Upcoming
Events
Spring 2005
- Thursday, 19 May 2005, 6:00 pm
THE DR CONGO: THE THREAT WE CHOSE TO IGNORE
An update on the road to elections and the state of the transition:
Presenter: Batabiha BUSHOKI
Civil Society Fellow, The International Peace Academy, and co-founder of the Goma-based NGO, Campagne pour la Paix (Rally for Peace), in North Kivu province.
The CUNY Graduate Center
365 5th Avenue (@34th Street)
Room 5200.07
Fall 2004
- Friday,
10 December 2004, International Human Rights Day
AHMADOU KOUROUMA: A CONVERSATION ABOUT HIS WORK AND HUMAN RIGHTS LEGACY IN AFRICA
Co-sponsored
with the Ph. D. Program in French and the Ralph Bunch Institute for International Studies at The CUNY Graduate Center
On December 10, 2004, to commemorate International Human Rights Day and the eve of the first
anniversary of novelist and human rights activist Ahmadou Kourouma's death, the Ph.D. Program in
French, the Ralph Bunche Institute of International Studies, and the Africa Research Group of The
City University of New York's Graduate Center will hold a roundtable discussion on the condition of
human rights in Africa today. This roundtable will bring together scholars of Kourouma's literary
works, and human rights scholars and practitioners for an afternoon conversation. This will be
followed by a keynote lecture and a reception.
In March 2003, Ahmadou Kourouma began his fifth novel, which addressed the contemporary conflicts of
his native country, Côte d'Ivoire, however, it remains unfinished due to his untimely death on
December 11, 2003. Kourouma's four published novels have received wide international recognition.
Allah is Not Obliged (2000), a novel denouncing the atrocities associated with contemporary war and
the tragedy of children and armed conflict, was awarded the prestigious French literary award, the
Prix Renaudot. Kourouma, considered one of the greatest authors of Africa and francophone literature,
wrote from France where he lived in exile. Having played a significant advocacy role for social
justice, his works bring together a vast public across the globe. His deeply engaged prose compels
us to consider a number of questions about the socio-political instability that has troubled Africa
since the colonial period, and the state of human rights in the region.
The CUNY Graduate Center
365 5th Avenue (@34th Street)
Room 9205-7
Participants: Boniface Mongo-Mboussa, Cilas Kemedjio, Sylvie Kande, Francesca Canadé Sautman, J. Michael
Turner, Corinne Dufka, Tatiana Carayannis, Thomas G. Weiss, Michael Latour, and Sara Hanaburgh
- MONTHLY AFRICAN FILM SERIES
Wednesday, December 1, 2004, 6:30 pm
African Hip Hop: Two films by Benny Malapa
Room 5414
OUAGA HIP HOP
Cameroon/France/Burkina Faso, 2004, 52min.
In French, Wolof, Mooré, Jula and Bambara with English Subtitles
This documentary shows how the Hip Hop Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso enables dancers,
actors, and rappers from France and West Africa to meet and exchange ideas. The film includes
performances by Dhalai-K (Benin), Wed Hyack (Burkina Faso), Tata Pound (Mali), Yeleen (Burkina Faso),
Lennox Lindsay (Trinidad and Tobago/Burkina Faso), Basil Soul (Burkina Faso), Kaidan Gaskian (Niger),
Daara-J (Senegal), Djoloff (Senegal), Smockey (Burkina Faso) and Pee Frois (Senegal).
OAUGA HIP HOP will be preceded by a screening of the short film, RAPBIZZ (France, 2002, 20min) also by
Malapa. The film, In French with English subtitles, follows Tony, an African immigrant in Paris,
who dreams of becoming a rap star. Not getting any results from industry bigwigs, he decides to
work with a producer from the ghetto. Starring French rap stars Stomy Bugsy
and Princess Erika.
The director of both OUAGA HIP HOP and RAPBIZZ, Benny Malapa, was one of the first rap producers
in France, before he decided to make films.
Thursday, October 21, 6:00 pm
Fela: Music is the Weapon
Room 5414
Past
Events
Some of the
events hosted by the ARG over the last 6 years include:
- GENOCIDE: PROTECTION, RECONSTRUCTION, AND THE CONVENTION 10 YEARS AFTER RWANDA
- SOUTH AFRICA 10 YEARS LATER: THE STRUGGLE IN RETROSPECT, THE STRUGGLES AHEAD
FILM SHORTS & FEATURED DOCUMENTARY
Part of the "South Africa's 10 Years of Freedom Film Festival" in NYC
- FEMALE EDUCTION AND THE PREVENTION OF THE SPREAD OF HIV/AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Robert J. Brent, Professor of Economics, Fordham University
- A BOOK LAUNCHING TO COMMEMORATE SOUTH AFRICA'S 10 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY
ROBBEN ISLAND AND PRISONER RESISTANCE TO APARTHEID
by Fran Buntman, George Washington University
- THE STATE OF THE AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL: TRENDS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS
Todd Lester, New School University
- THE NEW
TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- A PANEL
DISCUSSION ON POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA
- A SERIES
OF ROUNDTABLES ON CONGO-ZAIRE
- MUSIC AND RESISTANCE IN THE CONGO: A DISCUSSION WITH KOFI OLOMIDE
- CIVIL SOCIETY
AND THE STATE: SOME RECONSIDERATIONS
Professor I.L. Markovitz, Political Science, CUNY
- THE STATE
AND STATELESSNESS: SOMALIA
Professor Said Samatar, History, Rutgers University
- AFRICAN
POLITICAL THOUGHT
Professor W. Ofuatey-Kodjoe, Political Science, CUNY
- WORKSHOP
ON DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
Professor Jay Lemke, Urban Education, CUNY
- THE SOUTH
AFRICAN TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION: A CRITICAL DISCUSSION
with Dr. Alex Boraine, Vice Chair of the TRC and Prof. Mahmood Mamdani,
Columbia University
- USING GRAMSCI
IN AFRICA
Professor Kate Creehan, Anthropology, CUNY
- ETHIOPIAN
INTELLECTUALS SINCE 1991
Kostas Loukeris, Political Science, CUNY and University of Addis Ababa
- APARTHEID
AND POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA - ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: THE END OF AN
ANALOGY, THE BEGINNING OF PEACE? A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION
- "UBUNTU'S
WOUNDS" NY PREMIERE FILM SCREENING AND DIRECTOR'S DISCUSSION
- RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY FOR AFRICAN STUDIES USING PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA
Dr. Joseph S. Caruso, African Studies Librarian, Columbia University
- PROTECTING
HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFRICAN COURTS: CASES, PROSPECTS, AND PROBLEMS
Mirna Adjami, Human Rights Lawyer