U of I Grad Annie Kinwa-Muzinga Scoops Teaching Awards
2001 U of I Ph. D. grad, Dr. Annie Kinwa-Muzinga, has spent more than a decade at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville where she has gained high level recognition for her teaching and other academic work as well as capturing honors as Woman of the Year.
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African Studies Student Attends Kenyan Swahili Summer School
Ashley Sheriff, a Masters student in CAS’s joint program with the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, attended a Swahili Summer School in Kenya. She reports on her journey.
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Meet New Africanist Faculty on Our Campus
CAS has two new faculty affiliates, fall 2013 arrivals Samir Meghelli, African American Studies and Juliet Iwelunmor, Kinesiology and Community Health. Get acquainted with them by reading an interview with Dr. Meghelli here and Dr. Iwelunmor here.
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Faculty and Student Publications, Presentations and Honors
As usual our faculty and students have been busy doing great things.