Table of contents
Editorial: Focus on Women
and African Scholars - African Studies Program Hosts Distinguished Scholars
by Prof. Gloria T. Emeagwali, chief editor of AfricaUpdate
The African Studies Program of C.C.S.U. had the pleasure
of hosting several distinguished scholars over the last few months.
First, we had the Acting Director of the African Studies Association,
from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. David Uru Iyam. He kindly
agreed to join us at a luncheon in honor of the first Fulbright Scholar
in African Studies, Dr. Ambrose Monye. Dr. Iyam also launched the African
Studies Club, a student organization, which, along with the Outreach
Unit of the African Studies Committee, sponsored fifteen students to
the Annual Conference of the African Studies Association in Boston.
We were also fortunate to have with us at the luncheon Dr. Roger Wescott,
Professor Emeritus, Drew University, President of the International
Society for the Comparative Study of Civilization (ISCSC), and an expert
in several African languages.
Students and faculty were later able to gain valuable
insights into political developments in Nigeria and the aborted transition
to democracy from Nurudeen Abubakar, a research fellow at Ahmadu Bello
University, who came from Nigeria to attend the meeting in Boston. During
that week we also had the privilege of knowing more about Africans in
Liverpool from the Sierra Leonean scholar, Dr. Zack-Williams, a Professor
at Central Lancaster University and also a member of the editorial board
of Africa Update. Dr. Zack-Williams also attended the Boston
meeting of the ASA, the proximity of which proved beneficial to us here
in New Britain.
Our most recent guests were of no lesser importance. The
distinguished Nigerian historian, Dr. E. J. Alagoa, a Senior Fulbright
Scholar at Brown University, Rhode Island, took time off to come and
talk to students and faculty on aspects of an African philosophy of
history, which he approached in terms of oral documentation and the
cumulative data of African proverbs. Inclement weather deterred neither
the Professor nor his audience.
We have included in this issue of Africa Update
summaries and impressions of some of these lectures and events, including
a brief account of the memorable evening spent with our last visitor
for the semester, Mr. Taolo Moshaga, a well-known musician from Botswana.
On behalf of the African Studies Committee, the African Studies Club
and C.C.S.U. in general, I wish to thank the various scholars and invited
guests of the program for contributing their valuable time and expertise
to us here at Central. In this issue we pay tribute to the African woman.
In particular we honor Flora Nwapa.
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Flora Nwapa: An African Voice
by Ifeyinwa Iweriebor
. . .The African Woman is intelligent, beautiful,
hardworking and everything an ideal woman should be. . . She has great
independence of spirit.�
The above quotation, from a few months before her unexpected
demise on October 16, 1993, after a brief illness, reflects Flora Nwapa's
ethos, which echoes and re-echoes throughout her novels. She took a
focus on women in her books for granted, querying whether male novelists
were asked why their heroes are all men.
Nwapa, [full name Florence Nwanzuruaha Nwapa Nwakuche],
Nigeria's and indeed Africa's first published lady novelist, was born
on January 13, 1931, in Oguta, Imo State, Nigeria, home of the Lake
Goddess she was to make famous in her work. She was married to Chief
Gogo Nwakuche and had three children.
Her parents, Chief and Mrs. Nwapa, were both teachers
[her mother taught drama]. Her maternal grandmother, who told folk tales
by moonlight, and her paternal uncle, who introduced her to classic
English literature, stimulated her interest in writing.
After her graduation from Nigeria's premier university,
the University of Ibadan, in 1957, and a subsequent stint in Edinburgh,
[Scotland], for a Diploma in Education, she embarked on her career,
first as an education officer and teacher and then as the Assistant
Registrar with the University of Lagos.
Her unabated interest in writing came to fruition when,
encouraged by her contemporary, the renowned Nigerian author Chinua
Achebe, her first novel 'Efuru', was published in Heinemann's African
Writers' Series in 1966.
After the Nigerian Civil War [1967-1970], she became the
first woman to serve as a Commissioner [State Secretary] in the East
Central State, the area most affected by the war. With initial responsibility
for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, she made a most significant
contribution to Nigeria's unique post-war policy of reconciliation.
Faced with the daunting task of rehabilitating thousands of refugee
children, she insisted in utilising the extended family system, as opposed
to the conventional practice of institutionalising the problem by building
orphanages.
