This is an annual event hosted by all African student organizations with the support of the African Studies Center to welcome new and returning members of the Africanist community to campus. African and Africanist students, faculty and staff are invited to attend.

Free food, fun games & activities and African music (by DJ Mussa Maingu).

This free public event will feature MSU faculty speakers:

"Evaluation of pigeonpea – yam cropping system for improved yam productivity and livelihood of small holder farmers"

Speaker: Eric Owusu Danquah (PhD Candidate), Dept. of Plant, Soil and Microbial Sciences

About the Talk:

Yam is a very important food security crop to at least 60 million rural poor producers, processors and consumers in West Africa. Cultivation of yams by rural households serves as food supply; income generation through marketing of ware yams; and production of planting material to meet their own needs and generate some income from the sale of surplus seed yams. Despite this importance, traditional yam cultivation is characterised with shifting from land to land every year in search of fertile lands and stakes resulting in soil and land degradation. Yam production has now stagnated threatening rural livelihoods and urban food security. This evaluation study adopts integrated soil nutrient management with a leguminous shrub – pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan) in a pigeonpea-yam cropping system for sustainable soil nutrient management for production. Also, the pigeonpea would serve as readily available stakes for yams to climb on. How much N is fixed by pigeonpea in a pigeonpea-yam cropping system? What influence does the pigeonpea biomass has on the short-term and long-term soil nutrients and soil carbon dynamics of the system? What are the economics likely to influence adoption of the technology? These are some of the questions the study seeks to explore.

Dr. Somadoda Fikeni is a leading political commentator on contemporary political issues in South Africa and is a contributing consultant to the BBC. Dr. Fikeni, who earned an MSU PhD in Political Science, was involved in political protest in South Africa before he arrived at MSU.

Dr. Fikeni will share his perspectives on current political issues in South Africa.

Thursday, September 27, 2018 - - Evening lecture by South African Consul General Phumzile Mazibuko, and reception – 6 – 8:30 pm, Green Room (Main Library: 4 West)

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Michigan State University's decision to divest from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa, MSU is holding a conference on "Campus Activism for Justice, from Southern Africa to Michigan." The event is part of MSU's Year of Global Africa and sponsored by the MSU Library and African Studies Center. Co-sponsored by Vice President Student Affairs and Services, Associate Provost for University Outreach and Engagement, Office of Inclusion and Inter-cultural Affairs; Colleges of Social Science, James Madison, Law, Arts and Letters, Education; Departments of History, Sociology; and MATRIX.

Speakers from both South Africa and the United States will look back at the campaigns for justice which led to the successful MSU Board of Trustees decision to divest (resulting in MSU becoming the first university in the nation to completely divest and the subsequent State of Michigan passing more sanctions on South Africa than any other state). The conference also will put the divestment campaign into the larger context of campus movements that came before it, including activism at MSU by African Americans, women, and those opposed to the war in Vietnam. Campus activists from South Africa and MSU will also discuss some of today's student movements focused on such issues as global justice, responsible employment practices and the environment.

All events on Thursday (except Eye on Africa lecture) and the daylong conference on Friday are at the MSU Main Library and are free and open to the public.

Registration is strongly encouraged.  Please visit the website https://bookings.lib.msu.edu/event/4341660

In commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Michigan State University's decision to divest from companies doing business with apartheid South Africa, MSU is holding a conference on September 27th and 28th on "Campus Activisim for Justice, from Southern Africa to Michigan." 

Speakers from both South Africa and the United States will look back at the campaigns for justice which led to the successful MSU Board of Trustees decision to divest (resulting in MSU becoming the first university in the nation to completely divest and the subsequent State of Michigan passing more sanctions on South Africa than any other state). The conference will put the divestment campaign into the larger context of campus movements that came before it, including activism at MSU by African Americans, women, and those opposed to the war in Vietnam. Campus activists from South Africa and MSU will also discuss some of today's student movements focused on such issues as global justice, responsible employment practices and the environment.

Special guests from South Africa will include MSU Alum Dr. Somadoda Fikeni, and Nomzamo Ntombela. Dr. Fikeni is a leading political commentator on the radio, TV and the printed press, on contemporary political issues in South Africa and is a contributing consultant to the BBC. He has held academic positions at Walter Sisulu University and at the University of South Africa (UNISA). Dr. Fikeni, who earned an MSU PhD in Political Science, was involved in political protest in South Africa before he arrived at MSU. He will share his experiences as a student activist in the 1980s in South Africa.

