(KASC) Formerly African Studies Resource Center at the Univ

KANSAS AFRICAN STUDIES NEWSLETTER Kansas African Studies Center, University of Kansas, Vol. XI, No. 2, Fall 2004

This is the fall newsletter of the Kansas African Studies Center (KASC) at the University of Kansas. Its mission is to report on our on-going activities and announcements of forthcoming events. We had a successful fall semester and have exciting plans for the spring semester, 2005. Our Af- rican Studies Seminar on African immigrants was very successful and gave us a unique opportunity to meet and listen to representatives of African communities in Kansas as well as to interface with organizations such as Jewish Vocational Services and Catholic Charities who work on settlement of African immigrants in our region. The seminar deliberations have produced a grant from the Kansas Humanities Council to investigate the settlement of new African immigrants in Kansas. The semester has wit- nessed a revitalization of our expertise in grant writing as we also won a grant from the Kansas University Center for Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas (middle in pink) with Research to help the Center prepare for the Title VI Africanist faculty, staff, and students during her visit to competition in fall 2005. We enjoyed the visits of four KU last October distinguished Africanist guest speakers. We are also very Successful fall seminar yields grant to continue study excited to be welcoming and celebrating the arrival of of African immigrants in Kansas: A successful fall candidates for the four Africanist faculty positions granted seminar on immigrant African communities in Kansas, by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The College coordinated by Khalid El-Hassan, brought to campus deserves our appreciation for their continued support of representatives of a dozen immigrant communities and African Studies at KU. Khalid El-Hassan, editor. organizations. Working with these connections and our

preliminary insights, KASC submitted a proposal to the In this issue: Kansas Humanities Council in the "We the People" com- • A Word from the Director (p. 1) petition, and received a grant to continue research, hold • Calendar of Events (p. 2) community meetings, and prepare an hour-long video • Welcome Professor Gitti Salami (p. 3) film for viewing on Public TV about new African immi- • Article on “Islam, Love, and Politics in Southwestern grant communities. The project is called "Identity, Morocco: Ishilhin Women's Religious Ritual Chants,” Voice, and Community in New Immigrant African by Margaret Rausch (p. 4) Communities in Kansas." • News and Noteworthy Achievements (p. 7) • Swahili Language and Culture in Tanzania, by Sarah Undergraduate interdisciplinary African Studies pro- Smiley (p. 12) gram on verge of approval as "minor": The Under- • KASC Fall 2004 Photo Gallery (p. 13). graduate Program in African Studies that was developed by the Curriculum Committee over a year ago (see A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR Newsletter fall 2003) was reviewed this fall by the Pro- By: John Janzen gram Changes & Revisions subcommittee of CUSA (the College's Committee for Undergraduate Studies & Ad- These "words from the director" may resemble the annual vising) In mid-December the committee finally ruled holiday letters we write and receive. In the absence of one that our "certificate" program would best be structured big event, trip, or tragedy, life consists of many small or as a "minor" with the course clusters, administered by mid-sized events that are usually reported in bulleted para- KASC. Our proposal served as guinea pig for the Col- graphs about developments for which we are thankful and lege's review of certificates, minors, concentrations, and that we want to share with our friends. Were we the typical other program features. Finally, in January, 2005, family, the highlights below might appear under such ban- CUSA unanimously approved our interdisciplinary pro- ners as "Our children are healthy and successful," "Junior's gram as a "minor," to be jointly administered with career prospects are getting better," "the family is growing AAAS. That is, there will be a single African Studies even though some retire and others move away," "Triennial Minor, with the Center in charge of advising, records, reunion will reveal true character of family," and "family and course promotion for students across the University treasures increase." Here are a few highlights from the (outside of AAAS). See the Center website for the fea- Kansas African Studies Center family during the second tures of the course clusters in the minor. half of 2004.

Comings and goings of KU Africanists: In the Africanist is planned on the global story of the late 19th century community there have been the usual sabbatical leaves, re- piece from Western Equatorial Africa. search projects, retirements, career changes, and new arri- vals. Liz MacGonagle was in Iceland on a Fulbright Grant; These are a few of the highlights from KASC in the fall Sandra Gray and graduate student Mary Sundal were in semester of 2004. Read the rest of this Newsletter for Northern Uganda to study Karamojong pastoral women and other details, faces, and developments, or check our childhood growth and development in relation to endemic website. We wish all our readers a prosperous and violence; Byron Caminero-Santangelo was on sabbatical meaningful New Year in 2005. leave; Jake Gordon retired after 35 years at KU, and published an anthology African Studies for the 21st Century; Beau Roland Pritchett has left KU Study Abroad to work in Madagascar with the SIT Undergraduate Field Study Pro- gram (perhaps we can send him some students); we welcome Gitti Salami, assistant professor of African Art His- tory; four new searches are underway in African Studies: African Languages and Swahili in AAAS; Francophone African Literature in the Department of French & Italian; African Politics in Political Science and Women's Studies; An Africanist Linguist in Linguistics and AAAS.

Title VI National Resource Center proposal due in 2005: We are once again in the year of preparing a Title VI Na- tional Resource Center proposal to the Department of Edu- cation. The 2004-5 academic year represents our base year on which we will be evaluated. KASC has received a $15,000 Major Proposal Preparation Grant (MPPG) grant A scene from the African Studies seminar with representa- from the Kansas University Center for Research to help in tives of the African immigrant communities in Kansas City this effort. These funds will support an institutional research assistant in the person of Stephanie Kirmer, provide SPRING 2005 CALENDAR site visit travel support for the director and associate direc- 1. African Studies Seminar “Religion in Africa: Con- tor to visit the programs at the University of Pennsylvania tested Truths and Engaged Passions,”Alcove E, Kansas and Michigan State University, and to bring to KU for a Union and Room 109 Bailey Hall, Tuesday afternoons review and site visit MSU's long-time successful African from 3:30-5:00 Studies Center director David Wiley in late spring. The

