June 5th is World Environment Day.

AFRICAN & AFRICAN DIASPORA STUDIES PROGRAM

SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENT DIGEST

WEEK OF JUNE 3RD, 2013

New Announcements:

Weekly Picks:

Our Top Travel Picks of the Week

Friday, May 31, 2013

1. Journey by Caravan to a Desert Oasis

A trek through the 'Gateway to the Sahara' reveals the vast desert landscape and other treasures that Tunisia has to offer.

Source: Independent

2. How to Take Kids on an African Safari

Zimbabwean-born journalist Peter Godwin shares what happened when he took his New York city-raised sons on a journey

of discovery to Africa, starting off in Mozambique. Source: Conde Nast

3. Madagascar by the Compass

Madagascar's biodiversity is one of the many reasons some describe the island country as a "one-of-a-kind destination."

Coupled with a range of spectacular beach resorts and mountain forests, it's easy to see why. Source: Africa Geographic

4. Africa's Land of Delta and Desert There's a reason why it is referred to as one of southern Africa's most thrilling safaris. The dramatic country of Botswana encompasses striking salt pans, diamond-rich deserts and fertile flood plains that are alive with an amazing diversity of life. Source: BBC

5. Kenya Charts New Course Beyond its Wildest Dreams Kenya is charting a new course, and in the process, trying to establish a new identity. The result is that tourists are being offered a diverse choice of activities to suit all age groups and manner of tastes. Source: Mail & Guardian

6. Snakes Attracting Tourists in Soweto Street performers, colourful stalls and popular restaurants have always been part of what gives Vilakazi Street in Soweto its vibe. But there is now a new attraction that a young entreprenuer has introduced that satisfies her own love of animals while helping others overcome their fear of snakes. Source: News 24

7. The Island of War "The waters are warm and tropical, the snorkelling out on the fringing reef is great, and the living is (relatively) cheap." Can you guess what East African harbor town we're referring to? Source: iafrica

8. Meeting The Neighbors In Kruger National Park Described as a classic safari destination, the Kruger National Park has been getting plenty of media coverage about the high number of rhinos being killed by poachers. But don't forget that this is a spectacular place where you are sure to see an abundance and a multiplicity of other species. Source: Huffington Post

9. 12 of Durban's best curry restaurants From Little Gujarat's tasty vegetarian dishes, to the mild curries served below a futuristic Hare Krishna temple; there are many options to choose from when you have a craving for Indian food in South Africa's coastal city, Durban. Source: Getaway

10. Launch of a Night-Time Transport Service in Jozi Plans to launch a new night-time transport service in Johannesburg this September means that tourists and locals can enjoy the fantastic night life and music scene in Johannesburg without having to drive and deal with the hassle of finding parking. Source: News 24

Our Top News Picks of the Week

Friday, May 31, 2013

1. Uganda Lifts Ban On Top Newspaper

A 10-day blockade by Uganda's government of the country's main independent newspaper has come to an end amidst

widespread criticism. Police had shut down The Daily Monitor and Red Pepper newspapers, to conduct searches on the

premises, after they reported arguments among army generals over whether the president's son is to succeed him. Source: News 24

2. Nigeria Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning Gay Marriage, Setting Prison Sentences Of Up To 14 years

Nigeria's House of Representatives has unanimously voted to ban gay marriage and outlaw any groups actively supporting

gay rights. The measure also calls for 10-year prison sentences for any 'public show'• of affection by a same-sex couple. Source: Washington Post

Boston Winner Will Donate His Medal 3.