Within a year she had successfully re-united all the children,
many of whom had been born and bred in other parts of Nigeria, with
their relatives whom she had painstakingly traced. Later she was to
head the ministries of Land & Urban Development and Establishment.
After her five-year stint in public office, she went back
to her first love, writing, again making history a year and a half later
by becoming the first Nigerian woman to establish her own publishing
company, Tana Press. By this time she had formulated universalist objectives.
She wished to
. . .inform and educate women all over the world,
about the role of women in Nigeria, their economic independence, their
relationship with their husbands and children, their traditional beliefs
and their status in the community as a whole.�
Women were not her only constituency. She promised to
"continue to write for our children," adding that a further
objective was to "write for European, American and Asian children
about African children."�
Altogether she was to publish at least fifteen books of
her own. In recognition of her contributions to the progress of society
and the humanities, the Nigerian government invested her with the national
honor of the Officer of The Order of the Niger [OON], in 1983. A year
earlier, her alma mater, the University of Ibadan, presented her with
its Distinguished Alumni Award. She further won, in 1985, the Merit
Award for Authorship and Publishing from the Ife Book Fair. She also
received a Certificate of Participation from the Iowa University School
of Letters International Writing Program in 1984.
It was to take, however, a decade before her work became
well known in the United States. Through the efforts of literary colleagues,
American academia began to embrace her, as universities such as Southern
Connecticut State College and Oberlin College, Ohio, adopted some of
her books into their curricula.4 The process was then catalysed by the
deliberate Afrocentric foresight of a long-time admirer of her works,
Kassahun Checole, the Ethiopian-born publisher of African World Press,
who republished her books, and made them available to the general American
public.
At the time of her death, Flora Nwapa was Visiting Professor
of Literature at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. She had earlier
in 1993 completed a successful tour of the U.S. to promote her work.
Firm plans were in the making for another tour and an invitation to
take a position with an American university.
The news of her demise shocked the literary world, and
in New York, on November 21, 1993, about two hundred admirers gathered
in Nigeria House to participate in a Tribute Programme organised by
"African Profiles International," a New York-based magazine
that focuses on Africa.
There, dignitaries, diplomats, celebrities, bureaucrats,
famous writers, academics, journalists, publishers, children, friends,
and family members, talked about ways in which her writing, her public
utterances, and her gracious personality had impacted their lives or
intellectual horizons.
For this writer, one particular testimony stood out, made
by a journalist, Kenyan-born Anyiango Odhiambo. She observed that for
the post-independence generation of African women, Flora Nwapa had been
a voice, a torchlight, giving insight into African women's perspectives
not only about themselves, but the world around them.
This struck a chord of resonance within this writer,
[who] as a 'teenager, a female 'teenager, one might stress, had witnessed
with inexplicable emotions the events that had hurtled Nigeria into
its civil war. These feelings were not relieved by the plethora of civil
war literature, be it fact or fiction, churned out by even the most
eloquent and informed of male authors. It was not until years later,
[when] one came across two of Nwapa's books, "Wives at War &
Other Stories," and "Never Again & Other Stories,"
published in 1980 and 1984 respectively, that the aching void was relieved.
For the first time, one's suppressed emotions about the war had been
expressed. Women's cynicism about all the theatrics preceding the war,
their reluctance to be dragged into it, their bewilderment, dilemmas,
anxiety, shock, survival tactics, opportunism, and even profiteering,
were all given voice. For this writer, this was an excellent example
of the need to recognise that everyone has a story to tell, and to understand
the injustice done to the entire society when the views of one gender
or group are posited as universal.
Nwapa's other novels, set in traditional and contemporary
Nigeria, were no less illuminating - one was both informed, educated,
and [in] parts, uproariously entertained.
Intellectually, her work has been subjected to the most
rigorous of critiques, which have examined in detail, technical issues,
themes, plots, conceptual frameworks, credibility, characters, climaxes,
anti-climaxes, style, etc. Vigorous debates have been held on whether
she was a feminist, a womanist, a man-hater, simplistic, idealist or
obscurantist.
For this writer, it is a matter of letting a hundred flowers
bloom and a hundred schools contend. What is not debatable is that Flora
Nwapa has a place in Nigerian, African and World history. Future generations
of Nigerians, both men and women will be wiser for the historical grounding
she has provided. Professor Chikwenye Okonjo Ogunyemi, of Sarah Lawrence
College, Bronxsville, once described her as a pioneer who helped to
make women's issues a legitimate aspect of African literature.5 She
has also contributed to the much needed enlightenment of the rest of
the world by providing authentic sociological perspectives which show
Africans, especially women, in as much control of their lives as is
humanly possible anywhere in the world. Without doubt, at the global
and personal level, she will be mourned for a long time to come.