Executive Committee has begun to deliberate on program Tuesday February 1 “Religious Pluralism in Tanzania,” priorities and future directions in this connection. The Garth Myers, Professor of Geography and African Stud- spring meeting of the African Studies Council will host ies, KU. David Wiley on our program and how to strengthen it, and how to prepare the proposal to the Department of Educa- Tuesday March 1 “Islam, Love, and Culture in Morocco: tion. Ishilhin Women’s Religious Ritual Chants,” Margaret

Rausch, Professor of Religious Studies, KU, Room 109, New acquisitions in African Studies resources: An area Bailey Hall. studies program such as ours gains stature through the ac- quisition of original primary resources such as books, publi- Tuesday March 29 "The Role of Religion in Interper- cations, films, and cultural objects. Ken Lohrentz, our Afri- sonal Relationships in West Africa: Management of Po- cana bibliographer, established on a firmer footing a proce- tential Enemies," Glenn Adams, Professor of Psychol- dure to acquire publications of nearly fifty African publish- ogy, KU ers. The publishers and some recent titles may be found on the Resources section of the KASC website. Unique cul- Tuesday April 12 “Coptic Christianity and the Arab tural objects also are added to our African collections, Conquest of Egypt: Amr to Almutawkkil” Mohamed El- though this process is often serendipitous. When Wolfgang Hodiri, Professor of Economics, KU and Susan Hamburger of Atchison, Kansas sought a recipient for their century-old Loango carved ivory, they ap- proached the Center. Consultation with experts in African Tuesday May 10 “Which are we? Beasts because we art through Associate Professor Gitti Salami revealed the Make War, or Angels because we Seek to Make it into piece to be genuine and worthy. A late spring mini-seminar

Something Holy: Sudan in an Era of Holy Wars,” Karen WELCOME PROFESSOR GITTI SALAMI Zacharias, Ph.D. Candidate By: Khalid El-Hassan

2. "Entrepreneurial Islam," Workshop on Islamic Bank- ing and Entrepreneurs, Friday April 1st – Saturday April 2nd co-sponsored by the KU Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER).

3. "Carved African Ivory: Local images & global connections of a 19th century Loango tusk." Mini-conference with Professor Wyatt MacGaffey, Murphy Visiting Lecturer, Wednesday April 13, 2005, 1:00 – 7:00 p.m.

4. UJAMAA Brown Bag Series, Alcove F, the Kansas Un- ion, Wednesdays 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Wednesday January 26, “Background to Conflict in Dar- fur,” Ibrahim Sabiel, Senior Software Developer, Anteon Corporation, Topeka, Hassaballa Hassaballa and Karim Khatir, educators at Community Living Opportunity (CLO), Lawrence. Gitti Salami, Assistant Professor, AAAS and Art History Wednesday February 9, “Women Writing History: Under- mining the Imperialist Construction of Race and Gender in Gitti Salami, Assistant Professor, Departments of Afri- Three Black Women's Text,” Selbee Diouf, Ph. D. candi- can & African-American Studies and Art History, is a date, English Department at KU. significant addition to our Africanist community at KU. She has started her teaching career at KU this past Wednesday February 23, “New and Old in Eritrea” David fall. She also has consistently attended the Center’s Frayer, Professor of Anthropology, KU sponsored activities including seminars and Ujamaa . brownbags. Ms Salami holds her M.A. from the Uni- Wednesday March 9, “The New Government in Somalia,” versity of Iowa in 1999 and her B.A. from San Fran- Abdirahman Gutale, KU student cisco State University, 1997. She anticipates getting her Ph.D. from the University of Iowa early in the Wednesday April 6, “Why I Love Africa? Reflections and spring semester of 2005. Previously, she has been a Thoughts from a Recent Tour” Ray Woods, Africanist Visiting Professor at Southern Methodist University, Businessman, Independence, Kansas. Dallas; at DePaul University, Chicago; and an Adjunct Instructor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Wednesday April 20, “Environmental Research in Ethio- pia,” Valery Terwilliger, Associate Professor, Geography. Ms Salami’s academic expertise lies within the cultural region of the Cross River State in southeastern Nigeria. Wednesday May 4, “Status of Information Technology in She studies the new yam festivals of the Upper Cross Africa,” Gilbert Karuga, Assistant Professor, School of River and the culture of the Yakurr people in particu- Business. lar. She is a native German speaker, is fluent in Eng-

th lish, has studied French at an advanced level, and Lo- 5. The Third World Music Festival, Sunday April 10 at kaa at an introductory level. Ms Salami published two 7:00 p.m., Liberty Hall. articles on African arts and she is currently a member of the African Studies Association, the Arts Council of 6. Summer Teacher Institute Monday June 14 to Friday the African Studies Association, and the College Art June 25, 2005 Association.

Professor Salami teaches introductory and advanced

courses on African Art history including courses fo-

cusing on West African, Central African, South and

East African, and Contemporary African art. Graduate

seminars on body art (global perspective) and on the

art of Southeastern Nigeria will be offered in the future. ISLAM, LOVE AND POLITICS IN SOUTHWESTERN She has also taught a course on Caribbean Art with a fo- MOROCCO: ISHILHIN WOMEN'S RELIGIOUS focus on Haiti. RITUAL CHANTS