Lelisa Desisa, the men's winner of this year's Boston Marathon, said he intended to donate his medal to the people of Boston

at a ceremony attendeded by US Secretary of State John Kerry at the American Embassy in Ethiopia. Source: New York Times

4. Egypt Fears Diversion of Nile Waters For A New Dam Ethiopia's move to divert water from the Nile River to allow construction of a massive hydroelectric dam, has sparked concern from Egyptian authorities. Source: VOA News

5. Mali Sets Date For Presidential Election Despite the fact that the capital of one of the country's northern provinces remains under the control of an anti-government group, Mali's cabinet has announced that they will hold a presidential election on July 28. This is the first poll for the war-torn country since the 2012 coup. Source: Aljazeera

6. UK Influenced Adebolajo Release From Kenya Police British diplomats recommended that Michael Adebolajo be freed after he was detained in Kenya 2 and a half years ago on suspicion of attempting to join Islamic fighters in Somalia. Adebolajo allegedly helped butcher British soldier Lee Rigby on the streets of London, recently. Source: Yahoo News

7. Canada Expels Eritrea Envoy Over Expat Fees Claims Semere Ghebremariam Micael, head of the Eritrean Consulate General in Toronto, has been given until June 5 to leave the country after claims he demanded contributions from expatriates to fund Eritrea's military. The practice is in breach of both UN sanctions against Eritrea and Canadian law, the Canadian government said. Source: BBC

8. Voter Registration Starts In Mozambique Mozambique has started registering voters for its upcoming November polls despite political tensions. The main opposition Renamo is threatening a boycott after its feud with the Frelimo-led government became violent. Source: Business Day

9. Africa's 'New Cities': Urban Future or Utopian Fantasies? From King City in Ghana to Konza Techno City just outside Kenya's capital, Nairobi; there are a number of exciting urban developments across Africa. But some critics warn that these new developments are "essentially designed for people with money," and will only further widen the class divide. Source: CNN

10. Kenyan High Jumpers Ditch The Fosbury Flop (Video) A video of Kenyan high school students who have come up with a unique method of competing in the high jump, has become a viral sensation. Without a soft mat to land on, the students forgo the traditional Fosbury Flop and instead leap over the pole using a flying kick method. Source: The Guardian

Our Top Business Picks of the Week

Friday, May 31, 2013

1. Top 5 Investment Opportunities In Tanzania

Once known mainly for its tourism industry driven by visitors to Mount Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar, Tanzania is seeing a change

in balance between the number of tourists and investors coming to the country. Source: Africa.com

2. Japan Eyes Business Ties In Africa Summit To Boost Trade And Investment

This weekend Japan welcomes dozens of leaders from Africa as it looks to boost economic ties and wrestle resources and

market share away from an increasingly assertive China. Source: Straits Times

3. Google Makes Its First Renewable Energy Investment In Africa, Puts $12M Toward South African

Solar Plant

Google has announced plans for Jasper Power Project, a 96 megawatt solar photovoltaic plant to be built in Northern Cape

province of South Africa. It will generate enough power for 30,000 South African homes. Source: Tech Crunch

4. New European Union Import Laws Hurt African Cocoa Exports The European Union tightened laws on the importation of cocoa beans, a move that could lose Africa's cocoa producing countries billions of euros in exports. In April, Cameroon had their exports totally rejected. Source: All Africa

5. Nigerian Smartphone Boom Challenges Nokia Africa Dominance Africa's most populous country is becoming increasingly attractive to mobile phone companies, who see it as a particularly attractive market because many Nigerians own more than one device, allowing them to take advantage of cheap tariff deals and overcome patchy network coverage. Source: Bloomberg

6. Brazil To Let $900 million In African Debt Slide. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff announced recently that the bulk of $900 million owed by 12 African countries, would be cancelled. The pardon was made to maintain a special relationship with Africa which is strategic for Brazil's foreign policy, said the president's office. Source: Quartz

7. Why Wealthy Tech Entrepreneurs Are Pouring Their Money Into Water Charity: Water, an innovative clean water initiative is attracting funding from the founders of some of world's leading technology startups including Spotify, Pandora, Bebo, WordPress, Mind Candy and Wonga. The tech entrepreneurs gathered in the North Ethiopian town of Mekele recently to throw their weight and wallets behind the project which has funded more than 8,000 projects across 20 countries, bringing water to more than 3 million people. Source: The Guardian

8. AfDB To Unveil $20b For Africa's Infrastructure The African Development Bank is set to spend $20 billion to finance Africa's infrastructure. The plan will be funded largely from African resources such as pension funds, sovereign bond funds, insurance funds and other resources. Source: Ventures Africa

