Institute of African Studies - Carleton University

October 23 2015

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African Studies Newsletter

Book Launch & Talk: Women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa

9780773545908

The Institute of African Studies Presents a Public Talk and Book Launch –
“On Their Own: Women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa”

with

Allison Goebel, Queen’s University

 

Allison Goebel is an Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Studies at Queen’s University.  She is the author of Gender and Land Reform: The Zimbabwe Experience and will be talking about her next, and newly released, book with McGill-Queen’s University Press, On Their Own. Copies of the book (courtesy of Octopus Books) can be purchased after her talk.

African Film Festival of Ottawa – Last Weekend!

In partnership with Carleton University’s Film Studies program and Institute of African Studies and the Group of African Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Ottawa, the Canadian Film Institute is proud to present the inaugural edition of the African Film Festival of Ottawa.

All films at the River Building Theatre, Carleton University.

More information at http://carleton.ca/africanstudies/cu-events/african-film-festival-of-ottawa/

Friday, 23 October 7pm
KWAKU ANANSE
dir. Akosua Adoma Owusu, Ghana, 2013, 26 min.

The traditional West African fable of Kwaku Ananse is combined with the story of a young outsider named Nyan Koronhwea attending her estranged father’s funeral. Nyan’s father led two separate lives with two wives and two families – one in Ghana, one in the United States. Nyan’s ambivalence about her father’s double life is a reflection of a broader truth about the nature of our personal relationships.
PEGASE (Pegasus)
dir. Mohamed Mouftakir, Morocco, 2010, 104 min.
Talented writer-director Mouftakir’s acclaimed first feature is a penetrating psychological drama about memory, gender, and the clash of the old and the new in contemporary Morocco. Zineb is an emotionally exhausted psychiatrist assigned to Rihana, a traumatized and pregnant young woman found in the street muttering unintelligibly about “The Lord of the Horse.” A flashback sequence returns us to Rihana’s childhood, where her dictatorial father, horseman chief of his tribe, raises her as the son his legacy demands. Trapped in parental delusions, Rihana falls in love with a young man with whom she carves out the beginnings of her own life. Soon, Rihana’s story awakens repressed thoughts in Zineb’s own troubled mind, and reality merges into a haunted fever-dream of fear and denial in this visually striking, award-winning psychological thriller.

Saturday, 24 October 4pm
TWAAGA
dir. Cedric Ido, Burkina Faso, 2013, 30 min.
Burkina Faso in 1987 is a country in the throes of revolution. Manu, an eight-year-old who loves comics, tags along with Albert, his big brother. When Albert decides to undergo a magic ritual to become invincible, Manu realizes there are real powers to rival those of his comic-book superheroes.

NAIROBI HALF LIFE
dir. David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga, Kenya, 2012, 96 min.
Screened at the 2013 Pan African Film Festival, NAIROBI HALF LIFE revolves around the story of Mwas, an aspiring young actor who moves to the big city, as so many do, to realize his dreams. Playing on Nairobi’s nickname “Nairobbery,” Mwas experiences the harsh realities of big city life early. The film then follows him as he hooks up with a group of local thieves who become a band of brothers. The film depicts their antics, as well as Mwas’s efforts to break into acting. He ends up leading a double life as a petty crook and that of an aspiring actor. The two lives become increasingly intertwined as the film’s climax features a series of unexpected twists. Gritty and energetic, the film also maintains a sense humour throughout. Impresssive.
Saturday, 24 October 7pm

OF GOOD REPORT
dir. Jahmil X.T. Qubeka, South Africa, 2013, 101 min.

“The drama concerns a shy, spindly, bespectacled young man called Parker Sithole, played by Mothusi Magano. Parker is new in town, having turned up to take a job teaching English literature in a high school: we see him earnestly preparing lessons on Keats and Shakespeare. He is, as his headteacher puts it, ‘of good report,’ with a great degree result and fine references. But his landlady doesn’t trust this quiet, secretive new tenant, and Parker’s male colleague, a boozy reprobate called Vuyani recognises a strange darkness in him. Parker is troubled by family memories and flashbacks to gruesome military service in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and his lethally non-mousy side is revealed when there is a spark of desire between him and a pert teenage girl in his class. Their affair unleashes a macabre spasm of sexual obsession and violence. Watching this brazenly shocking and gripping film, I remembered the feeling I had on seeing Christopher Nolan’s low-budget black-and-white debut, FOLLOWING. Here is a director who is going places.”
– Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian)

