Dear Friends of KASC,

This past summer and fall was a time of change for the Center as several staff members departed and new people arrived. It is a pleasure for me to write to you as the acting director of KASC for 2013-14. Since August we have been busy rebuilding the Center’s staff, sponsoring events on campus and in the community, and preparing to apply for another round of Title VI funding in 2014. This past summer the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences agreed to support the position of a Faculty Associate Director for KASC, and Glenn Adams (Psychology) has agreed to serve in this role for 2013-14. Glenn is lending his expertise and familiarity with the Center during this time of transition and grant preparation.

In addition, faculty members of KASC’s Executive Committee for the 2013-14 academic year are: Peter Ojiambo (Language Coordinator), Elizabeth Asiedu (Economics), Yacine Daddi Addoun (AAAS), Sandra Gray (Anthropology), Ken Lohrentz (KU Libraries), and Jide Wintoki (School of Business). Ebenezer Obadare (Sociology) and Mariana Candido (History) are both serving as interim members to fill vacancies on the commitee.

KASC welcomes several new members to the Center:

We were excited to have Daniel Atkinson arrive in November from Chico, California to begin work as the new Assistant Director of KASC. He has been busy learning about how KU works and connecting with many people on campus through his varied interests and talents. Daniel received his PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington, Seattle. His research focus is on African American vernacular expression and its interaction with the global landscape. His dissertation focused on a capella, gospel hymns and spirituals at the Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana. He has produced two soul chamber music recordings with multi-instrumentalist and composer Howard Wiley called “The Angola Project.” He has taught courses on African music, Afro-American music, the history of jazz, American popular song and American ethnic literature. Other interests of his include cross cultural communication, field recording, Japanese culture and aesthetics, and the use of new technology in the expression of the human condition.

The Center will benefit from Daniel’s experience with programming, website development, and outreach for National Public Radio, Northwest Folklife, a Seattle based multi-cultural arts organization, and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. At the Smithsonian he worked on the final recording of the Piedmont blues duo Cephas and Wiggins before the passing of guitarist and vocalist John Cephas. He also wrote copy for and co-produced promotional videos of the The Paschall Brothers, a Tidewater gospel quartet, and assisted on the documentary “White House Workers: Traditions and Memories.”

In early December Mackenzie Jones joined the Center as our half-time Outreach Coordinator. The following week she visited a Lawrence middle school to talk about East Africa and geography. She received her Masters in Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in 2012. Her interest and passion for Africa stem

Director’s Note

Prof. Liz MacGonagle

KansasAfrican StudiesCenterUNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

NEWSLETTER FALL 2013

from her time as an Elrod Fellow working with a small, education-focused non-profit in Kampala, Uganda in 2009. Her graduate studies included coursework in African environmental issues and African history. Mackenzie also spent six months studying in Manaus, Brazil.

We are also pleased to have Paeten Denning, an undergraduate at KU, joining the Center in the new office in 201 Bailey Hall. She is a social welfare major who is currently taking KiSwahili courses for an African Studies minor. One of our FLAS students who is studying Arabic, Suhayla Sibaai, is also working in the reconfigured main office that we share with CGIS and CEAS. Our new office manager, Jessica Irving, steered KASC though the transitions of the fall semester with grace and aplomb. We continue to receive steady accounting and research support from Jessie Yoon, who is now in the Shared Service Center, and Jun Fu in CEAS.

Despite these shifts and new faces, so much of what is at the core of KASC has not changed. You all make up the solid and strong Africanist community that the Center serves, and we are pleased to work with you to energize and enhance African Studies at KU and beyond. Please contact us with your news and ideas for KASC. Many thanks go to Beverly Mack for her steady leadership of KASC over the past two years as the Center’s Director.

In appreciation of your ongoing support of our endeavors,

Liz MacGonagleActing Director, 2013-14Associate Professor of African Historymacgonag@ku.edu

Glenn AdamsFaculty Associate Director, Kansas African Studies CenterAssociate Professor, Department of Psychology Co-Director of the Cultural Psychology Research GroupDr. Adams was recently recognized by the The Center for Civic and Social Responsibility at KU for all of his efforts “as a dedicated advocate of social responsibility and engaged scholarship.”

Beverly MackProfessor of African Studies in the Department of African and African American StudiesAmong many notable achievements this fall, Dr. Mack published a book, Educating Muslim Women: The West African Legacy of Nana Asma’u with Jean Boyd (Interface Press). She also published a chapter, “Muslim Hausa Women’s Songs,” in Women’s Songs from West Africa (Indiana University Press).