By: Margaret Rausch, Professor of Religious Studies, KU Gelede mask, Nigeria, Palmer Collection, KU Over the past three years, I have been conducting re- Museum of Anthropology search on Religious rituals held by the Ishilhin women, a form of Islamic communal worship unique to the Souss region of southwestern Morocco. Ishilhin speak Tashil- hit, one of three Moroccan Berber dialects, and reside primarily in the Souss region, which comprises the Anti- Atlas Mountains, adjacent to the Atlantic coastal plain Professor Salami’s fall 2004 class “Introduction to Afri- and southern Draa valley. The Imazighn, speakers of a can Art” was exceptionally successful and shows a great second Moroccan Berber dialect, Tamazight, inhabit deal of talent and teaching innovations. Professor Salami mainly the central High Atlas Mountains of central Mo- gave the students of this class a choice of ending the se- rocco and Irifin, or Tarifit speakers, live in the north- mester by writing a research paper or performing a mas- eastern Rif Mountains. While many continue to live ac- querade. According to Professor Salami, masquerading is cording to age-old customs in rural areas, other speakers a genre of art that doesn’t really exist anywhere else ex- of these three Berber dialects have migrated to Moroc- cept in Africa. It shows that the tangible world and the can and European urban centers, large and small. Of the spirit world are connected. Ten students of this African three groups, the Ishilhin have been the most active in a Art class worked together from the beginning of the se- movement begun in the 1970s to revive Berber cultural mester to put together a masquerade performance from heritage and gain recognition for Berbers, who consti- what they learned about art and culture. They all came to- tuted the original inhabitants of North Africa and make gether on Tuesday morning December 7 in the tunnel be- up over 50 percent of Morocco's population today. Be- tween the Kansas Union and the Spencer Museum of Art. sides Morocco, Berber speakers live in Algeria, Tunisia, Students were dressing in fabrics of many colors, singing, Mali and Niger. In spite of their numerical prominence dancing, and evoking power from the spirit world. Five of in Morocco, Arabic is the official national language and, the tunnel pillars in the middle were wrapped with papers. with French, the language of all forms of media and The tunnel as a place for performance was discovered by education. By the 1980s, activists had founded Berber Professor Salami when she first interviewed at the Uni- cultural centers in all of the major urban centers and versity of Kansas. It was filled with students, staff, and supported private initiatives to establish Berber-language community members who gathered to attend an out- newspapers and radio stations and the Berber music and standing African performance of Gitti Salami’s students. film industries. Their most recent successes include the Some of them joined the spirits in evoking the health founding of the Royal Institute of Berber Culture (2002) spirit out of hiding. The students themselves enjoyed their and the incorporation of Berber language instruction in assignments very much and it seems that they learned a some primary schools (2003). great deal about African culture out of it. What Professor Salami liked most about the performance was that the group members were able to convey the difference between a masquerade and a theatrical or dance performance. According to Professor Salami, the assignment was not just to perform an African masquerade, but also to study the art and create a unique performance. Professor Salami felt the group was successful in creating a masquerade that related to the students’ struggles. According to her, the performance was beyond her expectations. The University Daily Kansan on its issue of 12/08/04 wrote an interesting article about the students’ performance. We would like to congratulate Professor Salami for this wonderful start at KU. We believe through this kind of teaching innovations that demonstrate the uniqueness of Afri- Oldest mosque in the region, built in the mountains more can culture, African studies can grow and flourish. than 700 years ago

Ishilhin women gather daily or weekly between the after- history, stories of other prophets and Sufi doctrine and noon and sunset Islamic obligatory prayer times to chant practices. The main topic is love and longing for the rhymed couplets and long age-old poems in the tomb com- Prophet. plexes of local holy figures. 'Agraw', the Tashilhit term used for these ritual gatherings as well as for the poetry chanted in them, is strictly a women's affair. The group of women meeting in each sanctuary is completely autonomous. Neither are they supervised by males, nor are they affiliated with male-dominated institutions of any kind. No parallel men's ritual practices exist, although the dhikr, or remembrance ceremony, of the local branches of the male- dominated Darqawi Sufi order consists of similar Tashilhit religious poetry instead of the typical Qur'anic phrases in Arabic and the local women's segment of the male- dominated Budshishi-Qadiri Sufi order chant one such poem during their otherwise Arabic dhikr ceremony. This autonomy allows each women's group to determine its own structure and the content and logistics of its gatherings. Most groups have a leader recognized by the group. Per- centage wise, middle-aged and older participants predomi- nate, but younger women do attend. Socio-economic back- grounds vary broadly, but most of the women are illiterate. The Tashilhit poetic ritual texts are widely known by women throughout the Souss region and may be chanted on other religious occasions such as annual pilgrimage festivals Minaret of a mosque from which Azthan (call for prayers) is performed in Souss region, Morocco held in honor of local holy figures. Today, the couplets are more common than the long poems, with half of the group chanting the first verse of the couplet and the other half responding with the second verse. These couplets are most likely composed orally by the women or drawn from the long poems. Today, the long poems occur only occasionally with one woman chanting the poem and the other participants responding with the refrain at regular intervals throughout. Hand-written copies or photocopies of the long poems are in circulation throughout the region. The women generally do not possess written versions of the poems, but some women have begun to have the couplets written down or recorded on cassette in an effort to preserve these gems of Tashilhit literary production for posterity.

These poetic rituals texts are referred to generally as 'awzal', after the early 18th century poet Muhammad ibn Ali Awzal. Awzal is the most famous of those Ishilhin scholars who composed didactic poetry in Tashilhit as part of a regional campaign to educate the rural populations in Islamic doctrine and practice. In fact, Awzal authored only one poem Ishilin women doing their prayers chanted by the women. His other didactic poem, a rhymed legal treatise, is unknown to the women. These didactic Until the early 20th century, the women's ritual gather- poems were part of a broader literary tradition in Morocco ings were supervised by the male leaders of local and elsewhere of translating prose religious treatises in Ara- branches of Sufi orders and consisted primarily of the bic into poetry in local languages, including Hausa. The long poems chanted with refrain in unison by the entire content of the poems includes detailed instructions how to group of women, with intermittent recitation of devo- live and practice Islam correctly, the attributes of Allah and tional prayers in Arabic. Today, the women chant pri- wonders of his creation, descriptions of the Prophet Mu- marily Tashilhit couplets drawn from the long poems hammad and his roles in the community, events in Muslim interspersed with Arabic devotional prayers. They claim

no affiliation with a Sufi order, nor do they characterize tinent events and issues of current concern to the local themselves or their rituals as Sufi. Nevertheless, the content community or Moroccans in general, in particular the of the ritual texts as well as other aspects of these gatherings growing individually-focused materialism of local in- are reminiscent of the Sufi practices and doctrine. The fol- habitants that has replaced former Islamic values of fam- lowing couplets provide examples. In the couplet: 'Fatima, ily and concern for the social welfare of others. The your father has taken our minds and our health, we are in lessons are often presented in story form, mimicking the the wilderness from the pain of longing', the women com- Sufi, or Islamic mystical, teaching technique and render- plain to the Prophet Muhammad's daughter of their yearning ing controversial topics more accessible. to be with him, a common theme in Sufi poetry. They im- plore local holy figures, male and female, to relieve them of the pain of their longing for Allah and the Prophet Muham- mad as in the couplet: “O Lady Aisha, O Holy One, Open the springs so that the friends (of Allah or Sufis) may drink.” Even couplets like: “Let us pray, fast and repent to our Lord, For it is to Him that you will return from under the earth (after death),” which serve as reminders of the core Islamic religious obligations, recall the Sufi emphasis on piety and precision in Islamic worship practices. The couplet: 'The abundant food in the mountains attracts the moose, The congregation for Allah is what we are seeking, O Friends (of Allah)' expresses the Sufi view of the spiritual as being more important than the material.