Sunday, 25 October 4pm

LUMUMBA
dir. Raoul Peck, Haiti, 2000, 115 min.
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the first Prime Minister of the independent Congo, Patrice Lumumba. Using newly discovered historical evidence, Haitian-born and Congo-raised writer and director Raoul Peck renders an emotional and tautly woven account of this mail clerk and beer salesman with a flair for oratory and an uncompromising belief in the capacity of his homeland to build a prosperous nation independent of its former Belgian overlords. Lumumba emerges here as the heroic sacrificial lamb dubiously portrayed by the international media and led to slaughter by commercial and political interests in Belgium, the United States of America, the international community, and Lumumba’s own administration; a true story of political intrigue and murder where political entities, captains of commerce, and the military dovetail in their quest for economic and political power.

Event @ uOttawa: Politics in the Shadow of the Gun: The Political Legacies of Rebellions for Party Politics after Civil War (in Burundi and Beyond)

Katrin color

Event Date: November 11, 2015 – 4:30 pm
Location: Social Sciences Building, 120 University Pvt., room 4004

KATRIN WITTIG, Université de Montréal.

Presented by the CIPS and the Fragile States Research Network (FSRN).
Free. In English with bilingual question period. Registration is not required. Seating is limited and available on a first come, first served basis.

Since the end of the Cold War, the transformation of rebel groups into political parties has become one way of integrating former armed movements into the ‘post-conflict’ political order during liberal war-to-peace transitions. Over the last years, scholars and practitioners have examined the specific conditions under which rebel groups decide to transform into political parties. However, the long-term implications for peace, democratization and party politics have received only limited attention. How does the history and legacy of armed struggle affect the way in which former rebel groups engage in politics after officially renouncing the armed struggle? This presentation discusses this question by looking at the specific case of Burundi, where two major rebel groups converted into the current ruling party and a major opposition force.

Katrin Wittig is a PhD student and a 2012 Trudeau Scholar in the Political Science Department at the Université de Montréal. She is specialising in questions related to conflict resolution, peace processes and the promotion of democracy in societies emerging from civil conflict, especially in the African Great Lakes Region. In her doctoral thesis, she examines the transformation of rebel groups into political parties and the integration of ex-combatants into the post-conflict society.

*Please note: Photos and/or video recordings of this event may be posted on the CIPS website, newsletter and/or social media accounts.

– See more at: http://cips.uottawa.ca/event/politics-in-the-shadow-of-the-gun-the-political-legacies-of-rebellions-for-party-politics-after-civil-war-in-burundi-and-beyond/#sthash.86DQhNI5.dpuf

CERCLECAD: « Vers une réédition du drame ethnique au Burundi ?»

 

La prochaine conférence mensuelle de CERCLECAD aura lieu le samedi 31 octobre 2015 comme d’habitude à 15H00, dans la salle du Sénat de l’Université d’Ottawa, au sous-sol du pavillon Tabaret (Salle 083), 75, Avenue Laurier Est ou 119, Rue Wallers ou 550, Rue Cumberland).

Elle sera donnée par Monsieur Isaac NIZIGAMA sous le titre suivant : « Vers une réédition du drame ethnique au Burundi ? Réflexion sur la situation politique burundaise actuelle à partir du livre intitulé : Murundi qui es-tu ? Genèse et évolution de l’identité citoyenne déchirée au Burundi, des origines à nos jours, Éditions l’Harmattan, Paris, mars 2015. »

La Conférence sera modérée par le professeur Benoît AWAZI MBAMBI KUNGUA (Philosophe, Sociologue et Théologien, Président du CERCLECAD).

 

Un moment de convivialité et de réseautage autour de beignets, de brochettes, de liqueurs et du vin, clôturera dans la joie notre conférence. Quelques ouvrages des auteurs du Cerclecad (notamment : Benoît Awazi Mbambi KunguaPanorama de la théologie négro-africaine contemporaine, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2002 ; Donation, Saturation et Compréhension. Phénoménologie de la donation et phénoménologie herméneutique : Une alternative, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2005 ; Le Dieu Crucifié en Afrique. Esquisse d’une Christologie négro-africaine de la libération holistique, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2008, Panorama des Théologies négro-africaines anglophones, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2008 ; De la Postcolonie à la Mondialisation néolibérale. Radioscopie éthique de la crise négro-africaine contemporaine, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2011 ; Déconstruction phénoménologique et théologique de la Modernité occidentale. Michel Henry, Hans Urs von Balthasar et Jean-Luc Marion, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2015 & Judith HouedjissinLes Administrations publiques africaines. Sortir de l’inefficacité : le cas du Bénin, L’Harmattan, Paris, 2008) seront exposés pour la vente. Nous exhortons vivement les membres et tous les amis du Cerclecad (ceux qui vivent au Canada et ailleurs dans le monde), de bien vouloir se procurer ces articles qui nous permettent d’amortir quelque peu nos frais de fonctionnement et acquérir progressivement l’autonomie financière, gage de notre liberté de recherche et d’expression.

