At first glance, the journey that Moi University’s Victor Kiplagat and Olivia Watta describe as the “greatest experience” of their young lives began when Kenya Airways Flight 7942 touched down at Indianapolis International Airport after 23 hours of travel from their home country of Kenya.
PK-12 Education Summit strengthens IU’s connections with educators across the state
The African Studies Program's educational outreach collaborations with partners from across IU and Indiana are one component of the commitment to strengthening Indiana Pre-Kindergarten through 12th grade education.
Through a new international film series, students will explore diaspora, belonging, and the human experience. The 2023-24 IU Global Film Festival will screen an international film each month at IU Cinema and partner cinemas across Indiana, bringing stories of movement and change from around the world to communities across our state. The festival is a collaboration between Hamilton Lugar School Area Studies Centers, IU Global, and IU Cinema, supported through IU Cinema’s Creative Collaborations program.
IU's National African Languages Resource Center's work featured by US Department of Education
When African language educators from around the country came to Indiana University Bloomington’s campus for an intensive workshop in May, many were skeptical of one of the teaching strategies presented: using the target language 90 percent of the time with students.
Connecting through Kiswahili: 5 Questions with Alwiya S. Omar
Alwiya Omar came to Bloomington from Tanzania in 1987 to pursue a Ph.D. in Second Language Acquisition. After earning that degree in 1992, she taught at University of Dar Es Salaam, University of Georgia, and University of Pennsylvania before returning to IU in 2002.
BFCA awarded NEH grant of $325,582 to archive and digitize Paulin S. Vieyra’s collection
The work of African Studies faculty Associate Professors Vincent Bouchard and Akin Adeṣọkan (Interim Director of the BFCA) leads to NEH grant to make the Paulin S. Vieyra archive further accessible to researchers globally.
Alex Lichtenstein Leads New Summer Study, Freedom Journey, May 6-13
Students will have a new opportunity this summer to cultivate awareness of the hotly contested politics of memory around the history of slavery, segregation, white supremacy, and civil rights.
Beginning in 1961 with a Ford Foundation grant, Indiana University’s African Studies Program has been one of the most influential of its kind in the country. The program has been one of the principal ways the university has engaged with the rest of the world since the middle of the last century and supports teaching and research across various disciplines.
The Black Film Center & Archives and the ASP have a strong history of collaboration. After ASP Associate Director Tavy Aherne and BFC/A Director Terri Frances worked together to bring film director Samuel Bazuwule to speak at a screening of The Burial of Kojo, interviews with the director led to a piece in the African Studies Review.
Dr. Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz to Lead New Global Visual Cultures Initiative
Dr. Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz, Associate Professor of Art History (African Arts) and the Tanner-Opperman Chair in Honor of Roy Sieber, has been named the Coordinator of the new Global Visual Cultures initiative at HLS. This university-wide initiative is an outgrowth of the long-standing ASP faculty Working Group focused on New Media and Literary Initiatives in Africa (NEMLIA).
Papers of seminal African filmmaker Paulin Vieyra acquired by IU Black Film Center/Archive
Through the work of ASP faculty Vincent Bouchard, BFC/A director Terri Francis, and others, Indiana University Black Film Center/Archive has acquired the papers of Paulin Vieyra, the first French-speaking sub-Saharan African to direct a film, 1955's "Afrique-sur-Seine."
ASP Welcomes New Faculty, Dr. Nana Amoah-Ramey
ASP is pleased to announce that Nana Abena Amoah-Ramey, Ph.D. will be joining the IU African Studies Program this fall in a faculty lecture position shared with IU’s African African American & African Diaspora Studies Department (AAADS).
MCCSC and IU Students win National Language Awards for Swahili
The National Swahili Cultural Institute (New York) recognized three Bloomington area students for their dedication, enthusiasm, and excellence in studying the Swahili language and culture.
Mpolokeng Lesetla was a graduate student in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University. Mpolo was completing a third Master’s degree, which focused on Human Rights and International Studies, when she succumbed to her battle with cancer recently. Mpolo leaves behind a daughter, whom she had hoped to put through college.
IMPORTANT: Request of Scholars who have worked with UCT African Studies Library
In light of the fire at the University of Cape Town on April 18th, 2021, academics and other researchers around the world who have worked in these special collections and have taken photocopies or mobile phone images of documents may be able to contribute these to help recover some of the lost records.
Join IU ASP in celebrating #IU Day!
Today, we wish to send our greetings out to all of our current students, our global alumni, Faculty, Faculty Emeriti, and friends. As well, ASP is excited to announce that 2021 marks our 60th anniversary as a program dedicated to promoting the greater understanding of Africa and its dynamic, global diaspora! Throughout the upcoming academic year, we will have special programming and guests, invite back alumni, reflect on our history, and look toward the future.
