FALL 2006

PDF VERSION OF FALL 2006 CALENDAR

Join New York University’s Africa House for events that look at political, economic, social and cultural aspects of Africa and its relationship with the world.

The following events are free and open to the public. People who are not members of the NYU community are encouraged to attend, but are reminded that some form of photo ID will be required to gain entrance to most NYU buildings.

We encourage anyone interested in learning more about these events or new developments at Africa House to subscribe to our email list by emailing africa.house@nyu.edu.

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Dramatized Reading
September 13 (7:00 - 8:30 p.m.)
King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Topic: Can I Be Me?
A provocative, interactive dramatised reading taken from the literary debut of international writer and broadcaster Esther Armah. The drama comes as a powerful excerpt on a post apartheid South Africa; brought to life via leading actress COLLETTE PORTEOUS, followed by a discussion with ESTHER ARMAH on mainstream media as new leadership, the dilemmas and challenges facing global black journalists when confronted on issues of race and reporting for mainstream media, and the struggle for belonging for those who come from more than one place and seek a space to call home.

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SPECIAL EVENT: VISIT BY PRESIDENT KIKWETE & OTHER AFRICAN LEADERS - View the gallery
September 19 (2:00 - 5:00 p.m.)
Jurow Lecture Hall
Topic: The ATA’s First Annual Presidential Forum Promoting Positive News from Africa topic: Building Links between Africa, the US and the Global Community
His Excellency Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete President Of the United Republic Of Tanzania
The Honorable Chief Olufemi Fani-Kayode Minister of Culture and Tourism, Federal Republic of Nigeria
His Excellency Nana Akufo-Addo* Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation & NEPAD The Republic of Ghana
*invited

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Africa House Special Event - View the gallery
September 27 (6:00 p.m.)
King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Topic: Islam, Africa, and the West:  A Roundtable Discussion
Moderated by Prof. Michael Gomez, New York University
Confirmed Speakers:
•           Ouseina Alidou, Africana Studies and Comparative Literature, Rutgers University
•           Sulayman S. Nyang, African Studies, Howard University
•           Asma Abdel Halim. Women's Studies, University of Toledo

Islam in Africa has a long and storied history, or set of histories, in subsaharan Africa as well as North Africa and Egypt. At a time of growing complexity and tension in the relations between the West and parts of the Muslim world, what are the perspectives of African Muslims on such relations, where does an Islamic Africa fit into the global equation, and how do the cultures, values, and struggles of African Muslims inform the developing conflict?

NOTE: For interested guests, arrangements are being made for prayer and the breaking of fast in observance of Ramadan

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Africana Social Sciences Seminar
October 5 (6:30 - 8:00 p.m.)
110 Fifth Ave., Room 445
TOPIC: Multilingualism in Africa
GUEST: Eyamba Bokamba, UIUC
Co-sponsored by FAS Linguistics
Prof. Bokamba from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an expert on multilingualism and the policy implications. This seminar brings the fields of sociolinguistics, development economics and political economy together for a discussion of the impact of multilingualism on African societies.

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African Diaspora Forum
October 10 (6:00 p.m.)
Room 324, King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Title:  From the field of the archives, to the archives of the field: Images and Imagination in Salvador, Bahia
A presentation by: Olivia Gomes da Cunha, History Department
Refreshments will be served

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Africa House and frontiere afrique film
October 18 (6:30 p.m.)
Screening Room, King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Title: Dance Got Me
Twelve years ago, an unemployed African teenager danced on the streets of a Zimbabwean township to earn enough money to eat. Today, his London-based contemporary dance company puts on shows at Sadlers Wells, the royal Opera House and the Place. This emotional program draws us into the roller-coaster ride he took to get there.

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Co-sponsored Event
October 18 (6:30 p.m.)
Furman Hall, Room 216
Topic: Role Of Women In Armed Conflict And In The New Somalia
Speaker: Asha Hagi, a Somali woman activist and a member Somalia’s transitional parliament
Co-sponsored by the African Affairs Committee of the NYC Bar Association and NYU's Law Students for Human Rights

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Africana Social Sciences Seminar
October 19 (6:30 - 8:00 p.m.)
110 Fifth Avenue, Room 445
TOPIC: Expanding Credit Access: Using Randomized Supply Decisions To Estimate the Impacts
GUEST: Dean Karlan, Yale University
A South African lender relaxed its risk assessment criteria by randomly approving some marginal applications that normally would have been rejected. Profs. Karlan and Zinman then estimated the resulting impacts using survey data on borrower behavior and well-being, and administrative data on loan repayment. The results must be interpreted with caution but suggest that consumer credit expansions can be welfare-improving.

