News
Academic Achievement in Africa and Its Diaspora: Challenges and Solutions
Dubois-Nkrumah-Dunham International Conference
May 1-2, 2009
University of Pittsburgh
Department of Africana Studies
Conference Location:
104 Frick Fine Arts Building
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Conference and Presenters
Call for Papers
Conference Details & Hotel Information
Inauguration Teach-In
A "Teach-in" was held at the Department of Africana Studies on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 starting at 10:00 in recognition and celebration of the historic inauguration of Barrack H. Obama as the 44th president of the United States of America.
Members of Equipoise, students, faculty and administrators were welcome to participate in the "Teach-in." Faculty at the Department of Africana Studies have been requested to have their students participate in the Teach-in. Faculty in other departments with interest in the event were also encouraged to ask their students to participate. We watched via live Webcast, the inauguration activities. Refreshments were served.
Dr. Blake chairs sessions at the Annual Conference of the African Council on Communication and Education
Dr. Cecil Blake, chair of the Department of Africana Studies, recently returned from the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he participated in the Annual Conference of the African Council on Communication Education (Nigeria) in his capacity as chairman of the Committee of Elders of the Council (Continental).
During the conference, Dr. Blake chaired three sessions that focused on the conflict in the oil-rich Delta region of Nigeria and the role of communication in the search for peaceful means of resolving the conflict. He also participated recently in the annual board meeting of the PANOS Institute West Africa. He has been a member of the board since 2002. For more information about PANOS, visit www.panos-ao.org/ipao/spip.php?rubrique1.
For more information about conflict in the Delta Region, visit www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol13no1/delta.htm.
Oronde Sharif attends national dance and drum conference
Oronde Sharif, lecturer/advisor, recently returned from the Kankouran West African Dance Company's 25th Annual Dance and Drum Conference held in Washington, D.C.
The conference featured dance and drum classes from Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Liberia, and the Congo for all ages. Over the years, Kankouran has performed and educated in schools, colleges, and universities throughout the US and the Caribbean. They also performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the National Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the California Center for the Arts, the Smithsonian Institution, and New York City's Lincoln Center, where they were honored by a repeat invitation to perform at the Out of Doors Concert series.
At the international level, the company collaborated with dance companies in Poland, Hawaii, Japan, and St. Croix. Kankouran hosts one of the largest and oldest African dance conferences in the U.S., which features a performance that usually sells out the 1,200-seat Lisner Auditorium.
For more information about Kankouran West African Dance Company, visit www.kankouran.org/cms/.