Many aspects of the ritual recall this anti-materialistic atti- tude as well as generosity and concern for the social welfare of others in the community. The women sit on rugs atop Women preparing for ritualistic chanting straw mat covering earthen floors and leaning on pillows lining the white-washed walls of the simple room of the This social critique both reflects the anti-material em- sanctuary, some with cell phones tucked beneath the many phasis of Sufism and parallels the Islamist critique of layers of cloth enveloping them, the sudden ringing of the present-day widespread local, national, and interna- which will earn them a severe scolding by the ritual leader. tional corruption and authoritarianism at all levels of They clap their hands or beat drums, chanting each couplet society in Morocco and elsewhere in the Muslim world. ninety-nine times before beginning the next, reminiscent of In fact, the ritual gatherings constitute one of several the dhikr, or Sufi remembrance ritual. Midway through the alternatives for group membership and communal reli- ritual, they take a break to drink traditional sweet Moroccan gious ritual experiences available to the men and women green tea with mint and to eat a piece of bread. For some of in these locations, of which Sufism and Islamism repre- the women it is their only possibility for enjoying this tradi- sents the largest and most active recruiting examples. tional Moroccan mid-afternoon snack. The better-off mem- Moreover, these Ishilhin women are contributing to the bers of the group and the local community provide the Berber cultural revival movement by preserving an old money to buy the necessities for preparing this snack. Berber literary tradition. Thus, like Muslim women Wealthier members of the local community seeking special throughout the world with similar practices, these Ishil- blessings from Allah occasionally bring a meal for the hin women are participating, directly and indirectly, women to share. Attendance of the gatherings is open to all consciously and unconsciously, in the ongoing processes women. One of the town's five or six homeless women of societal transformation both through their multi-level periodically frequents the ritual gatherings in one of Tiznit's ritual discourse and through their very insitstence on tomb complexes. In spite of her untidy appearance, uncon- worshiping as an autonomous group of women in an ventional lifestyle and refusal to accept the women's offer of Islamic, Tashilhit-language ritual. clean, less revealing clothing, the women welcome her participation. I am indebted to a number of sources, internal and exter- nal to KU, for the financial support of this five-stage In addition to the Tashilhit poetic texts and Arabic devo- research project. A two-part preliminary exploratory tional prayers, some ritual leaders give sermon-like lessons phase (December 2001/January 2002 and June/July in Tashilhit that often elicit comments from the participants, 2002) was funded by internal grants from the University sometimes transforming a solemn monologue on a serious of Kansas (African Studies Resources Center Faculty topic into a lively and sometimes humorous exchange. Enhancement Travel Grant, a Faculty International While primarily religious in nature, they often focus on per- Travel Grant and a New Faculty General Research Fund

Grant). The main fieldwork phase (September 2002-May ence in America; Black Leadership for Social Change; 2003) was made possible by an American Council of The African-American Male in American Life and Learned Societies research fellowship. The fieldwork Thought; The African-American Male: An Annotated phases consisted of locating and attending ritual gatherings Bibliography; A Search for Equal Justice by African at three fieldwork sites (the Atlantic coastal town of Tiznit, American Lawyers; A Systems Change Approach to Sub- the nearby village of Bounaaman and the Anti-Atlas Moun- stance Abuse Prevention; The African-American Male: tains village of Agard Udad), observing and recording the His Present Status and His Future; African Leadership rituals and questioning the women about the gatherings, in the 20th Century; The Black Male in White America; past and present, as well as filming the sanctuaries and the Narratives of African Americans in Kansas, 1870-1992: women, whenever possible, and exploring other options for Beyond the Exodus Movement, and Managing Multicul- women's religious participation as well as attitudes toward turalism in Substance Abuse Services, among others. He and significance of these activities for the women and their recently edited African Studies in the 21st Century. Dr. communities in each of the three locations. An initial write- Gordon is the recipient of numerous grants from the U.S. up phase (May/June 2003) was funded by a University of Department of Education, the Kansas Council for the Kansas General Research Fund Grant and a ritual text proc- Humanities, National Archives, Kansas Department of essing phase (July/August 2003 and December 2003/ Janu- Education, Social and Rehabilitation Services, Florence ary 2004) was funded by an American Institute of Maghreb and John Schumann Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Founda- Studies research grant for the transcription and translation tion, Village Foundation, and FIPSE, among others. Pro- of 50 hours of ritual text recordings. fessor Gordon is the recipient of many service awards such as Gov. Mike Hayden’s Award for Outstanding NEWS AND NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS Service in Substance Abuse Prevention, KU Black Fac- By Khalid El-Hassan ulty and Staff Leadership/Service Award, the Wally and Marie Steeples Faculty Award for Outstanding Service Professor Jacob Gordon retired last fall after an impres- to the People of Kansas, the University of Kansas Ser- sive 35 years of teaching, research, and service for African vice Award, Kansas African-American Affairs Commis- and African American Studies at KU. sion’s Outstanding Leadership Award, and the Kansas Black Legislative Caucus’ Certificate of Appreciation, among others. The AAAS organized a farewell reception to recognize this impressive record and to honor the long and outstanding service by Professor Gordon. We will miss you Jake!

