Many PAS faculty and alumni participated in the annual African Studies Association meeting in San Francisco at the end of November and early December 2023. The theme of the meeting was “African Presences: Envisioning Africa in Text and Deed,” which examined wide ranging manifestations of evolving contextualizations of African culture in everyday and national life on the continent and abroad.
Former PAS director Richard Joseph shared ASA’s annual Distinguished Africanist award with Ken Harrow of Michigan State University. The book, Poverty and Wealth in East Africa: A Conceptual History, by alumna Rhiannon Stephens (2007, Columbia University) was a finalist for the Bethwell Ogot Prize in East African Studies.
Many faculty participated. Akinwumi Ogundiran (history) and David Schoenbrun (history) participated in the panel, Deep-Time Histories of Contemporary Politics and Belonging in Africa. In addition, Ogundiran also served on the roundtable “AfricaNow! Hot Button Issues in Africa: Implications for Regional Economies and Securities.” Dotun Ayobade (School of Communications) presented a paper, “Ken Saro-Wiwa: Flickering Visions of Oil and the International,” Ibrahim Gassama (Pritzker School of Law) served on the roundtable, “Remembering Randall Robinson: A Political Activist in the PanAfrican Pantheon,” and Adia Benton (anthropology) served as a discussant on the panel, “Reading Epidemics in Africa.” Marcia Tiede (Northwestern Library) presented a paper, “Memory Making”: Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the International Conference of Manding Studies (1972).
Faculty from the Northwestern University in Qatar also participated, including Zachary Wright who chaired the panel, “New Trends in the Study of Islam in Africa,” and presented a paper, “Umar Futi Tal’s Kitāb al-Rimāḥ De-Marginalized: Tariqa Formation in 19th Century West Africa.” Gerard Akindes copresented two papers, “The Journey of Francophone African Players to Elite Leagues in the Global North,” and “From Childhood to Young Adulthood: Paul Bonga Bonga’s Educational and Sporting Life in Late Colonial Congo.” Leila Tayeb presented a paper, “Building the Jamahiriya: Gaddafi’s Islamic Call in Africa.” Graduate student Fortunate Kelechi Ekwuruke presented a paper, “More Than a Home: Adolescent Perspectives on Slum Communities and Slum Evictions.”
In addition, many PAS alumni participated. Ato Onoma (2006, University of Toronto) presented a paper “Epidemics, Phobia, and Critiques of Globalization.” Moses Khisa (2016, North Carolina State University) copresented a paper, “Great Power Competition and Hedging: “Africa and East Asia in Comparative Perspective, and chaired two roundtables, “Politics of Transition and Presidential Succession in Uganda,” and “Global Africa: Trends in Foreign Policy.” Aili Tripp (1990, University of Wisconsin-Madison) participated in the roundtable “Politics of Transition and Presidential Succession in Uganda.” Lynn Thomas (MA, University of Washington) chaired the panel, “Challenging Sexed and Sexual Expectations in Eastern and Southern Africa” and presented a paper, “Naming and Challenging Abortion Stigma in Multi-Party Kenya.” David Donkor (2008, Texas A&M University) presented a paper, “Out of Presidential Character”: The State of US-Africa Relations, the Stakes of Ceremony, and the Precarity of Performance in Clinton’s Ghana Visit.” Nana Akua Anyidoho (2005, University of Ghana) presented a paper, “[When] the 9-5 Is Not Friendly: Women Straddling Formal and Informal Work,” and cochaired two roundtables, “Publish That Article: Meet the Editors,” and “Countering Media Misrepresentation and Marginalization to Build a Sustainable African Future.” Lorelle Semley (2002, The Holy Cross University, editor of History in Africa) participated in the panel “Publish That Article: Meet the Editors) and chaired the roundtable, “Theory and Art of the Artifact.” Bright Gyamfi (2023, University of California, San Diego) served as discussant on the panel, “Ghanaian Intellectuals, the Academy, the Disciplines, and Public Culture. Catherine M. Cole (1996, University of Washington) chaired and served as discussant on the panel “New Research in Black Performance Studies: Direct Action, State Diplomacy, and Ancestral Logic,”