Mariana CandidoAssistant Professor of HistoryKASC would like to welcome to campus our newest Africanist faculty member, Mariana Candido. Dr. Candido earned her Ph.D. at York University in Toronto. She most recently served as an Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University. Her book, An African Slaving Port and the Atlantic World: Benguela and its Hinterland, was recently published by Cambridge.

David Mburu KiSwahili LecturerDr. David N. P. Mburu is a full time Lecturer in the Department of African and African American Studies. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. His main areas of research are KiSwahili, popular culture in East Africa, gender issues in education, gender and education in Africa, curriculum and instruction and comparative education. He is currently teaching KiSwahili and courses on Popular Culture in East Africa.

Faculty Highlights

NEW FACULTY

Director’s Note Continued

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Daniel AtkinsonKASC Assistant Director, FLAS Coordinator

Daniel advises students studying African languages at KU interested in applying for the FLAS (Foreign Language & Area

Studies) Fellowships at the Open Info Session in November.

Ginger FeatherGraduate student in Political Science Ginger spent last June and July in Morocco doing fieldwork, and she presented her findings at MESA and ASA this fall. She also has an article accepted for the Journal of Women and Human Rights in the Middle East on “Competing Frameworks: Moroccan Islamist Feminists and Western-Leaning Muslim Feminists Diverge over Best Path to Moroccan Women’s Rights.” Ginger will be presenting “Women’s Empowerment as a Precursor to Fourth-Wave Democratization in Predominantly-Muslim States” at the Russian Academy of Sciences conference in Moscow this May.

KASC FLAS student crowned Miss Topeka 2014Jennifer Salva, a current KASC FLAS recipient for Arabic, has just been crowned Miss Topeka 2014. Her platform is “Meaningful Inclusion: Acknowledging Individuals with Special Needs as Assets to Our Community.” Jennifer is a senior at the University of Kansas studying journalism, film & media studies, and Arabic. Congratulations, Jennifer!

KASC FLAS Student Named KU Global ScholarJacob Reinig, a FLAS student studying Arabic from Overland Park, was selected in fall 2013 as a Global Scholar at KU. The Global Scholars Program, coordinated by International Programs, recognizes and encourages undergraduate students who have an interest in global studies and a strong academic record. Students are paired with a faculty mentor with similar interests and present research on global and international studies during the spring semester of their senior year. Each Global Scholar receives a $1,000 scholarship to be applied toward a KU-approved study abroad program.

Summer 2013 Ricki Butler, Arabic (Global & International Studies)Jacob Reinig, Arabic (Political Science)Baiba Sedriks, Arabic (TESOL)Corinne Schwarz, Arabic (WGSS)

Academic Year 2013-14

Graduate Students:Sammy Badran, Arabic (Political Science)James Baker, Arabic (African & African American Studies)Amy Hunt, Wolof (African & African American Studies)Abdifatah Shafat, Arabic (Anthropology)Jessie Sirico, Arabic (Anthropology)

FLAS Fellows 2013-14

Undergraduate Students:Mariam Ali, KiSwahili (Pre-Pharmacy)Salman Husain, Arabic (Journalism, Global & Intl Studies)Jacob Reinig, Arabic (Political Science)Suhayla Sibaai, Arabic (Global & Intl Studies, Political Science)Jennifer Salva, Arabic (Journalism, Film & Media Studies)

Student Spotlight

Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships

Application deadline: February 3, 2014

Funded by the US Department of Education, FLAS funds are awarded in a competitive process open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students to pursue foreign language and area studies for professional purposes. FLAS Fellowships cover tuition (up to $18,000 for graduate students, up to $10,000 for undergraduates) and provide a stipend ($5000 for undergraduate, $15,000 for Graduate students.) Awards are available for specific languages, and are contingent on federal funding.

There are FLAS awards for the Academic Year and for the Summer. Academic Year FLAS fellowships are usually used for domestic study at KU, but a semester or full year abroad is also an option. Summer FLAS awards can be used for study abroad, but summer fellowships can also be used for a KU language program or an intensive language program at another accredited university in the US. KASC offers fellowships for the study of Amharic, Arabic, Hausa, Swahili, and Wolof.