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Co-Sponsored Event
October 24 (4:00 - 6:30 p.m.)
Partnership for Higher Education in Africa Open House
726 Broadway, 5th Floor
IGEMS NYU Steinhardt School of Education
Africa House is glad to help publicize an open house for the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa. Come learn about higher education initiatives in Africa

An initiative of Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Kindly please RSVP to provide a head count via (212) 998-5514 or doreen.lwanga@nyu.edu

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Co-Sponsored Event - View the Gallery
October 25 (4:00 - 5:30 p.m.)
Wagner School, Second Floor, Puck Building, 295 Lafayatte Street (cross with Houston)
Topic: Beyond Victimhood: A Panel Discussion on Securing a Role for Women in Peacebuilding
Co-sponsored with the International Crisis Group, United Nations Development Fund for Women, Initiative for Inclusive Security and the NGO Working Group for Women, Peace and Security.
Please RSVP by going to http://www.wagner.nyu.edu/events/oipfallevents.php and click on the link at the October 25th date.

Speakers

• Betty Bigombe - Senior Fellow US Institute of Peace and Senior Consultant Social Protection Sector Chief Mediator and Former Ugandan Government Minister
• Sally Merry - Professor of Anthropology and Law and Society, New York University
• Elisabeth Rehn - UNIFEM Independent Expert, Global Assessment on the Impact of War on Women and their Role in the Peace Process Former Finnish Defense Minister
• Barbara Bengura (TBC) - Founding Member and Regional Advisor, Women in Peacebuilding Network in Sierra Leone, National Coordinator, Grassroots Empowerment for Self Reliance, Former Secretary-General, Network on Collaborative Peacebuilding in Sierra Leone
• Breyten Breytenbach - Distinguished Global Professor in Creative Writing, New York University
• Noeleen Heyzer - Executive Director, UNIFEM

Moderators:

• Swanee Hunt - Director, Women and Public Policy Program, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
• Donald Steinberg - Vice President International Crisis Group, Former US Ambassador to Angola

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Africa House Special Event - View the gallery
October 30     
South African Chamber of Commerce Annual Gala
[INVITATION ONLY]

October 31
NYU Stern Global Business Institute / South African Chamber of Commerce Investment Conference
[INVITATION ONLY]

This year, Africa House is a co-host and co-sponsor of the South African Chamber of Commerce Association Annual Gala and Investment Conference, held in Kimmel. These events are reserved for invited guests of SACCA and NYU.

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Co-Sponsored Event
October 31 (12:30 - 1:30 p.m.)
Wagner School, Second Floor, Puck Building, 295 Lafayatte Street (cross with Houston)
Topic: TRANSFORMING SOCIAL CONVENTIONS FOR SOCIAL CHANGE: Game Theory, Health and Human Rights, and Abandoning Female Genital Cutting
Speaker: Molly Melching, Executive Director and Founder of Tostan
Awarded Sweden's Anna Lindh Award for Tostan's work in human rights, Molly Melching has earned international attention for cross-cutting results -- including reductions in infant and maternal mortality, school and birth registration campaigns, the emergence of female leadership, and the abandonment of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and early marriage by over 1700 communities in Senegal. Working with political scientist Dr. Gerry Mackie from the University of San Diego, Melching has developed a presentation that illustrates Mackie’s theory of how FGC and Chinese footbinding are social conventions related to marriage, and thus nearly impossible for one family to give up alone. Using careful historical research and game-theoretical analysis, Mackie has shown how in both China and Senegal a process of respectful, culturally adapted health information and its organized diffusion throughout intra-marrying groups led to a critical mass and tipping point.

Please join us for the rare opportunity to hear Molly Melching present this fascinating theory that has reshaped our understanding of social conventions, and to discuss the powerful story of the dynamic West African communities and community leaders that Tostan has followed and supported over the past 10 years.