Byron Caminero-Santangelo, Associate Professor of English has published African Fiction and Joseph Con- rad: Reading Postcolonial Intertextuality, State Univer- sity of New York Press, Albany, New York, 2005. Byron's article "Different Shades of Green: Ecocriticism and African Literature" will appear in the volume An- thology of African Literary Theory and Criticism, edited by Tejumola Olaniyan and Ato Quayson (Oxford: Jacob Gordon, Associate Professor of AAAS Blackwell). Byron was invited to give the paper "Envi- ronmentalism and African Literature: Old Questions and Jacob Gordon, a graduate of Bethune-Cookman College, New Directions" at a special session at the African Lit- Howard University, and Michigan State University, and erature Assocation Conferencein Madison, WI. In addi- Union Theological Seminary, was an Associate Professor of tion, he presented two other papers. "Ecocriticism," African and African-American Studies, a research fellow of presented to the University of Kansas-University of the Institute of Life Span Studies, and the Executive Direc- Zambia Workshop on New Trends in the Humanities, tor of the Center for Multicultural Leadership. He is also the Lusaka, Zambia. The other paper is "Different Shades of founding chair of the Department of African and African Green: Ecocriticism and African Literature," presented American Studies. He has taught Introduction to African to the Hall Center Nature and Culture Seminar in Law- History, The Black Experience in the Americas, and Intro- rence. Byron was awarded a sabbatical for the fall of duction to Africa. He has had teaching experiences at Al- 2004, and he begins his tenure as director of graduate bany State University and Rust College. Professor Gordon’s studies for English in the Spring semester of 2005. areas of specialty are civil rights and black leadership and he has published widely in these areas. He is the author, editor or co-editor of many books such as The African Pres-

Professor Ali Mazrui, renowned African scholar, visited Champaign, KU Professor Emeritus Arthur Drayton, Kansas University on November 17-18, 2004 to inaugurate MAAAS founder. Other highlights of the conference in- the Marwa Africana Lecture Series. Professor Mazrui is cluded traditional African music, and an exhibit of West Af- widely acclaimed for his outspoken views on African his- rican art in the Morris University Center Art Gallery, and an exhibit overview by Ohioma Pogoson, Curator, University of tory and current issues, and relations of Africa with the Ibadan, Nigeria. The papers of the conference will be depos- West and the Islamic East. He has published many books ited at the Melville Herskobits Library of African Studies at and directed the well-known PBS series Africa: A Triple Northwestern University, accessible on the Africana Confer- Heritage. He is Professor of International Cultural Studies ence Paper Index. We applaud our Africanist colleagues at at SUNY Binghamton. On the first day of his visit, Profes- SIU-Edwardsville for their important contribution to the sor Mazrui met with Chancellor Robert Hemenway, and MAAAS tradition MAAAS meets again at Southwest Mis- Graduate School Dean Diana Carlin. He also spent some souri State University September 30 and October 1, 2005. time in the AAAS and KASC offices at Bailey Hall talking to Africanist faculty and graduate students. On the second Sandra Gray, Professor of Anthropology, spent the day, November 18, Professor Mazrui had lunch with last 7 months in Uganda, conducting research on the AAAS lecturers and teaching assistants and dinner with the impact of armed violence on maternal social and eco- provost and faculty of the African and African American nomic resources and maternal and child health and Studies Department at KU. In the evening, he offered his nutrition among Karimojong agropastoralists. For the lecture on "A Crisis in Afro-Arab Relations?:-- Al-Qaeda last two months of the study, she was assisted by Mary and Darfur." The lecture was attended by almost 500 peo- Sundal, a PhD candidate in anthropology. The study ple. After the lecture, Professor Mazrui attended a recep- was conducted at a critical time: there currently is tion in Strong Hall in his honor attended by KU’s faculty, drought and famine across the pastoralist zones of students, and community members from Lawrence and Kenya and Uganda. Crops failed entirely in 2004, and Topeka. The Marwa Africana Lecture Series was estab- many former herders are without livestock now as lished in 2003 through a generous donation by Dr. Mo- well, due to an escalation in armed cattle raiding in the hamed Buba Marwa, a Nigerian businessman, politician, last three years. A poorly planned and corrupt disar- and philanthropist. The series sponsors an annual speaker mament program in 2001-2002 only increased pastor- to address issues related to Africa and/or the African Dias- alists’ vulnerability to famine and violence. Nonethe- pora. The inaugural lecture, and Professor Ali Mazrui’s less, the Ugandan government has begun yet another visit were very successful. such campaign, and the district was flooded with sol- diers (complete with U.S. advisors) and heavily armed military vehicles by the time Gray and Sundal departed in mid-December. To date, there is no oversight of this campaign by any recognized human rights organiza- tion, and NGOs who monitored the last operation are dissociating themselves from this one. Indeed, many of their staff are leaving the district because of the fear of violence during and in the wake of disarmament. The combined famine, raiding, and government operations already are having a profound effect, and many people

Professor Ali Mazrui during his visit to KASC Offices last November

The Mid-America Alliance for African Studies (MAAAS) was convened for its 10th annual session at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, on October 1-2. The two-day conference featured more than a dozen panels, with more than 35 participants. Featured speakers included Stephen Brundage of the Sandra Gray with her “father” tall man in light coat in Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Dept. of State, Jean Allman, Di- the center and other elders rector, African Studies Center, Univ. of Illinois Urbana-

have left their homes in Karamoja for cities in the South. opportunity of visiting KU and promised to continue There is also considerable internal displacement as people his relationship with KU Africanist faculty and staff. are moving to other parts of Karamoja where the threats of famine and violence are somewhat mitigated. Those left behind are mothers, small children, and the elderly, who will be the primary casualties of the looming disaster in the region. Already, many elders have succumbed to hun- ger and disease.

Gray and Sundal were able to document many of these effects on maternal and child health and child mortality. The most pressing need now is to get the data out as soon as possible, although it is not expected that the picture they paint will be rosy in any way.