9. Amazon-style Web sites Flourish In Nigeria Nigeria's emerging middle class is going online to shop, facilitating the growth of Amazon-style Web sites such as Konga and Jumia. These sites are fulfilling close to 1,000 orders a day nationwide between them, a little more than six months after their launch. Source: Washington Post

10. Mobile Banking Vision For Africa (Video) Vincent Kadar of Canadian group Telepin Software, speaks on the significance of Africa's mobile banking revolution. This is on the back of the latest international conference in this area, which took place in Johannesburg this week. Source: Business Day

Our Arts and Culture Picks of the Week

Friday, May 31, 2013

1. Fifty Anthems For The African Continent

In honor of the African Union's 50th anniversary, the BBC asked its listeners to suggest songs that best represent Africa, and

DJ Edu compiled a special five-minute mix of 50 songs from 50 countries. Source: BBC

2. A Pioneer For Nigerian Writers

Award-winning author of 'Half of a Yellow Sun', Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, talks about her passion for writing and how

she's encouraging other Nigerians to pursue their dreams. Source: CNN

Chinese TV Series Find A New Voice In Africa 3.

Chinese TV series are developing a big following in Africa thanks to the dubbing efforts of China Radio International. Over 20

African voice actors are currently in Beijing dubbing programs in English, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Swahili and Hausa, for

broadcast in Africa later this year. Source: People's Daily

4. Nollywood Intro: Five Film Trailers To Watch

If you aren't familiar with Nollywood, Nigeria's $500 million movie business that churns out hundreds of films a year, second in production behind India's Bollywood, here's a primer on a handful of films that represent. Source: Washington Post

5. South African Filmmaker's Big Shot At Global Success South African filmmaker, Hanneke Schutte, may be poised for the big time after winning the Jameson First Shot competition with her short film starring Willem Dafoe. Source: Mail & Guardian

6. Muki Garang: Music And Poetry Can Change Africa Kenyan musical artist, Muki Garang, is a multi-faceted poet, hip-hop musician and writer who believes in using his art forms to promote social justice and youth empowerment in Africa. Source: Sabahi

7. Seven East African Theatre Fellows Joining Sundance Institute 2013 Theatre Lab, July 8-28 Fellows of the 2012 Theatre Stage Directors Workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia will be showcasing at Sundance this year. They will be participating in Theatre Lab the centerpiece of the Sundance Institute's Theatre Program, designed to support emerging and established artists in the creation of an original work. Source: Indie Wire

8. Luxury African Fashion Pop-Up Shop: Adiree and Pikolinos Host Pop-Up Shop Event From the producers of Africa Fashion Week, comes a big fashion event where Africa takes the spotlight at a premium pop-up shop showcasing a sneak peak to the designers featured in the upcoming runway shows in July. Source: Applause Africa

9. Exploring Sounds From The Sub-Sahara One man's study of ethnomusicology has led to an amazing collection of African music, Awesome Tapes from Africa, which brings attention and funding to artists across the continent. Source: The Oxford Student

10. Beat Making Lab's All-Female Senegalese Collective (VIDEO) Gotal, a group of female rappers, is burning up the music scene and working to empower women in Senegal. Source: Okayafrica

Announcements:

Fall 2013 Courses:

Call for Proposals:

Call for Papers: “Seeing Disciplines, Their Histories and Our Futures Through the Caribbean,” an international workshop to be held December 12-13, 2013 at Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, Martinique. This gathering of faculty and advanced graduate students is the first planned activity for the 2013-2015 initiative “From Imperial Science to International Relations,” supported by a Partner University Fund grant.