In 2017, Ms. Ntombela was elected Chairperson of the Student Representative Council at Stellenbosch University.

The daylong conference on Friday, September 28th will be preceded on Thursday, September 27th with the Eye on Africa lecture, 12:00p.m. - 1:30p.m. in Rm 201 International Center. An evening lecture will be held featuring South African Consul General Phumzile Mazibuko.

All events on Thursday (except the Eye on Africa noon lecture) and the daylong conference on Friday are at the MSU Main Library and are free and open to the public.

Sponsors: African Studies Center, MSU Libraries

Co-Sponsors: VP Student Affairs and Services, Assoc Prov for U Outreach and Engagement, Office of Inclusion and Inter-cultural Affairs; Colleges of-- Social Science, James Madison, Law, Arts and Letters, Education; Departments of History, Sociology; MATRIX

Registration is strongly encouraged.

Please follow this link to register:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1o_l7_7if-cP5MU7F43q6cY5NgL-RYVL-f4JIkirOXV8/viewform?edit_requested=true

or visit the website https://bookings.lib.msu.edu/event/4341660

Date: Thursday, September 27, 2018

- Eye on Africa lecture by Dr. Somadoda Fikeni, noon - 1:30pm, Room 201 International Center

- Evening lecture by South African Consul General Phumzile Mazibuko, and reception – 6 – 8:30 pm, Green Room

(Main Library: 4 West)

Date: Friday, September 28, 2018 - All day conference, 8:00am - 5:00pm Location: Green Room

(Main Library: 4 West)

The Deborah L. Feltz Sport, Exercise and Human Movement Science in Africa Lecture Series will have its inaugural presentation featuring Dr. Alison September.  Dr. September will present, "Lessons from the Genomic Code." The biennial series will help bring an African scholar from a higher education institution to present on a topic connected to physical education, exercise science or public health, among other related areas of study.

Dr. Alison September is an Associate Professor and core member of the Health through Physical Activity and Lifestyle (HPASL) Research Centre at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. She studies how molecular genetics underlie complex diseases, specifically biological mechanisms underpinning musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries. Her recent investigations address genetic and non-genetic risk and recovery factors tied to concussion, breast cancer, and diabetes mellitus. Dr. Alison mentors women and youth, especially from disadvantaged communities, to pursue careers in science and genomics. She has also successfully supervised or co-supervised more than 40 postgraduate students and four post-doctoral research fellows.

About the Speaker:

Cheikh A. Babou holds a PhD in African History from Michigan State University. He joined the faculty of the history department of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 2002. Dr. Babou teaches African History and the History of Islam in Africa. His research focuses on mystical Islam in West Africa and Senegal and on Senegalese international migration. Professor Babou has published extensively on the Muridiyya Muslim order of Senegal. His book, Fighting the Greater Jihad: Amadu Bamba and the Founding of the Muridiyya of Senegal, 1853-1913 was published by Ohio University Press in 2007. A French version was released by Karthala under the title Le Jihad de l'âme: Amadou Bamba et la foundation de la Mouridiyya (1853-1913) in 2011.  Dr. Babou's articles appeared in African Affairs, Journal of African History, International Journal of African Historical Studies, Journal of Religion in Africa and other scholarly journals in the United States and in Europe. He was co-editor of the Journal of African History for five years (2010-2015. Dr. Babou has presented papers in international scholarly meetings in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France, and across the United States. His current research project examines the experience of West African Muslim immigrants in Europe and North America.

About the Talk:

If I had to decide on a single word to characterize historical construction of Africa and the Africans that word would be contested. Of course, all histories are contested. The discipline of history thrives on controversies and disagreements. Historical consensus is always unstable and temporary. But even when one accounts for the intrinsically conflicted nature of the process of historical knowledge production, African history still stands out for the intensity of debates and controversies surrounding important episodes of the African past and present. In this brief presentation I offer a critical review of dominant narratives about Africa's past and present to highlight the underlying epistemic, ideological, and economic preconceptions that undergird historical constructions of Africa. 

October 11 - 13 Daily from 3:00-9:00 p.m.

ComArtSci will be offering a host of activities from October 11 - October 13 as a part of MSU's Year of Global Africa. Events will range from presentations by artists and poets, film screenings, and discussion panels - Please visit our website for a comprehensive list of all the events going to be offered at

https://comartsci.msu.edu/comartsci-inclusion-events.