The African Studies Program (ASP) in the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies (HLS) is seeking an advanced graduate student to serve as an intern for Africa Today, a leading peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal. The intern works closely with the Africa Today editorial team (including the editor-in-chief, other editors, and the managing editor).
New Publication by Dr. Allison Schnable
Allison Schnable Assistant Professor in the O’Neil School and ASP Faculty Affiliate has published her book, Amateurs Without Borders: The Aspirations and Limits of Global Compassion (University of California Press, 2021). Amateurs without Borders examines the rise of new actors in the international development world: volunteer-driven grassroots international nongovernmental organizations.
New Publication by Dr. Clemence Pinaud
Dr. Clemence Pinaud, Assistant Professor of International Studies and ASP Faculty Affiliate has published her book, War and Genocide in South Sudan. The book is based on more than a decade of fieldwork in South Sudan and explores “the relationship between predatory wealth accumulation, state formation, and a form of racism-extreme ethnic group entitlement that has the potential to result in genocide.”
Congratulations to Dr. Margaret Graves!
The ASP wishes to offer its congratulations to Dr. Margaret S. Graves, Associate Professor of Art History and ASP Affiliate Faculty, who has won the 2021 Karen Gould Prize in Art History for her book, Arts of Allusion: Object, Ornament, and Architecture in Medieval Islam. This prestigious annual award is given to a book or monograph that is judged to be of outstanding quality, selected by the Medieval Academy of America.
Dr. Michelle Moyd Receives the IU Building Bridges Award
Ruth N. Halls Associate Professor of History, CRRES Associate Director, and ASP faculty affiliate, Dr. Michelle Moyd, is a recipient of the IU Building BridgesAward. The award is given annually during celebrations of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Institute on sustainable development helps teachers become globally ready
Even during a pandemic, K-8 teachers gathered virtually to explore how today’s challenges affect everyone during an institute on sustainable development this fall.
Former anti-apartheid and anti-colonial activist, educator, scholar and Presidential Fellow in Peace Studies at Chapman University, Dr. Rozell "Prexy" Nesbitt, will speak at the IU ASP event, Transnational Solidarities: Black Lives Matter & Human Rights Movements in Africa.
Institute for K-8 Teachers: The Sustainable Development Goals
Through a focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, participants will learn how today’s pressing global challenges are experienced in local communities around the world. Teachers will build knowledge and skills to infuse their classrooms with global content and perspectives, fostering student-led, project-based, solutions driven, standards-aligned teaching and learning. For more information and to register, email Vesna Dimitrieska at Vdimitri@iu.edu
New Summer Swahili Program for Middle & High School Students
ASP is offering the IU Swahili Program virtually this summer. The non-cost program is open to interested Middle and High School Students. Please contact Tavy Aherne (taherne@iu.edu) for more details.
ASP Spring Student Awards Ceremony Goes Virtual
Join us for a virtual ASP Spring Student Awards Ceremony, where we will recognize our Summer FLAS fellows, our volunteers, the graduating senior of the year, and recognize this year’s Hodge winner! See our Events page or the Friday Events Bulletin for further details and zoom link.
African Languages Festival – canceled
For the safety of our students and faculty, we regret to announce that we will be cancelling our spring African Languages Festival. We will miss seeing all of our students’ growth in their languages and the showcasing of their talents. We hope to be back together again next year.
Announcing GSAS 2020 Symposium
This year’s Graduate Students in African Studies (GSAS) Annual Symposium will be in April. The theme is “African Space and Mind: Progress and Challenges in the 21st Century.” For more information, please contact Samantha Hyde (samhyde@iu.edu).
Dr. Maria Grosz-Ngaté Delivers 2019 ASA Presidential Address
On November 22, former associate director of the IU African Studies Program, Maria Grosz-Ngaté, delivered the 2019 ASA Presidential Lecture “Knowledge and Power: Perspectives on the Production and Decolonization of African/ist Knowledges” at the annual African Studies Association meeting in Boston.
ASA Service Award Presented to John Hanson
At the 62nd Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association in Boston, John Hanson, director of the IU African Studies Program and Professor of History, received the 2019 ASA Service Award. He accepted the award together with his colleagues Jan Jansen (Leiden University), Dmitri van den Bersselaar (University of Leipzig), and Michael Doortmont (Leiden University).
Indiana University’s African Studies Program is a “preferred partner” in a network of universities in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and the United States associated with the University of Bayreuth’s seven-year Cluster of Excellence grant from the German Federal Government, awarded in 2019.
P.S. Vieyra: Pioneer of African Cinemas, Filmmaker, Producer and Historian Workshop
This fall, a two-day workshop was held focused on the work and legacy of Paulin Soumanou Vieyra. The workshop was organized by Vincent Bouchard (Associate Professor, French and Italian; African Studies affiliate faculty) and Terri Frances (Director, Black Film Center/Archive) with support from numerous entities at IU.