For more information contact Daniel Atkinson at 785-864-1064. Apply at http://flas.ku.edu/

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September 11International Peace & Conlfict Film Festival: “Woodstock in Timbuktu”

Introduced by Prof. Yacine Daddi Addoun, African & African American Studies

October 8Ujamaa BrownbagProf. Carlos Nash

Department of Anthropology“Collaborating with the Abagusii of Kenya: Employing an

‘Empowering’ Research Model to Linguistic Fieldwork”

October 21Visiting LecturerProf. Lorena MadrigalDepartment of Anthropology, University of South Florida“A Tale of Three Continents: How African Slavery and East-Indian Indentured Migration Helped Shape the Human Population of Limon, Costa Rica”

October 24Ujamaa BrownbagSaatvika RaiGraduate Student in Political Science“Emerging Issues of Environmental Migration and Displacement in Kenya”

November 1The UN in Africa: A Conversation with Mieko Ikegame

Mieko Ikegame is the Special Advisor to the CEO of the New Partnership for African Development in the African Union. She was the Former

Director of the Office of the Special Advisor to the UN Secretary-General on Africa.

November 5Ujamaa Brownbag

“A Summer at the State Department: Public Opinion Research in Africa”Amy Hunt

Graduate Student in African & African American Studies

December 4Report Back: Egypt 2013

Marwa Ghazali, Graduate Student in Anthropology

December 13African Languages Pedagogical Workshop

KU African Language Instructors and Professor Kim Swanson of the Department of French & Italian

Fall KASC Campus Events

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WHY GIVE TO THE KANSAS AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER?

Your contribution to the Center supports academic activities, outreach, special events, and research programs related to Africa.

KASC supports the development of new courses on Africa, faculty and student research in Africa, the study of African languages, and the Africana Library at KU.

KASC promotes knowledge of Africa through academic conferences, seminars, workshops, brownbag talks, public lectures, film festivals, cultural performances, exhibits, recitals, and other celebrations.

KASC offers continuous outreach programs that serve K-16 students and educators, as well as the public, throughout the Great Plains region.

The Center receives funding from the university, foundations, and the Department of Education through a Title VI National Resource Center grant, and we actively continue to pursue such

support. However, contributions from individual donors are essential not only to underwrite activities not covered by other sources, but

also to demonstrate to corporate sponsors and foundations the value that our alumni and members attach to the Center and its mission.

You may donate to an unrestricted fund and allow the Center to decide where your contribution can be used most effectively, or you can direct your donation to a particular area or activity

such as student scholarships, faculty research support, curriculum development, or library acquisitions.

Please go to the KASC website, http://www.kasc.ku.edu to give online, or send a donation, marked for the Kansas African Studies Center, to: Gift Processing Department KU EndowmentP.O. Box 928, Lawrence, KS 66044-0928

Supporting KASC

KASC Outreach Coordinator Mackenzie Jones (seated, right) works with

children on an African craft project at the Watkins Museum Holiday Horse Hullabaloo.

KASC Assistant Director Daniel Atkinsonreads a Tanzanian story to children at Broken Arrow Elementary School as part of “International Reading Night.”

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KASC Welcome Back Receptionand African Studies Council Meeting Thursday, January 23, 20142:00-4:00 p.m. in Bailey 109

KASC Graduate Research WorkshopFriday, March 7, 20149:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.Bailey 109

Soweto Gospel ChoirSaturday, March 29, 2014 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center

3rd Annual KASC Africa World Documentary Film Festival Thursday, April 10, 2014 in Wescoe Hall, 4:00-9:00 p.m. Friday, April 11, 2014 in the Spencer Museum of Art, 12:00-9:00 p.m. Saturday, April 12, 2014 in the Kansas Union, 2:00-9:00 p.m.

45th Annual Conferenceon African LinguisticsTheme — Africa’s Endangered Languages:Documentary and Theoretical Approaches

April 17–19, 2014

Plenary SpeakersKo� Agyekum, University of GhanaChris Collins, New York UniversityRuth Kramer, Georgetown UniversityMichael R. Marlo, University of MissouriCarlos M Nash, University of KansasBonny Sands, Northern Arizona UniversityMalte Zimmermann, Universität Potsdam

Abstracts due Dec. 1, 2013email: acal45@ku.eduwebsite: www.acal45.ku.edu

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Kansas African Studies CenterUniversity of KansasBailey Hall 2011440 Jayhawk Blvd.Lawrence, KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3745Email: kasc@ku.edu

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