Description:

Join the Program of African Studies for our weekly lunch and lecture.

Title: Access to Health from the Ground Up: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Health and Human Rights in Lagos

Speakers: Juliet Sorensen, Director, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern and Elise Meyer, Clinical Fellow, Bluhm Legal Clinic, Northwestern

Abstract: Over 67% of Lagosians live in informal settlements characterized by a lack of basic public services such as sewage, water, trash collection, roads, or electricity. Without health clinics or access to emergency services, these Lagosians are subject to significantly adverse health conditions. State and federal governments in Nigeria have enacted laws and policies aimed at addressing the resulting health problems; however, a number of social determinants limit access and prevent residents of informal settlements from making use of these government health services. In response, the Northwestern Access to Health Project (“ATH”), an interdisciplinary global community health partnership, has partnered with the Justice & Empowerment Initiative, a Nigerian NGO, and the Nigerian Federation of Slums and Informal Settlements to build a sustainable, capacity-building health literacy and access project aimed to improve health outcomes for poor and marginalized communities in Lagos. Nearly two years after the commencement of the assessment by ATH, this presentation provides an overview and analysis of the project. 

Description:

Join the Program of African Studies for our weekly lunch and lecture.

Speaker: Sera Young, Anthropology, Northwestern

Title: Food and Water Insecurity in East Africa: What We Know, What We Don't, and Why It Matters

Abstract:

The first 1,000 days, i.e. the year prior to delivery and first two years of life, is among the most critical times for mothers and children. Yet, in this period, the physical and psycho-social needs of women and their infants are often not met. Food insecurity is a common manifestation of physical and psycho-social needs not being met, but its impacts in the first 1,000 days are not well understood.

In this talk, I will discuss my research on food insecurity among pregnant and lactating women of mixed HIV status in western Kenya. I will describe the perceived causes of food insecurity, as well as the surprisingly far-reaching consequences of food insecurity. I will conclude by describing how listening to participants’ experiences with food insecurity led to a new area of research: household water insecurity.

Description:

Join the Program of African Studies for our weekly lunch and lecture.

Speaker: Will Reno, Director, Program of African Studies; Political Science, Northwestern

Title: Investigating New Models of Civil-Military Relations in Africa: Evidence from the Field

Description:

Join the Program of African Studies for our weekly lunch and lecture.

Speaker: Femi Odugbemi

Title: A Conversation about Film Making in Nigeria

Abstract:

In this talk I share my experience promoting documentary filmmaking through the iRepresent International Documentary Film Forum (iREP), which I co-founded in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2010. The forum’s conceptual theme of “Africa in self-conversation” drives its mission to use documentary film as a tool to foster sociocultural education and encourage participatory democracy in Nigeria and other African societies. I examine the impact of iREP, not only on the emerging young filmmakers, but also on the political, historical and social conversations on-going in Nigeria. As part of the presentation, I will share a few documentaries that have been produced and presented at the iREP film festival.

Odugbemi’s films will be screened at the Block Cinema on 10/26 and 10/27:

https://planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/520658

https://planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/520659

Bio: 

Lagosian filmmaker Femi Odugbemi is Director in Residence at the Program of African Studies from October 23-27, 2017. Odugbemi is a leader of the Nollywood film industry. He studied film and television production at Montana State University from 1979 to 1983. There he became determined to counter the prevailing derogatory depiction of Africa and its culture in the US press, films, and media. Back home, he first embarked on a career in advertising, but used his profits to make independent documentaries on popular culture, education, and other social issues that concerned him. His documentaries make him unique among Nollywood filmmakers who focus on folklore, melodrama, and romance. Odugbemi has served on the executive boards of important Nigerian industry associations, and on continental and international awards juries and film festival boards, including the Emmy Awards. In 2010 Odugbemi cofounded iRepresent International Documentary Film Forum, where he is also executive director. The forum’s conceptual theme of “Africa in self-conversation” drives its mission to use documentary film as a tool to foster sociocultural education and encourage participatory democracy in Nigeria and other African societies. 

Sponsored by the Nollywood working group and the Block Museum

Description:

Join the Program of African Studies for our weekly lunch and lecture.

Speaker: Kathleen Bickford Berzock, Associate Director of Curatorial Affairs, Block Museum of Art

Title: Caravans of Gold: Making an Exhibition about Medieval Trans-Saharan Exchange

Abstract:

In 2012, Kathleen Bickford Berzock embarked on an initiative to create an exhibition that presents the legacy of medieval trans-Saharan exchange through the movement of things, people, and ideas across the Sahara Desert. The result is Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture, and Medieval Trans-Saharan Exchange, a major exhibition that will open at the Block Museum in January 2019 and travel to several additional venues. The project has developed through consultation with a scientific committee of scholars working across disciplines, including archaeology, art history, history, and comparative literature, and involves partnerships with museums and institutions in Mali, Morocco, and Nigeria. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue that represents the breadth of these contributions. Using archaeological and textual fragments as a starting point, Caravans of Gold emphasizes the central role of the Western Sudan in a medieval global economy that was built largely on the value of gold, and looks at the wide circulation of materials and cultural practices that sprouted from this impetus, stretching from the forests of West Africa, to Western Europe, to the Middle East. The project also foregrounds the acts of informed imagination that are required to piece together an image of the past, especially when evidence is rare and highly scattered. In this presentation, Berzock will share an overview of the exhibition narrative and will provide a preview of the artworks and the fragments—many of which have been in storage since they were excavated—that will be included.