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NOTES
NOTE ON THE WRITER
Ifeyinwa Iweriebor is a free-lance editor, who has been
in media practice - journalism, public relations and publishing for
nearly twenty years. Currently a member of Black Women in Publishing
[BWIP], she had been, while resident in Nigeria, a member of the Nigerian
Association of Media Women [NAMW], and was involved with activist women's
organizations, such as Women in Nigeria [WIN]. She has written extensively
on a wide range of issues such as literature, national development,
education, and media images, with particular respect to women's involvement.
Return to table of contents.
An Interview with Ruth Mokabi,
Regional Coordinator, YWCA, North Central Botswana and
Member of the Botswana Democratic Party
The interview took place at the Sheraton Hotel, New
York and was conducted by Dr. Gloria T. Emeagwali, Central Connecticut
State University. Mrs. Mokabi was one of the delegates to the USIA sponsored
program on Women and The Political Process.
Interviewer: Mrs. Mokabi, What is your
assessment of the program and your visit to the United States? Have
you gained much from your visit?
Mokabi: Yes, There are some gains especially in knowing
about U.S. women and their political campaign strategy as they project
themselves into positions of political leadership.
Interviewer: Would you say that similar
campaign strategies can be effective in Botswana?
Mokabi: Yes, to the extent that funding is possible.
Interviewer: In the absence of funds
would the strategy be effective and in such a case would you say that
this meeting has really been beneficial?
Mokabi: Yes. One can adopt aspects of it.
Interviewer: What would your own political
strategy look like in Botswana?
Mokabi: House to house campaigns and the use of volunteers
to interview prospective voters.
Interviewer: What else did this meeting
engage in besides focus on campaign strategy?
Mokabi: We also focused on how various women organisations
can work together.
Interviewer: Am I right in saying that
you visited several U.S. cities? If so which impressed you most in terms
of the political awareness of women.
Mokabi: Oregon. We were able to meet
the mayor who explained how she was able to get into her present position.
Interviewer: Is Botswana undergoing a
democratic political process?
Mokabi: Botswana has been democratic. Since 1966 it
has had a multiparty system.
Interviewer: Has Botswana been threatened
in any way by the military and military coup plotters?
Mokabi: No. Not at all. We haven't had any threats
and we don't anticipate any.
Interviewer: What has Botswana done right
that some other African countries have failed to do?
Mokabi: I don't know. Many have asked me this question
but I believe that the use of traditional leaders, and the fact that
they have worked hand in hand with the politicians, has been of help.
Interviewer: What is your first plan
of action on return to Botswana, in terms of the political arena?
Mokabi: Well I would continue to work along the lines
of previous activities and perhaps move towards higher political levels.
Interviewer: Are you aiming at a Ministerial
position?
Mokabi: Not necessarily (smiling).
At this point the interview ended; Mrs. Mokabi did
not want to miss her flight back to Botswana.
Return to table of contents.
Women and the Political Process:
An African Regional Project by Dr. Husainatu Abdullah, a Nigerian
participant
The women and the political process program was organized
by the United States Information Agency (USIA) from 12 October - 5th
November 1993, as part of its International Visitor Program (IVP).
The programs are organized around a theme and usually
start in Washington, D.C., the American capital. The Washington leg
of the program is intended to provide a contextual background to the
tour from which participants are introduced to the contents of the program
to enable them understand the aims of the visit and thus be well placed
to participate fully in the tour to other parts of the U.S. The women
and political process program, the first to be organized under this
theme. had 13 participants all drawn from ten (10) African countries,
namely, Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda,
Sierra Leone, Togo and Zaire. The participants came from different political
and educational background. In addition to academics and researchers,
there were social activists, politicians, lawyers, teachers and businesswomen.
The program lasted for four weeks and was developed for
the USIS by the Phelps Stokes Fund, a non-profit organization. The tour
took the participants, all women, to five cities namely Washington,
D.C., Atlanta, Seattle, (franco-phone participants), Portland, (Anglo-phone
participants), Minneapolis and New York. The aim of the project was
to introduce African women whose countries are going through a 'second
wave of democratization' to the gains American women have made in politics
especially since the 1992 elections that saw the entry of 30 women into
congress (six in the senate and 24 in the House of Representatives)
and several appointed into positions of authority.