Notice autobiographique  du Dr. Isaac NIZIGAMA

 Isaac Nizigama, Ph.D. théorie sociologique des religions (Université de Montréal) et M.A. philosophie (Université de Sherbrooke), est un ancien grand séminariste qui abandonna la voie du sacerdoce au sein du catholicisme à deux ans de son ordination (Vatican, Italie). Devenu citoyen canadien dès 2004, ordonné pasteur protestant évangélique en janvier 2011, Isaac Nizigama est actuellement professeur en sciences des religions et en philosophie dans des universités canadiennes. Il œuvre également dans le secteur privé comme chercheur indépendant et entrepreneur.
À titre d’écrivain, Isaac Nizigama a produit plusieurs écrits (articles scientifiques et contributions à des ouvrages collectifs) surtout en sciences sociales des religions. Il s’est toutefois toujours intéressé à la recherche sociohistorique sur l’Afrique en général et sur la région des Grands Lacs africains en particulier, à laquelle il contribue souvent par des articles de presse et dans le cadre de laquelle le livre présenté ici se situe comme l’une de ses contributions majeures

Ottawa World Music Festival :FREE Full Day Family Event

October 24: FREE EVENT
Full Day Family Event
What?
This is a full day event as part of the Ottawa World Music Festival (MMF). The main objective of this festival is to bring the African and Caribbean community in the National Capital region together and organize a multicultural talent show/event. Presentations by different institutions and workshops with famous artists will be show cased. children’s entertainment with clown cap will be on site. Also attend the multicultural soccer tournament on Oct. 23
EVERYONE IS WELCOME!
Where?

Ottawa Marriott, Cartier 1 Salon   100 Kent Street, Ottawa,ONTARIO,K1P 5R7

When?
October 24, 2015 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Multicultural Soccer tournament
October 23, 2015 9:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.                                                            
Dôme Louis Riel
Address: 1659 Bearbrook Rd, Gloucester, ON K1B 4N3
Cost: FREE – Please share this public invitation to RSVP with your friends, family, colleagues and your network

REMINDER – 2015 International Conference on China and Africa Sustainable Urbanization: A Canadian and International Perspective

We are pleased to announce that UN-Habitat and the University of Ottawa will be hosting the first ever International Conference on Chinese and African Sustainable Urbanization (ICCASU) at the University of Ottawa, between October 24 and 25, 2015. This conference is now open to the general public for registration (please visit at http://chinaeam.uottawa.ca/ICCASU/?p=713).

This interdisciplinary conference will explore urban challenges in China and African states with both a Canadian and international perspective. Specifically, the ICCASU will feature panels on urban development in China, Canada and African nations, as well as a special workshop on urbanization and identity-based tension (please see the program overview at http://chinaeam.uottawa.ca/ICCASU/?page_id=159). The ICCASU enjoys the support of prominent keynote speakers including Caroline Andrew, Alioune Badiane, Jonathan Barnett, Joe Berridge, Allan Cain, H.E. ANU’A-GHEYLE-Solomon-AZOH-MBI, Chaolin Gu, Evelyn Peters and John Zacharias. Scholars and practitioners across a wide range of disciplines and cultural backgrounds will gather at the University of Ottawa to discuss the aforementioned topics, thus providing an opportunity for discussions regarding Chinese and Canadian engagement in African states and strengthening ! the partnerships.

For more information on ICCASU, please visit at http://chinaeam.uottawa.ca/ICCASU/.

Regular audience price: $150

Special local Universities (in Ottawa area) student rate* for a two-day Conference pass

(Deadline is September 30th):

$ 15 (refreshments + African Night)
$ 35 (refreshments + lunches + African Night)
*A valid student ID is required in the entrance of the ICCASU conference day.

Registration and Payment Method:
E-transfer: canadianchinathinking@gmail.com
By cash in person:
SMD038A, University of Ottawa
Mr. Gaoxiang Li, GLI105@UOTTAWA.CA, 613-619-4668

Globalink Research Award – MHESR Tunisia

Mitacs is now accepting applications for competitive international research opportunities for student travel to Tunisia. The deadline to apply is Friday November 20, 2015, at 5 p.m. PST. Results will be announced in February 2016 and research projects can begin any time between February 2016 and December 31, 2016.

