James L. A. Webb, Jr, Professor of History, Colby College will give a lecture at Mills International Center (EMU), Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 3-5pm

Dr. Webb is a scholar bridging the gap between the sciences and humanities in understanding patterns and processes of disease spread and control to provide a more complete picture of our relationship with malaria.

“Work in Africa: Slavery, Wage Labor, and Workers’ Rights”
Babacar Fall, Senegal
Thursday, April 21, 12 noon, Lawrence Hall

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Wednesday evenings, 7:00 p.m., 112 Lillis, five films about Africa: 4/20 Touki Bouki, 4/27 Moolaadé, 5/04 Lumumba, 5/11 Afrique je te plumeri, 5/18 Welcome to Nollywood. Film showings are free and open to the public.  For more information, contact mjstern@uoregon.edu.

“CHANGING POWER DYNAMICS AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH AFRICA: THE KO-FALEN  CENTER AND ITS CROSS-CULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAMS.” A talk given by Baba Wagué Diakité and Ronna Neuenschwander,  Artist/Writer/Storyteller/Executive Director and Artist/Managing  Director of Ko-Falen Cultural Center. The Ko-Falen Cultural Center, located in Bamako, Mali, is the  inspiration of Baba Wagué Diakité, a Malian artist and writer now living  in Portland, Oregon. Ko-Falen Cultural Center seeks to promote cultural,  artistic, and educational exchanges between the people of the United  States and Mali through art workshops, dance, music, and ceremony. Its  driving belief is that a greater understanding and respect between  people can be reached through these personal exchanges.  Diakite and  Neuenschwander will talk about their efforts to reverse power relations  between Africa and the West outside the traditional paradigm of Western  development.

Mr. Wallace Bain, UO alum (1986, Political Science and English) and Africa watcher at the Paris Embassy, will present a working lunch on career opportunities with the U.S. diplomatic service.  Wallace Bain has also served in Abidjan, Tunis, Nairobi, and Dakar.

“You Can’t Crush a Louse with Only One Thumb*: Integrating Biomedical and Sociocultural Approaches to HIV/AIDS in Africa,” will include two days of lectures, panel discussions and workshops on Friday, April 3, and Saturday, April 4. “The premise of ‘You can’t crush a louse with only one thumb’ is that isolated biomedical or sociocultural approaches to HIV/AIDS in Africa will not succeed,” said Janis Weeks, UO biology professor and co-director of the conference. “Conference participants will explore the view that an integrated biomedical and sociocultural approach to this disease is the most promising and effective way forward.”

Dr. Marna Broekhoff, former instructor in the American English Institute

Friday, February 6, 12:30 to 2 in the AEI’s Computer Lab, Room 113 in Pacific Hall
Dr. Marna Broekhoff will show photos and speak about her experiences last year in Namibia as an English Language Fellow for the US State Department. She started a writing center at the country’s only university, worked with reporters at the only independent newspaper, organized the largest English teacher’s conference in the country’s history, and helped an NGO empower women by encouraging them to write about their experiences in a very male dominated society.

Marna faced many challenges in these endeavors, including charges of espionage and theft.

Malian Griots Mondjou and Salif Kone

Guest artists this year’s Dance Africa Performances

Thursday, Jan 22-24, 8pm, Dougherty Dance Theatre in Gerlinger
Annex

We are fortunate to have a huge following and usually sell out
as soon as the doors open and, unfortunately, we turn hundreds away
every year. [So be in line early!]

Mondjou and Salif Koné were born into the well-known Koné Griot family of Mali and Burkina Faso. The Griots of West Africa are world renown for their unique ability to record events carefully and accurately, and are a highly respected caste of historians, musicians and healers. One cannot learn to become a Griot; rather one is born into it.

As a young girl Mondjou Koné performed with her Griot father’s band singing, dancing and playing the Djembe, Bala, Dundun, Kora and Tama. Mondjou also performed with the National Ballet of Burkina Faso, and toured Europe as the lead singer with her brother’s group Surutukunu. She first came to the United States to help translate a documentary about the last 20 years of her family’s musical tradition and history. For the past nine years Mondjou has taught and performed throughout the US as a much sought after and popular educator. She received the Calabash Award for her excellence in ethnic arts in Santa Cruz, CA in 2003.

Salif Koné is a djeli (griot) who began studying traditional music when he was two years old. When he was eight years old he joined the national group of young musicians in Burkina Faso, Maison des Jeunes du Burkina, traveling all over Africa. At 14, he became the youngest musician ever to join the National Ballet of Burkina Faso. He traveled throughout Europe and Africa as a percussion soloist with the National Ballet. Salif visited the United States in 2000 to share his culture and returned in 2002 to live in Santa Cruz, California. He has performed all over the United States and taught workshops in universities throughout the country. Currently, he resides in Santa Cruz with his wife, teaching classes, performing traditional music, and working on his own album.

Institute of Neuroscience and African Studies Program

The frontline battle on HIV/AIDS in rural Zimbabwe”

Thursday, January 22, 2009
4:00 p.m., Room 110 Willamette Hall

Requests for accommodations related to disability should be made to Peg Morrow @ 346-5222

Weeks’s research program investigates how hormones affect the structure and function of the nervous system (click here for details).

During the past decade Weeks has become increasingly involved with Africa. Since 1996 she has taught in and organized advanced neuroscience courses in Africa for graduate and medical students, under the auspices of the African Regional Committee of the International Brain Research Organization (http://www.ibro.org/). These short courses provide intensive training in neuroscience and career development skills for African students from all over the continent. Weeks is a student of Zimbabwean music (mbira and marimba) and the Education Director of the Kutsinhira Cultural Arts Center, a not-for-profit organization in Eugene dedicated to the music and people of Zimbabwe (http://www.kutsinhira.org/kutsinhira.php). She has studied with Zimbabwean master musicians in Eugene and Zimbabwe. To broaden the scope of Africa-themed classes at UO, Weeks offered a new undergraduate course “The Biology of Tropical Disease: Africa” (Bi399) beginning in spring, 2006. This course, which she enhanced with grant-funded trips to Zimbabwe and Senegal, is so popular, it consistently fills with a waiting list. She is also involved in arranging new internship opportunities in Africa for UO students interested in biomedical research.

Janis C. Weeks (full bio at Biology Dept website)
e-mail: weeks@uoneuro.uoregon.edu
voice: 541-346-4517
fax: 541-346-4548
office: 209 Huestis Hall

Janis Weeks with Cosmas Magaya and his aunt Patricia Magaya. Mhondoro tribal trust area, Zimbabwe, 2005.