CCSU African Studies Local Outreach Committee Plans for
1994
The CCSU African Studies Outreach Committee has begun
plans to facilitate the dissemination of information about Africa and
African Studies both on and off the campus. Professor Eddie Joyce, chair
of the committee and Dr. Gloria Emeagwali, Coordinator of African Studies,
recently visited Professor Sandomirsky at Southern Connecticut State
University to discuss the possibility of a linkage between the two campuses
in terms of African Studies courses. The committee has also begun to
facilitate an outreach effort with the Benjamin Franklin School in Meriden,
CT. The committee hopes to engage in a joint effort with the newly established
African Studies Club to develop a display, on campus, showcasing Africa.
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Why the plague? (The Burden
of Life)
Wounded knee, Hiroshima, Auchswitz, Middle passage...
And still they wonder, "why disease, why the plague?"
When disease is in their thoughts,
and sickness in their hearts.
As always, they look for foreign lands to blame;
some secret monkey business in the jungle,
caused those bankrupt saboteurs
to hatch a plot to kill all CEO's.
Maybe then the money from the sunset land,
would reach the forest floor,
and fill the babies with food,
give the young men and women a little light of hope,
in their parched land.
But as the plaintiff jumps and screams accusation,
the defendant quietly says "they have forgotten where they stand."
In human memory Black Foot and Running Bear lay,
cold and forgotten.
But the earth in which they rest screams for justice,
louder than the sounds of rush-hour traffic,
higher than the sentinels of profit,
that stand erect in the sooted air.
The earth remembers the people,
who walked the turtle island, in search of the waken,
who did not love to war,
who only wanted to travel the great path,
and see the sacred hoop turn the cycles of eternity.
Progress, Manifest Destiny, Science, John Wayne, Desert Storm:
the jury sits as the Judge passes sentence
on a world he cannot understand, for which he does not care
"I will not see this court mocked by your insinuation"
He yells, while the very air he breathes
has already condemned him to death.
Why the plague they cry,
as the clock ticks down and babies die.
Some unborn are judged already dead,
so that women can have their fill of pleasure,
as guiltless as the irresponsible men who denied them equality
by fathering the burden of life in their wombs.
Yes, life is such a burden, living such a toil,
it must be conquered, abused, aborted, packaged, destroyed
and ignored.
And now,
unlooked for, but not uncalled,
death knocks on their doors,
and still they ask,
why the plague?
Patton Duncan
C.C.S.U.
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Structural Adjustment in West Africa:
Some Notes On The Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean Experience.
by A. Zack-Williams, Central Lancashire University, U.K.
Ghana and Sierra Leone share more than just a common colonial
heritage. In recent years both have experienced prolonged economic crisis,
leading to bloody military interventions and the subsequent raprochement
to the IMF. In Ghana, the young leadership of the Provisional National
Defence Concil (PNDC) under Flight-Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, established
itself (in 1981) as a `revolutionary vanguard', with various Defence
Committees, whose raison d'etre was to mobilise the energies of the
mass of the Ghanaian people. After various political and economic struggles,
the revolutionary government in 1983 decided to implement the first
phase of the Economic Recovery Programme of the IMF/World Bank; and
in 1985 the second phase of the Structural Adjustment Policies.
These programmes included the Fund's usual `off the shelf'
conditionalities of devaluation, economic liberalisation of trade and
the economy as well as privatisation. Indeed, the Fund Strived to set
Ghana up as the `yard stick' by which other African economies could
be judged to model their economies.
The Ghanaian experience held tremendous appeal to Captain
Valentine Strasser and his young colleagues who seized power in Sierra
Leone in April 1992. Not only did the leadership in Sierra Leone model
itself after their Ghanaian counterpart, both in style and the structure
of the administration, but the National Provisional Revolutionary Council
(NPRC) decided to fully implement the policies of ERC and SAP. Though
the negotiation for these policies were done by the ousted regime, yet
the NPRC unlike the ancien regime decided to fully implement the conditionalities
of the Fund. This meant that unlike the previous state of affairs, where
breach of conditionalities led to abrogation of the agreement by the
Fund, and the subsequent implementaton of `shadow policies' by the Government
of Sierra Leone, `willing' Government of Sierra Leone, after a brief
period of `international pariah status' was now to attract loans from
the Fund to cushion the harsh reality of adjustment.
