Program

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Thursday March 23, 2006
Arrival of speakers

4:30-6:30: Keynote Address

African Diaspora and Globalization
Michael Gomez, Professor and Chair, Department of History, New York University, and Director, Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD)

Professor Gomez will be introduced by Tom Spear, Professor Emeritus, History, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Michael Gomez, Professor and Chair, Department of History, New York University, and Director, Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD)

Michael Gomez holds a Ph.D. in African History from the University of Chicago. He serves in several capacities as Professor of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University as well as Chair of the History Department and Director of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD).

Professor Gomez's fields of specialization include West Africa, the African Diaspora and the Antebellum American South. His thematic interests include social and religious formations, Islam and slavery. Currently, he is working on examining the phenomenon of the "return" to Africa, in particular, Africans and their descendants from Brazil and the Caribbean during the nineteenth century. He is also interested in investigating the experience of the famous Cuban general of African descent, Antonio Maceo. Upon completion of these projects he will pursue his longstanding interest in the history of imperial Songhay.

Professor Gomez teaches graduate courses on West Africa, Islam in West Africa and the African Diaspora as well as African culture and experience in North America. He also teaches survey courses in African history and the intersections between African history and African literature as well as a multidisciplinary course on the African Diaspora at the undergraduate level.

In addition to his numerous journal and encyclopedia articles, Professor Gomez has authored several books including Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South (University of North Carolina Press, 1998) and Pragmatism in the Age of Jihad: The Precolonial State of Bundu (Cambridge University Press, 1992). His most recent books are Black Crescent: African Muslims in the Americas and Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora, both published by Cambridge University Press (2005). His edited volume entitled A Persistent Call and Response: Diasporic Africa Reconsidered is to be published by New York University Press in 2006.

Friday March 24, 2006

8:00-8:50 a.m. Registration. Breakfast.

9:00-11:00 a.m. First session

Chair: Aliko Songolo, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Abiola Irele, Harvard University, "Africana Studies as a Discipline"
• Paget Henry, Brown University, "African Diaspora and Sociology"
• Daniel Avorgbedor, The Ohio State University, "African Diaspora and Ethnomusicology"

11:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00-3:30 p.m. Second session

Chair: Henry Drewal, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Kim Butler, Rutgers University, "African Diaspora and History"
• Judith Carney, University of California-Los Angeles, "African Diaspora and Geography"
• Grant Farred, Duke University, "African Diaspora and Cultural Studies"
• Moyo Okediji, University of Colorado-Denver, "African Diaspora and Art History "

3:45-5:30 p.m. Third session

Chair: Michael Schatzberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Robert Fatton, University of Virginia, "African Diaspora and Political Science"
• Stanlie James, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "African Diaspora and Human Rights"
• Olufemi Taiwo, Seattle University, "African Diaspora and Philosophy"

5:30-6:00 p.m. Meta Discussion #1

Optional event: There will be a poetry reading by local artists that conference participants are welcome to attend.

Celebrating Africa and Diaspora: An Evening of Poetry

Friday, March 24, 2006

8 to 10pm

@ Madison Center for Creative & Cultural Arts

306 West Dayton Street, Madison

(http://www.mccca.net)

Saturday March 25, 2006

7:30-8:00 a.m. Breakfast

8:00-10:30 a.m. Fourth session

Chair: Tom Spear, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Theresa Singleton, Syracuse University, "African Diaspora and Archaeology"
• Sandra L. Richards, Northwestern University, "African Diaspora and Drama and Performance Studies"
• Jacob Olupona, University of California-Davis, "Religious Studies and African Diaspora Studies"
• T. Douglas Price, University of Wisconsin-Madison, "Archaeological Chemistry and the African Diaspora"

10:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Fifth session

Chair: Gayle Plummer, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Biodun Jeyifo, Cornell University, "Literary Studies, African Diaspora Studies"
• Richard Price, College of William and Mary, "African Diaspora and Anthropology"
• Fatimah Jackson, University of Maryland-College Park, "African Diaspora and Genetic Science"

12:30-1:00 p.m.  Meta Discussion #2

1:00-2:30 p.m. Lunch

2:30-5:00 p.m. Sixth session

Chair: Francisco Scarano, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Xolela Mangcu, University of the Witwatersrand of Johannesburg, South Africa, "The African Diaspora, the African Renaissance and South Africa"
• Carolyn Cooper, University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica, "African Diaspora Studies in/and the Caribbean"
• Jayne Ifekwunigwe, Duke University, "African Diaspora Studies in/and Europe"
• Roquinaldo Ferreira, University of Virginia, "African Diaspora Studies in/and Brazil"
  (Written with Prof. Flavio Gomes, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro)

5:00-5:30 p.m. Meta Discussion #3, Concluding Discussion