From Imperial Science to International Relations is a research project and academic network comprised of scholars from Florida International University, Université des Antilles et de la Guyane, University of Pennsylvania and Northeastern University; the University of Puerto Rico and the University of the West Indies are project affiliates. An opportunity brought to FIU by LACC, the three-year grant supports collaborative research, which positions the Caribbean as a central point for the study of international relations. The project re-examines the Western tradition of international studies from a perspective that reintroduces the critical role of non-Western territories in the field's history. Grant activities support curriculum development, scholarly exchange, student exchange, online resources and visiting research appointments for member institutions. To date, FIU administrators, faculty and staff from the following units have supported the project: College of Arts and Sciences, School of International and Public Affairs (History, Politics and International Relations, European Studies, African and African Diaspora Studies, Global Sociocultural Studies), FIU Libraries Special Collections--Digital Library of the Caribbean. Anyone interested in more information or in joining the list of affiliates, should contact Prof. Chantalle F. Verna at verna@fiu.edu.

Call for Proposals

3rd Annual National Black Women's Life Balance

and Wellness Conference

September 13-14, 2013, Spelman College, Atlanta, Georgia

Focus & Purpose:

The Third Annual National Black Women’s Life Balance and Wellness Conference is

geared toward Black women who are seeking harmonious, healthful lives. Black

women from every walk of life face similar and overlapping challenges to the

actualization of their success: racial and gender discrimination, oppressive cultural

expectations, and illness due to the resulting stress.

This conference affords Black women the opportunity to build collaborations and

join a supportive forum in which to share their own areas of expertise such as life-

coaching, mental and physical heath, and organizational strategies for career

success. Endeavoring to achieve career, family-life, and personal life balance is an

ongoing challenge made easier through realizing and accepting personal truths,

prioritizing life choices and goals, building effective skills in time management and

organization, and focusing on intellectual, emotional, and physical growth and

development. For the past two years, this conference has been focused on providing

a safe space for transformative dialogue and action-oriented change for women of all

walks of life. We invite you to join us.

Call for Proposals:

We are looking for presenters to facilitate hour-long workshops or panels on a topic of

interest centered on the conference theme, Sharing Intergenerational

Wisdom. Every woman, regardless of age, has a wealth of wisdom from individual

life experiences worth sharing. While it may be easier to share our stories with

women of our own peer groups and life stages, what can we learn from women from

generations other than our own? What knowledge might we gain from women older

and younger than ourselves? We believe that there is much to be gained from an

intergenerational conversation about life balance and wellness. As Black women of

all ages, we will come together to teach, learn, and unite over a common goal: the

pursuit of holistic personal success and strategies for continued health and wellness.

Some proposed topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

Mother-Daughter Relationships

Family Health

Financial Planning

Lifetime Learning

Finding Your Calling

Mentoring and Volunteering

Self-Love and Acceptance

Nutrition and Fitness

Black Feminist Approaches to Life Balance

Black Queer Work-Life and Personal Life Perspectives

Spiritual Development and Discovery

Connecting with Nature and the Earth

Please visit www.lifebalanceconference.com to submit a proposal (between 150 to 200

words) describing your topic of interest, desired format of your workshop, and how

your workshop fits with the theme of the conference, Sharing Intergenerational

Wisdom. The deadline to submit conference proposals is Sunday, June 23, 2013

at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Please email any questions to:

LifeBalanceConference@gmail.com.

Conference Co-Chairs: Shanesha R. F. Brooks-Tatum, Ph.D. and Carrie M. Sawyer,

M.S.

Program Committee Chair: Nicole D. Collier, Ph.D.

The 11th Biennale of Contemporary African Art, Dak'art will be held from May 09 to Save the date!

June 08, 2014 in Dakar, Senegal and will welcome many artists and visual arts professionals of Africa

and the world. Dak'art is the major biennale of contemporary art in Africa. It provides a platform for art

professionals and set forth the artistic trends in Africa.

- Discover Dak'art 2014 program and press release:

www.biennaledakar.org/2012/spip.php?article172

- THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS for the International Exhibition Dak'Art 2014 is launched. It concerns

contemporary African artists and African Diaspora artists.

- Deadline: September 15, 2013.

- Thanks to all of you to spread largely this application call in your country to institutions, professionals,

art schools, ministry of culture, art centres, etc.

- How to apply: www.biennaledakar.org/2012/spip.php?article191

For questions regarding applications, thank to you use this email: candidature@biennaledakar.org.

For other inquiries: info@biennaledakar.org