General Fulford presenting a seminar on U.S. policy towards Africa

Beverly Mack, Professor of African Studies has published Muslim Women Sing: Hausa Popular Song, Indi- ana University Press, 2004. The book focuses on contemporary women poets and performers in Northern Nigeria, and is accompanied by a CD of 5 ½ hours of original field recorded performances (MP3 format for downloading) of the English translations. For Hausa speakers and music lovers, the CD brings alive the performances that are the basis for the volume’s commen- Minnow, one of a set of twins, nearly died of marasmus tary and analysis. The book is the first to explain Mus- but was in a better shape as seen in the picture because lim Hausa women singers, their songs, and the complex- of Sandra’s intervention ity of the Muslim Hausa cultural context in which they occur: Professor Mack also presented “History, Identity, General Carlton W.Fulford, Jr., the Director of the Af- and Intellectual Ownership” at the 47th Annual Meeting rica Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense of the African Studies Association 11 November, 2004. University visited KU on Monday November 29. General Fulford spent some time with KU Africanist faculty and Ambassador Harriet Elam-Thomas, former presented a lecture in the Center’s seminar room entitled Ambassador to Senegal and Chief of Mission, Guinea- "U.S. Military Policy Towards Africa in an Era of Wars." Bissau, visited KU on October 26-27 and participated The presentation was attended by 40 people. Among them in the “People Speak” panel sponsored by the Dole were a significant number of students of military science Institute of Politics. The panel was devoted to the 2004 from KU and Fort Leavenworth. General Fulford began U.S. Presidential Election and the response of the his tenure as the Director of the Africa Center for Strate- World to it. She also met with Africanist faculty and gic Studies in September 2003. He retired from the Ma- students at KU and talked to them about U.S. West- rine Corps in February 2003 with the rank of General after African relations. She also taught AAAS 103 serving as Deputy Commander of the U.S. European “Introduction to Africa. “ Command, a position that included extensive work on U.S.-Africa relations and travel throughout Africa. He Elam-Thomas is a Senior Foreign Service Officer with ended his visit to KU with a dinner with a group of the the rank of Career Minister During her four decade Center’s staff and Africanist faculty. He appreciated the Foreign Service career, Ambassador Thomas demon-

strated a life-long practice of bridging cultures and mak- Garth also put together a successful book proposal with ing connections between seemingly distinct people. Her Martin Murray of Binghamton University, for an edited varied overseas assignments have taken her to volume to come out in 2006 with Palgrave Publishers, Cities in Contemporary Africa. Really, though, the time during the fall when he was not teaching, performing service, or being with his family was spent hiding some- where writing his second book, Disposable Cities: Garbage, Governance, and Sustainable Development in Urban Africa, which is under contract for June 2005 with Ashgate Press, in its new Rematerializing Cultural Geography series.

Lusaka Workshop on Humanities Perspectives on African Environments, July 2004 Four KU professors combined with several faculty members and graduate students from the University of Zambia to offer a Work- shop on New Perspectives on the Environment in the Humanities. Garth Myers (Geography and AAAS), Byron Caminero-Santangelo (English), Brian Daldorph (English), Liz MacGonagle (History and AAAS), and Ambassador Elam-Thomas with Mickey Imber, Professor of Dr. Yizenga Chondoka (UNZA-History) presented pa- Education pers or creative work and led discussion sections with more than 18 Zambian participants, tanging from geolo- Greece, Turkey, France, Belgium, Senegal, Mali and Cote gists and geographers to historians and creative writers. d'Ivoire. She has also been the recipient of three honor- Myers gave talks on humanistic geography in African ary doctorates, from Simmons College in Boston, Mass., studies and on Garbage and Governance in Tanzania and The American University in London and Suffolk Univer- Zambia. MacGonagle spoke on the topic of "Talking sity in Boston, Mass. She holds a B.S. degree in Interna- about Tribalism: History, Identity and the Implications tional Business from Simmons College in Boston and an of Place." Caminero-Santangelo focused on "Ecocriti- M.S. in Public Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of cism, African Literature and the Environment," Chon- Law & Diplomacy at Tufts University. She speaks French, doka spoke about "Land, Labour and Kinship: The Turkish and Greek. In October 2003, she became a mem- Senga Response to Labour Migration in Colonial Zam- ber of the Senior Advisory Group for the European Com- bia," and Daldorph led a very valuable poetry writing mand (EUCOM). The Ambassador is currently Diplomat- workshop. The latter has resulted ultimately in the publi- in-Residence at the University of Central Florida. This cation of several poems by workshop participant Cheela assignment follows her three-year tour as Chief of Mis- Chilala in Coal City Review, a poetry journal that Brian sion at the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal (2000-2002). edits. Mr. Chilala was one of the dozen people to be ac- Ambassador Elam-Thomas was born in Boston, Massa- tive and regular participants throughout the workshop chusetts. She and her husband Wilfred J. Thomas reside in from the UNZA community, a group which also in- Central Florida. cluded several leaders of the UNZA Press. Many exciting potential avenues of collaboration and exchange Garth Myers, Associate Professor of Geography and Afri- emanated from the sessions, and we are hopeful that the can Studies was quite busy this fall with his teaching, since workshop may lead our linkage in new directions. he had both the usual large Principles of Human Geography lecture class and an unusually large graduate seminar with Jamaine Abidogun, Professor of African History at 17 people. He made two paper presentations, at the African Southwest Missouri State University and long standing Studies Association annual meeting in New Orleans and in MAAAS member has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar the Hall Center for the Humanities Shifting Borders Semi- Award for research and teaching at the University of nar series. He also published two book chapters and a co- Nigeria, Nsukka for the 2004 - 2005 academic year. She authored article during the term. One book chapter appeared is currently teaching in the Department of History and in colleague Jacob Gordon's edited collection, African Stud- International Relations and researching a project on the ies in the 21st Century, and another appeared in Geography Impact of Secondary Education on Traditional Gender in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century. The article was Roles in Nsukka, congratulations Jamaine! co-written with Wilma Nchito, our colleague on the KU- University of Zambia link, and it appeared in Urban Forum.

