A three-day conference, "African Studies: Paradigms, Pedagogy, and Partnerships" at Grand Valley State is providing a forum for discussion about establishing and maintaining collaborations between U.S. and African universities.
The conference, October 7-9, is sponsored by Grand Valley's African and African American Studies and the University of Cape Coast-Ghana. About 150 people are expected; the conference is open to the public and the registration fee is $150. For details and to register online, visit www.gvsu.edu/pic and click on "African Studies Conference."
Ronald Stephens, coordinator of Grand Valley's African and African American Studies, said along with keynote speakers, conference sessions will focus on challenges facing political regimes in Africa, interventions in human rights struggles and confronting multiple identities and nationalities. Grand Valley has a partnership with the University of Cape Coast in Ghana. The speakers are:
Kwame Alford, assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University, is a specialist in African American and diaspora history and studies.
David Wiley, professor of sociology and director of the African Studies Center at Michigan State University, specializes in international inequality and development and sociological theory.
Takyiwaa Manuh, deputy director of the Institute for African Studies at the University of Ghana-Legon, focuses on higher education in Africa, gender and the state, and gender violence in Ghana.