Co-Hosted by NYU Master's Program in Global Public Health and NYU Wagner

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NYU IN GHANA STUDENT DOCUMENTARIES:
November 1 (6:00 - 8:00 p.m.)
Jurow Lecture Hall, Silver Center
Study Abroad Admissions and Africa House host a showing of student documentaries from the NYU in Ghana program. Past films have looked at cultural definitions of beauty, the relationship between Africans and African-Americans, and tribal divisions in Africa.

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Africana Social Sciences Conference - View the gallery
November 8 (11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)
Lipton Hall, NYU Law
Topic: African Agriculture

Agenda:
11:00-11:05 AM          Opening Remarks  
                                    William Easterly, NYU
11:05-12:30 PM          Factors Markets and Land Tenure in Africa
                                    Klaus Deininger, World Bank

12:30-2:30 PM           Break for lunch

2:30-3:45 PM               Millennium Villages Project in Africa
                                    Pedro Sanchez, Columbia University
3:45-5:00 PM               Trade and African Agriculture
                                    Kim Elliott, Center for Global Development
5:00-5:30 PM               Reception

African agricultural productivity has not seen the dramatic increase in growth (Green Revolution) that developing countries such as have India and China experienced over the past 50 years. Leading scholars of agronomy, trade, agricultural markets and institutions will discuss some of the issues that may be preventing Africa from realizing its great agricultural potential.

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Africa House Film Event
November 9 (6:30 - 9:00 p.m.)
Vanderbilt Hall, Room 210, 40 Washington Square South
Film: Betrayal of Democracy: Ethiopia
         With director Obang Metho

Refreshments will be provided!

Come see this riveting documentary ane hear remarks from Obang Methos on the crisis of democracy in Ethiopia and get a unique insider’s view into responsibility and change in the Horn of Africa.
 
Co-Sponsored by the New York City Bar Association
International Human Rights Committee, Scholars at Risk, NYU Africa House, and NYU Law Students for Human Rights

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Africa House & Steinhardt Art Event
November 14 (6:45 p.m.)
Main Auditorium, Barney Building
34 Stuyvesant St. (NW of 3rd avenue and 9th st)
Speaker: Sam Olou

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Africa House and frontiere afrique film
November 15 (6:30 p.m.)
Screening Room, King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Title: Homeland
by Jacqueline Kalimunda
-Winner of the Documentary Grand Prix, Vues D’Afrique Festival, Montreal 2006
The first Rwandan film about Rwanda. An original and optimistic representation of people enacting a newly conceived idea of nationhood. Kalimunda is able to speak to Rwandans in their language, on their terms, offering the type of perspective and ideas never before seen in any other film about Rwanda. Through personal stories, the characters in HOMELAND reveal their country, their lives and their future.

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African Graduate Student Reception
Thursday, November 16(4:30 - 6:30 p.m.)
The SCA Gallery Area, 7th floor, 51-41 East 11th St
*and friends and faculty

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Africana Social Sciences Seminar
November 21 (6:30 - 8:00 p.m.)
110 Fifth Ave., Room 445
Topic: Property Norms And State Emergence: A Test Of Property Rights Formation
Guest: Paul Dower, NYU PhD candidate
POSTPONED TO SPRING

This paper presents a model of informal property norms that argues the dependence of economic value on localized knowledge influences the form of property institutions; in particular, property rules become more individual as the importance of localized knowledge increases. The model is then employed to empirically assess how formal property rights emerge.

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November 27-December 1
Arts Colloquium - View the gallery
Ghana

November 30: Arts Lecture
KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
Speaker: FAS Humanities Dean, Edward Sullivan

December 1: Highlife Retrospective
Aviation Social Center, Accra, Ghana

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Africa House and frontiere afrique film
November 29 (6:30 p.m.)
Screening Room, King Juan Carlos Center, 53 Washington Square South
Theme: Films by Leslie To

Redefinition
A young girl’s world is disrupted by a unique exchange between herself and her friends and an old man.

NorthWestern University
A recent graduate ponders his future while putting up his diploma.

Release
Two young boys are called upon by strange women to do something extraordinary: save their village

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Africana Social Sciences Conference - View the gallery
December 5 (10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.)
Lipton Hall, NYU Law
Topic: Migration

Confirmed Speakers:
•           William Easterly, NYU
•           Yaw Nyarko, NYU
•           Michael Clemens, CGD
•           Devesh Kapur, University of Pennsylvania

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African History Lecture
December 6 (6:30 p.m.)
Location T.B.D.
Speaker: Emmanuel Akyeampong, Harvard