Elizabeth MacGonagle, Assistant Professor of African which are often mechanized. In her work Ms. Camp, Studies and History received a Fulbright award to teach an who works and lives in London, makes frequent refer- undergraduate course on the "History of Modern Africa" ences to her Kalabari heritage. Ms Camp gave a presen- and a graduate seminar on the "History of Africa from a tation on her work on October 13, 2004 in the Spencer Global Perspective" to students at the University of Iceland Museum of Art. She also made herself available to talk in Reykjavík. She made connections across continents and to students afterwards. cultures, from south of the Sahara to Reykjavík, the world's northernmost capital. Professor MacGonagle will be back Craig Pearman, KASC Office Manager, completed his in the spring semester, and she will teach her graduate Master of Library Science degree from Emporia State seminar that she developed during her Fulbright award in University in December 2004. Congratulations Craig! Iceland here at KU. The Graduate Colloquium (History 801) will examine Africa’s historical relationships with the Khalid El-Hassan, KASC Program Coordinator has world over the past several centuries and pay particular at- published three articles on Sudan in the Encyclopedia of tention to European connections to the African continent. the Modern Middle East and North Africa (EMME NA), Welcome back Liz! 2nd Edition, published by Macmillan Reference USA /Gale Group. These articles are “Omdurman: Historical John Janzen, Professor of Anthropology published "Af- Capital of the Sudan,” “Beja: A people of the eastern fliction: African Cults of Affliction" & "Kongo Religion" in Sudan,“ and “Tayib Salih: The most famous Sudanese the Encyclopedia of Religion. Macmillan Reference, USA. nd novelist.” He also published four articles in religion in 2 edition. He also published “Religious Healing among Morocco and Western Sahara, religion in Libya, religion War Traumatized African Immigrants to the United States," in Algeria, and Religion in Tunisia in the Encyclopedia in Religion and Healing in America. Pp. 159-172. Eds. of the World and its People, Vol. 1., Brown Reference Linda Barnes & Susan Sered. Oxford University Press. Group plc, London, 2004. With Adrien Ngudiankama and Melissa Filippi-Franz. Guest lectures he gave last spring at Harvard and Vienna are Margaret Rausch, assistant professor in the Religious available in a manuscript entitled Dumuna in Kongo: Lec- Studies Department, had a busy fall. She gave the an- tures on Africanist Medical Anthropology. nual Milford White Lecture at Baker University entitled "Muslim in America: Community Formation and Women." In preparation for this lecture, she conducted Angela Gray, Ph.D. student at KU presented a paper titled fieldwork on the Republican Brothers, in Iowa City and “Forced Displacement and Environmental Change in Af- a Bosnian branch of transnational Naqshbandi Sufi or- rica: Challenging the Received Wisdom” at the African der, in Chicago. She gave presentations in three KU Studies Association Meeting in New Orleans--probably colleagues' courses and three campus lecture series, in- Angela’s first ASA experience. Welcome onboard Ang! cluding the Osher Continuing Education's Explorations of Islam organized in preparation for Yvonne Haddad's Professor Mary Jean Green of Dartmouth College visited Theologian in Residence in April. She incorporated her KU on Monday December 6 ,2004 to present the lecture latest research findings, recordings and film footage on “Gendering the Postcolonial: Women Writers in the Fran- women's rituals in southwestern Morocco and Tajikistan cophone World.” Professor Green is an internationally re- and on mixed Muslim group rituals in Iowa City and nowned specialist in women’s studies and in the literatures Chicago into these lectures to further her goal of present- and cultures of the French-speaking world; both metropoli- ing an alternative perspective, which emphasizes the tan France and regions outside the Hexagon, including diversity, social equality and tolerance and views much Québec, former French North Africa, and sub-Saharan Af- of today's violence as reactions to the corruption and co- rica. She has spent significant time not only in Québec, but optation characterizing present-day regimes in the Mus- in Morocco and Burkina Faso. These are experiences that lim world and national and international measures to give her a broad perspective on the diversity of the French- discredit and repress Islam. She also spoke on her Tajik speaking world. She addressed the wide range of women’s and Moroccan research in a panel at the Middle East experience in her talk which was sponsored by the Depart- Studies Association annual meeting in November. She ment of French and Italian at KU and attended by many submitted papers for publication in the proceedings of Africanist faculty. two conferences held in Morocco in January and May of 2004. She finished the semester by boarding a plane for Sokari Douglas Camp, well-known African artist was in- Morocco where she continued her search in local private vited by the Art History Department at KU to serve as a and public archives for sources on Moroccan women's Murphy lecturer. Ms. Camp is one of the most famous con- rituals and the origins of the ritual texts chanted in these temporary African artists. She constructs steel sculptures rituals.

MY FIRST TASTE OF AFRICA: SWAHILI LANGUAGE Our first trip sent each student to Tengeru, a nearby AND CULTURE IN TANZANIA market, with 500 Tanzanian Shillings (about 50 cents) to buy fruits and vegetables for that evening’s dinner. As I Sarah Smiley, KU Ph.D. Student explored the market, I noticed many of the women were After more than twenty-four hours of travel, I arrived at the selling cucumbers and decided to make that my first Kilimanjaro International Airport on June 21st, 2004. My purchase. Armed with the vocabulary words to inquire first sight of Tanzania was a dark night sky filled with more about prices and to bargain for a better deal, I tried to stars than I had ever seen before and my first smells were buy some vegetables. I quickly realized that these charcoal fires and tropical fruit trees. While I was taking in phrases were not enough. The sellers did not always my surroundings I was also filled with anticipation for the respond as expected so I was forced to think on my feet. upcoming seven weeks. I had traveled to Arusha to partici- While slightly nerve-wracking, this experience taught pate in the Kiswahili Group Project Abroad along with thir- me that I was able to communicate in unexpected situa- teen other students from around the United States. I was tions and I returned home with a two bags of green curious to find out if my two years of Swahili study at KU beans, onions, and cucumbers. Over the next seven were enough to allow me to communicate and if I would weeks, we visited an HIV/AIDS NGO, a primary school, like the country enough to return to conduct dissertation a health clinic, various farms, an orphanage, a home for research. street children, and the UN Tribunal for the Rwanda Genocide. In each case I was able to use my training to Any concerns I had when I arrived disappeared over the listen to and understand lectures and ask questions. course of the summer as I became more comfortable speaking and comprehending Swahili. By the end of the pro- Of all of our visits, my experience at the primary school gram, my language skills had improved immensely as a was my most challenging. Each student on this program result of intensive classes, community visits, and homestays taught a class at a nearby private school. I was assigned with a local family. Instructors at the Training Center for one of the older classes and offered to teach African Development and Cooperation, the Danish center where we geography. Having no teaching experience I was nerv- lived and studied, designed this course especially for our ous about controlling a classroom of children and espe- program in order to teach both language and culture. cially anxious about running a lesson in Swahili. When I walked into the classroom any fear that I had was replaced with surprise. My students immediately stood up and welcomed me with the respectful greeting “Shika- moo.” Even after my reply of “Marahaba,” they did not sit until I gave them permission. Throughout the lesson, no student spoke without first raising a hand and they amazed me with their knowledge of their continent’s countries, cities, and physical features.