In a number of respects the Sierra Leone programme was
a carbon copy of the Ghanaian experience. In both cases there was little
consultation with organised labour which bore the brunt of restructuring.
Whilst in Ghana, the World bank instituted PAMSCAD during the second
phase of the adjustment programme to provide `a human face to adjustment',
in the case of Sierra Leone the ADB has provided a loan of $8 million
to set up SAPA. In Sierra Leone there is also assistance from the ILO
to train retrenched workers to become road contractors, the kind of
training that is provided for under the PAMSCAD scheme.
The Sierra Leone programme is still in its early stages,
but already there are all the signs of greater impoverishment and widespread
unemployment. Nonetheless, there is an atmosphere of optimism compared
to the widespread despair that prevailed only a couple of years ago.
Sierra Leoneans have welcomed their new youthful ruler as `redeemer',
the one who delivered the nation from the phlegmatic and decadent regime
of the mis-named All People's Congress. Unlike the PNDC, the NPRC seems
to have no long term programme for political transformation as indicated
by their failure to institute a revolutionary base within the Sierra
Leonean population. This could be accounted for in part by the new international
political atmosphere, particularly the new emphasis by donor agencies
for `less strong regime' and more democracy. The NPRC has set up a constitutional
review committee to advise it, and has announced a programme to return
the country to civilian rule by 1997.
By contrast, the PNDC did not only build strong political
structures, but in essence was able to transform itself to the National
Democratic Congress, and its leader, Flight-Lieutenant Rawlings, was
transformed to President Rawlings after the Presidential elections of
November 1992. It is true that the Ghanaian economy has improved tremendously
from its abyss under the civilian regime of Limann. Nonetheless, there
are two points that critics of SAP still address: The first is whether
or not the social and political costs were justified by what they saw
as modest economic gains. Secondly, and this leads form the last point,
whether SAP has provided the basis for sustained growth. The highly
indebted Ghanaian economy is already showing signs of something going
wrong. Inflation is up again, whilst the growth rate has fallen from
its `miraculous' levels of the mid-1980's, questioning the assumption
that Ghana could be the new Taiwan of West Africa.
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Anonymous
A man reaps as he sows.
The fowl fouls the air.
Ignoble though the act
Presides itself and flees the land
Perches on the ngigo*
However,
Soon, it will have enough dance to contend with.
A man reaps as he sows.
I'd rather my two eyes
Like Oedipus' were gouged out
Than witness twin-heinous murder.
A man reaps as he sows.
For how long can a man--
Who commits murder when yam plants
Are hooded with green dense foliage
And secures asylum
Within their verdant vineyard hide?
Does he not commit suicide
When harmattan strips them bare?
A man reaps as he sows.
Patricide in grand style?
Matricide the scientific way?--
And this philosophic court
Has enabling powers to hear this;
Has enabling might to suspend sentence
Question our civilization.
A man reaps as he sows.
*Ngigo is the rope or stick used for drying clothes outside.
by Dr. A. A. Monye, Visiting Fulbright Scholar - African Studies, C.C.S.U.
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African Scholars visit C.C.S.U.
by Brian G. Chapman, Graduate student, African Studies
Lecture by Dr. E. J. Alagoa
"An African Philosophy of History" was the theme
of a lecture presented by Dr. E. J. Alagoa in CCSU's Founders Hall on
February 8, 1994. Professor Alagoa is a Senior Fulbright Scholar at
Brown University and the President of the Historical Society of Nigeria.
He came to CCSU as a guest of the African Studies Program, an event
chaired by Professor E. Kapetanopoulos. The lecture was a refreshing
thesis on the relationship between African oral tradition, philosophy,
and history.
Dr. Alagoa looked at African proverbs as sources of explicit
philosophy within the context of African oral tradition. He utilized
traditional proverbs to demonstrate African philosophies as related
to the nature of History, the determination of "truth", interpretation
and perception of time, and the value of History. Dr. Alagoa's use of
proverbs provided an exciting dimension to the fields of African philosophy
and history. Through the use of a variety of examples the professor
was able to illustrate the depth, complexity, and even the humor that
is inherent in the African oral tradition. Most importantly he addressed
the value of history as defined in African philosophy and its relevance,
universally, to all societies.
The lecture was well attended considering that we were
in the midst of yet another winter snow storm. The event was followed
by a lively question and answer session. CCSU students and faculty were
honored to have another African Scholar come to their campus.
