Spring 2021 Africa At Noon Events

January 27

“Dimensions of Citizenship: The Case of the Democratic Republic of the Congo”

Irène Tombo,  Jordan Prize Winner

Political Science PhD Candidate, UW-Madison

Hosted by Scott Straus


February 3

“How Deliberative Designs Empower Citizens’ Voices: A Case Study on Ghana’s Deliberative Poll on Agriculture and the Environment”

Kaiping Chen

Assistant Professor of Life Sciences Communications, UW-Madison

Hosted by the African Studies Program


February 10

“Our Own Way in the Part of the World: Biography of an African Community, Culture, Nation”

Kwasi Konadu

Professor of Africana Studies, Colgate University

Hosted by Neil Kodesh


February 17

“Photography as Historical Fiction: A Photo Essay”

Hlonipha Mokoena

Associate Professor, University of the Witwatersrand

Hosted by Neil Kodesh


February 24

“The Draft as Genre in Kivu Ruhorahoza’s Europa: Based on a True Story”

MaryEllen Higgins (featuring Kivu Ruhorahoza)

Associate Professor of English, Pennsylvania State University

Hosted by Vlad Dima


March 3

“Animals as Diasporic Bodies in African Studies”

Saheed Aderinto

Associate Professor of History, Western Carolina University

Hosted by Neil Kodesh


March 10

“We Have Always Been There”: African Women, Agency, and Resistance

Yolande Bouka

Assistant Professor of Political Studies, Queen’s University

Hosted by Scott Straus


March 17

“North-South Partnerships and Postcolonial Lessons for African Studies”

Yeukai Mlambo

Director of Mastercard Foundation Digital Initiatives and Assistant Research Professor at Arizona State University

Hosted by Nancy Kendall


March 24

The Way of the NeoGriot: A Journey Towards a True African American Theater”

Mark H.

Professor of Theatre and Drama, UW-Madison


March 31

“Schooling as Uncertainty: An Ethnographic Memoir”

Frances Vavrus

Professor of International and Comparative Development Education, University of Minnesota

Hosted by Lesley Bartlett


April 7

“Becoming a Population: Seeing the State, Being Seen by the State, and the Politics of Eviction in Cape Town”

Zachary Levenson

Assistant Professor of Sociology, UNC Greensboro

Hosted by Samuel England


April 14

“Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Discontents in Africa”

Robtel Neajai Pailey

Assistant Professor in International Social and Public Policy, London School of Economics

Hosted by Gregg Mitman, with Nancy Kendall as discussant