Part of Sarah’s group at an HIV/AIDS Education NGO, Arusha.

Each weekday morning, we attended language classes in small groups of three or four students. During these classes, we learned new vocabulary words, grammar structures, and general information about the country. For the remaining part of the day, we participated in a variety of activities. One day we debated about environmental and conservation issues and another we discussed cultural differences between the United States and Tanzania. Performance at a Home for Street Children, Arusha Other afternoons were spent visiting our surrounding community as a way to reinforce our classroom learning. On Our weekends were spent traveling within Tanzania or these days, we would learn specialized vocabulary in the with our host families. Our first trip was to Lake morning and then put our new knowledge into practice. Manyara and Ngorongoro Crater, two national parks.

My highlight of this weekend was watching an enormous elephant cross the road in front of our Land Cruisers. It was unbelievable to be so close to such a powerful yet graceful animal. After our safaris, we also had the opportunity to visit Olduvai Gorge to see the site where Dr. Leakey discovered the Australopithecus skull in 1959. Our next, and longest trip, took us to the Tanzanian coast where we spent time in both Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar. While on the mainland, we visited the University of Dar es Salaam and met with professors and administrators, toured the Village Museum to learn about the country’s ethnic groups, and traveled north to Bagamoyo to see the Kaole ruins, an important Swahili settlement dating back to the 13th Century. After a boat ride to Zanzibar over the bluest water I had ever seen, we visited a spice farm, a seaweed farm, and the Host Mother and Sisters, Arusha. former site of the island’s slave market. Our final trip was to Moshi where we saw the entry point for climbs up Mount Kilimanjaro. On weekends without trips, each student stayed with a host family. It was on these weekends that I really began to understand language and culture in Tanzania. My mother took me to the market to buy food and I learned how to select the perfect coconut and to get the best deals. My sisters taught me how to do laundry, make chapatti (friend bread), and grate the coconuts to make coconut milk. I was not very successful at any of these chores and actually attracted a crowd of neighborhood children while I attempting to wash clothes. Yet my sisters were wonderful teachers and were gracious about my mistakes.

Mosque at the Kaole Ruins, Bagamoyo

Memorial to slaves, Zanzibar

Sarah’s group at the UN Tribunal for the Rwanda Geno- cide, Arusha.

University of Dar es Salaam. Ambassador Elam-Thomas (middle) with Wolof Instructor Alassane Fall (right) and UMKC Lecturer Birame Ndao (left) I left Arusha on August 5th 2004 after seven wonderful weeks. I arrived in Tanzania unsure about whether I would feel comfortable there and left planning how I would return. This trip improved my Swahili skills and introduced me to some cultural differences that will be important when I am conducting research in the future. More importantly, it al- lowed me to form meaningful relationships with my teachers, fellow students, and host family. This past summer was one of the best experiences of my life and I am ready to return and to see my Tanzanian friends again.

KASC FALL 2004 PHOTO GALLERY

Sarah Smiley, KU Ph.D. Student, speaking about her summer experience in Tanzania to the UJAMAA brownbag audience

Ali Mazrui, talking to John Janzen, KASC Director in the presence of Khalid El-Hassan (right) and Emmanuel Birdling, KU graduate student (left)

Garth Myers, KASC Associate Director introducing Gen- eral Fulford during his visit to KU last November

John Janzen conferring with Mickey Imber, Professor of Education during one of the KASC receptions last semester US Military Officers from KU ROTC and Fort Leavenworth listening to General Fulford’s lecture

Swahili Lecturer Jane Irungu with Ambassador Elam- Professor Ali Mazrui visiting KASC offices Thomas

Representatives of African immigrants in Kansas City attend- Ambassador Elam-Thomas checks photo with ing one of KASC seminars on settlement of African immi- graduate student in International Relations Octave grants in Kansas Mugobowniza

AFRICAN STUDIES RESOURCE CENTER 1440 Jayhawk Blvd. Bailey Hall 10 -- 10a -- 11 University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045 Main office phone: 785 864-3745 Director’s office: 785 864-3858 Program Coordinator: 785 864-1064 E-mail: [email protected] website: www.ku.edu/~asrc/

Director: John M. Janzen Associate Director: Garth Myers Program Coordinator Khalid El-Hassan Office Specialist: Craig Pearman Outreach Coordinator: Jodi Simek Outreach Assistant: Alassane Fall Africana Bibliographer: Ken Lohrentz Language Coordinator: Naima Omar African Study Abroad Coordinator: Renee Frias

Executive Committee (2004-2005): Detail of carved 19th century elephant tusk from the Congo Liz MacGonagle, Malcolm Gibson, Naima Omar, coast, donated to the KU Museum of Anthropology by Wolf- Ken Lohrentz, J.M. Janzen, Clarence Henry, gang & Susan Hamburger of St. Joseph, Missouri. Check the Khalid El-Hassan, Sandra Gray, Garth Myers; Center website for further publicity on the April 13 mini- ex-officio: Peter Ukpokodu, John Gronbeck- conference “Carved African Ivory” devoted to this piece. Tedesco.