Religious Authority in Muslim Africa: Fragmentation & Plurality
The African Studies Program co-organized a workshop on the topic, “Religious Authority in Muslim Africa: Fragmentation and Plurality,” at the Indiana University European Gateway in Berlin from October 10-12, 2019. The initiative was led by John Hanson(African Studies Program) and Ron Sela (Islamic Studies Program), joined by Rüdiger Seesemann (University of Bayreuth) andTerje Østebø and Ben Soares(University of Florida).
African Studies Program is pleased to welcome new M.A. students
The ASP is pleased to welcome our new MA students: Trevor Phipps, Ibrahim Odugbemi, Barakaeli Mbise, and Samantha Hyde (not shown)!
African Studies Program is pleased to welcome 2019-2020 Fullbright Language Teaching Assistant
Karibu –welcome- to Twalha Kassaisa, African Studies Program’s 2019-2020 Swahili Fulbright Language Teaching Assistant!
The African Studies Program, the Wright School of Education’s P-16 Center, and several other HLS areas studies centers recently hosted the 2019 HLS Summer Institute.
Congratulations to this year’s cohort for the STARTALK Swahili summer language program
The African Studies Program congratulates this year’s cohort for the STARTALK Swahili summer language program!
Donation to ASP Outreach Collection
Thank you to Jeffrey Holdeman (Senior Lecturer, Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures; Director of the Global Living-Learning Center) who recently donated six beautifully embroidered men’s hats of West African origin. These will enrich the offerings of our ASP Outreach Lending Collection.
Donation to ASP Outreach Collection
Thank you to Jeanne Sept (Professor Emeritus, Anthropology) who donated numerous objects from her years of research on the African continent to our ASP Outreach Lending Collection. Among the objects are textiles and clothing from West and East Africa; Kenyan objects of adornment, children’s toys. incense pots, hair combs, earth pigments, and even a giant ostrich egg! We have already begun utilizing the objects in our outreach to K-12 classrooms.
Congratulations to this year’s Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) academic year fellows: Issac Agbetuyi (Yoruba); Erin Anderson (Arabic); Fashola Ayo-Igbala (Yoruba); Maggie FitzGerald (Zulu); Meghan Halaburda (Swahili); Marina Mecham (Zulu);Trevor Phipps (Kinyarwanda); Sydney Pleak (Zulu); Macy Richardson (Swahili); and, Caitlyn Wishmeyer (Swahili).
The 2019 ASP Pedagogy Awards were presented to Foluso Mary Okiebiorum, Victor Alabi, and Richard Nyamahanga. The award supports the conference participation to present research and undertake training at language pedagogy conferences.
This year’s Patrick O’Meara Travel Awards, in support of presentations at professional conferences, go to: Taiwo Ehinini (linguistics), Khalid Essassiah (History), and Sylvester Matete Makobi (Music in Literature & Performance). Congratulations, all!
2019 Outstanding ASP Graduate Student Named
Congratulations to this year’s ASP Carlton T. Hodge Prize winner, Sylvester Matete Makobi (ASP PhD Minor & PhD Candidate, Jacobs School of Music)! We thank Sylvester for his outstanding commitment to African Studies.
Bloomington area school-aged children in grades K-6 will be able to learn introductory KiSwahili
Bloomington area school-aged children in grades K-6 will be able to learn introductory KiSwahili through the award winning after-school program Bridges: Children, Languages, World.
Congratulations to Jenny Parker on her new appointment
Congratulations to Jenny Parker on her appointment as Director of the West Africa Research Association! Jenny is also completing an African Studies Program minor as a Ph.D. candidate in the IU Department of Anthropology. We wish her the best on her new endeavor in Boston, Massachusetts!
Alumna nominated for 2018 Herskovits Prize
IU ASP alumna Dr. Joanna Grabski (Art History) was nominated for the African Studies Association 2018 Herskovits Prize for her book, Art World City: The Creative Economy of Artists and Urban Life in Dakar (Indiana University Press). The annual award is for the best scholarly work on Africa, published in English, during the previous year.
IU Alumna will curate new exhibition at Northwestern University Block Museum of Art
IU alumna Kathleen Bickford Berzock (Ph.D., Art History) will curate an exciting new exhibition at the Northwestern University Block Museum of Art: Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Exchange across Medieval Saharan Africa. The exhibition runs January 26, 2019, through July 21, 2019.
The African Studies Program among 11 centers and programs to receive Title VI funding
The African Studies Program is excited to be included among eleven international centers and programs in the IU School of Global and International Studies to receive Title VI funding. This is a record number of SGIS centers to receive funding totaling $18.8 million.
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