Botswana Cultural Music
Mo Botswana, a song that expresses the pride in Botswana's
peace and freedom, was the first in a series of pieces presented in
a program of Botswana Cultural Music in CCSU's Alumni Lounge on February
24, 1994. The performer was Mr. Taolo Moshaga from Gabarone, Botswana.
Mr. Moshaga is a songwriter, musician, and vocalist. He
began to sing and play stringed instruments at the age of thirteen.
In this performance, he utilized a modified guitar (four stringed) to
replicate the sound and resonance of an indigenous instrument called
the motongtonyane. Mr. Moshaga has formed a musical group called Lonaka,
which toured the UK in 1993. Taola Moshaga has performed solo on the
BBC and Botswana Radio. He states that his efforts are geared toward
preserving and promoting Botswana culture. He is especially interested
in social action and volunteerism. He regularly plays benefits in Africa
for the disabled. Neither Mr. Moshaga nor Lonaka have made any formal
recordings, however that hasn't been ruled out for the future. The program
at CCSU allowed those in attendance to sample a bit of Botswana culture
in a very direct way.
The program began with an overview of the region by Cazzie
Iverson, who spoke on historical, economic, and contemporary trends
in Botswana. Brian Chapman narrated the event by giving a brief interpretation/translation
at the beginning of each song, which was performed in the African language
of Tswana. Of the eight pieces performed, Taolo wrote seven of them
himself. The themes of these songs reflected the values, traditions,
and national pride of the various ethnic peoples of Botswana. The event,
which was sponsored by the African Studies Outreach Committee, nearly
filled the Alumni Lounge. Many of the people in attendance commented
on the beauty and warmth of the music. Gratitude for this truly unique
experience was formally expressed to Mr. Moshaga by Marian Calloway,
a member of the Outreach Committee. Many in attendance came to personally
thank the artist after the performance. Again, for this momentous opportunity,
we say to Mr. Taola Moshaga bravo and many thanks!
Return to table of contents.
African Studies Notebook -
Student view of the November 22nd meeting with Dr. David Uru Iyam of the
African Studies Association by Susannah Ortiz, C.C.S.U.
On Monday November 22 I walked into a room filled with
a rather large number of students. To be quite honest I thought of my
visit to Founder's Hall solely as a means to quickly gain a few extra
credits. But something quite unexpected happened that day. I became
entranced by Dr. David Uru Iyam's eloquent words and undying enthusiasm
for something he so deeply believed in. At first surprised at the large
turnout for the meeting. he quickly embraced his audience's growing
interest. He discussed African Studies as it applied to all individuals
and institutions that want to broaden their knowledge of African affairs.
He told of his mission to bring together those parties interested in
Africa.
Dr. David Iyam also spoke of the individual membership
privileges which consisted of subscriptions to various ASA publications
including ASA News, African Studies review, Issue: A Journal of Opinion
and the ASA membership directory. Privileges ranged from being able
to serve on ASA committees to proposing and presenting papers and panels
for the program of the annual meeting. Members also are encouraged to
make nominations for the Distinguished Africanist Award. I was also
surprised to learn what a wide variety of cultures were involved in
the African Studies Association. Although most members reside in the
United States, a still substantial number of persons come from Canada,
Africa and Europe. While the majority of members are teachers and researchers
associated with institutions of higher education, membership also includes
individuals with careers in international health and development, foreign
affairs government and church services as well as social service work.
Participants gather annually for a meeting which is held in major universities,
colleges and museums all over the United States. Meeting papers that
have been distributed on the African continent through the services
of PADISI (PanAfrican Documentation and Information System of the United
Nations" Economic Commission for Africa) are also presented at
the Annual meeting.
Overall I found the meeting with Dr. Iyam an interesting
and productive hour in which I was able to learn the mechanics of an
organisation which annually delves into a very interesting continent
that remains an integral part of history and the present.
Islamic Curricula Development
by Professor Ahmad Kani
Usman Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Nigeria
The 1st International Seminar on Islam and the development
of Science and Technology organised by the Islamic Research Center Sokoto,
Nigeria was held at the Congregation Hall, Usman Danfodiyo University,
Nigeria. Forty papers were presented by participants within and outside
Nigeria. One of the conclusions of the Seminar was that international
cooperation should be promoted among Muslim Scientists for the purpose
of exchange of ideas and that an Islamic curricula Development Center
for science and technology should be established by the Muslim Ummah.