Please distribute this information to your networks wherever possible, including to:

o   Students at Canadian universities interested in conducting research in Tunisia

o   Faculty in Tunisia interested in hosting research students from Canada

o   Faculty in Canada and Tunisia interested in creating or deepening international collaborations

o   University administrators or staff at Tunisian universities who can distribute this information to interested professors

For students in Canada to do research in Tunisia:

o   Open to senior undergraduates and graduate students

o   12- to 24-week projects at accredited universities in Tunisia

o   $7,000 award

To learn more, visit the Globalink web page or contact Mitacs International at international@mitacs.ca.

Bourse de recherche Mitacs Globalink – MESRS Tunisie

Mitacs reçoit maintenant les demandes dans le cadre d’un concours international offrant la chance aux étudiants de mener de la recherche en Tunisie. La date limite pour présenter une demande est le vendredi 20 novembre 2015 à 17 h (HNP). Les résultats seront annoncés en février 2016 et les projets de recherche peuvent débuter en tout temps entre février 2016 et le 31 décembre 2016.

Veuillez diffuser ces renseignements à tous vos réseaux, notamment :

o   Les étudiants des universités canadiennes désireux de faire de la recherche en Tunisie

o   Les membres du corps professoral en Tunisie désireux d’accueillir des étudiants chercheurs du Canada

o   les membres du corps professoral au Canada ou en Tunisie désireux de forger ou de renforcer des collaborations internationales

o   Les administrateurs universitaires ou le personnel des universités tunisiennes pouvant diffuser cette information aux professeurs intéressés

Pour les étudiants au Canada qui veulent faire de la recherche en Tunisie :

    • Programme ouvert aux finissants du premier cycle et étudiants des cycles supérieurs
    • Projets de recherche de 12 à 24 semaines réalisés dans les universités agréées en Tunisie

o    Bourse de 7 000 $

Pour en savoir davantage, veuillez consulter la page Globalink ou contactez Mitacs International par courriel à international@mitacs.ca.

CALL FOR PAPERS: “Beyond Boundaries”

MESAAS Graduate Student Conference, 25-26 February 2016

Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies

Columbia University in the City of New York

 

Submission Deadline:  1 January, 2016

Submission instructions:

 http://mesaasgradconference.cdrs.columbia.edu

 

The Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University is pleased to invite abstract submissions for the MESAAS Graduate Student Conference 2016, which will take place on 25-26 February, at Columbia University. We invite graduate students of all disciplines and stages of study related to the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa to present their latest research to a supportive, critical audience.

 

A core aspect of the intellectual community at MESAAS lies in its aspiration to move beyond regional and disciplinary divisions. While many of us are grounded in a specific region or discipline, we all benefit from exploring questions that are echoed in the work of colleagues who study neighboring regions and fields.

 

We therefore especially encourage submissions that can contribute to our collective interdisciplinary and interregional perspective. We also welcome submissions from students whose work, though grounded in a particular field, aims to examine the conceptual grounding of that field and its theoretical assumptions and methods.

 

This year’s themes for the conference include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

 

  • Literatures and aesthetics
  • Knowledge systems, classical and contemporary
  • Genealogies of the political
  • Religious studies
  • Histories, disciplinary and subaltern

 

Students interested in presenting a paper should submit a 300 word abstract through the conference website:

http://mesaasgradconference.cdrs.columbia.edu by January 1st, 2016.

 

Notifications will be sent in early February.
For other inquiries, please contact us via: mesaasgradconference@gmail.com

IAS News – Pius Adesanmi’s presentation in Lagos

Videos of Pius Adesanmi’s presentation in Lagos

Videos of Professor Pius Adesanmi’s presentation, entitled “Leaders Should Develop a Culture of National Contempt,” at The Platform in Lagos, Nigeria, commemorating Independence Day, October 1, 2015 can be found on our YouTube channel here.

IAS News – Videos of Recent Events are Now Posted

Videos of two recent events (co-)organized by the Institute of African Studies are now posted on our YouTube channel:

* A video of The Institute of African Studies, the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture and Sahan Literary Forum event, “Can the Somali Speak?,” with Safia Aidid and Hawa Mire from October 7th can be found here .

* A video of the Institute of African Studies  Brownbag Seminar talk entitled “Integrated systems and the future of OXFAM’s work in Africa” with Neal McCarthy, Oxfam America from October 14th can be found here .

 
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