Nigerian Muslims were urged to recognise that science and technology
were integral part of Islam as evidenced in the Quran and Sunnah of
Prophet Muhammad.
Return to table of contents.
CCSU's African Studies Club
Dr. David Iyam, associate director of the African Studies
Association, campus to CCSU in November to help inaugurate the University's
club. In his address to an enthusiastic Founders Hall audience, Iyam
said, "I had no idea such an impressive crowd would be interested
in African Studies here." He said that interest in African Studies
is on the rise nationally as traditional concepts in teaching the discipline
are changing.
The African Studies Association brings together people
with scholarly and professional interest in Africa, provides services
to the Africanist community and publishes scholarly Africanist materials.
Fifteen members of the CCSU club attended the 35th Annual
Meeting of the African Studies Association in Boston in December. Dr.
Gloria Emeagwali, associate professor of history and coordinator of
the African Studies program and Eddie Joyce, chairperson of the local
outreach program and assistant professor of education, accompanied the
group. Club officers are Ulysses Serpa, president; Velmore Walters,
vice president; Saint-Jean Briere, treasurer; Cazzie Iverson, secretary,
December Griffith, assistant secretary, and Nyree Pinto, assistant treasurer.
CCSU is also represented on the Executive Committee of the New Scholars
Organization along with representatives from Cornell, Duke UCLA, and
Boston University, by Brian Chapman.
Also visiting was Dr. Roger Wescott, president of the
International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, of
which Emeagwali is a member of the executive committee. The Society
is considering CCSU as a possible site for one of its meetings, which
draws about 150 scholars.
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Views on Boston: The Red Cross Booth - An Observation
by Marian Calloway,
Graduate Student African Studies, C.C.S.U.
At the Red Cross booth, I saw a poster that prompted me
to alert the person manning the booth. I do appreciated the chance to
display programs that both teach and motivate people. However the poster
of a stylized artistic rendition of an African slithering on the ground
holding an empty bowl in one hand with the other stretched out as if
begging was repulsive. The Guinean proverb quoted was.. "He who
does not cultivate his field will die of hunger." It has been a
long time since I have seen such a negative image. I hope that the Red
Cross International care enough to change the image. Maybe I missed
the boat completely. Maybe the Red Cross International wished to portray
a diseased person slithering on his hands and knees begging. The fact
is, however, that many farmers do plant and cultivate their fields in
the third world and still die of hunger.
African Studies Association Conference
by Patton E. Duncan, CCSU Student.
It was with a great deal of hope and anticipation that
I made the trip with members of the African Studies Club to the 36th
Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association. This hope proved
misplaced. Where were the erudite African thinkers who could speak of
their own African experience without being misinterpreted by Eurocentrists?
I attended a talk on colonial experience and the transformation
of identity in Cameroon, Kenya and Zaire, but not one of the panelists
was from those countries. Rosaline G. Wilcox of the University of California
spoke on the Duala Masquerade tradition. She described the masks as
having a ceremonial function, as if in traditional African societies
there is a radical division between politics, "ceremony,"
and culture. Other speakers pointed out perjoratively that the culture
of peoples such as the Jeki had been destroyed and transformed into
more "peaceful" forms (which would create less resistance
to the "civilizing" influence of European imperialism.)
I was greatly offended by two other speakers, Ralph A.
Austin of the University of Chicago and Maria Cattell of Bryn Mawr College.
Mr. Austin made the statement that "Culture is a result of tradition,
even if it is a culture "we" created, in reference to the
destruction of the Jeki cultural identity by "Christian" missionaries
and benevolent colonial administrators. Who was the "we" that
he was referring to? Did he presume to include me in that "we?"
Mrs. Cattell spoke of the "progress" of women in modern Kenya.
She failed to mention that this change was having a devastating effect
on Kenyan society and the social values that have always been the foundation
of African civilization.
I would like to mention an enlightening talk by Dr. Nathan
Chandler of Duke, who analyzed the metaphysical themes in the works
of W. E. B. Dubois. He argued that Dubois was not simply offering historical
and social investigations of the Negro and African situation. He was
also engaged covertly in an inquiry into the basic ideas of difference
and identity and how this relates to points of view in history. He pointed
out that Dubois had recognized that most historical analysis were the
result of only partial views. History should not be read as a reporting
of events.
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