Prominent scholars from the U.S. and abroad will gather at Grand Valley State University for a two-day conference to discuss and evaluate Africa’s evolving external relations.
Experts say Africa is experiencing a strengthening in democratic, technologic and economic reforms. The conference, Africa in Contemporary International Relations: Context, Stakes, Actors and Issues, will be held September 21-22 on Grand Valley’s Allendale Campus.
Keynote speaker Ian Shapiro, Sterling Professor of political science and Henry Luce director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University, will speak Monday, September 21, at 6 p.m. in Loosemore Auditorium on Grand Valley’s Pew Grand Rapids Campus, 410 W. Fulton St. Shapiro’s address is titled “Luck, Leadership and Legitimacy in Transitions to Democracy: Lessons from South Africa and the Middle East.”
Panelists will discuss various issues as they relate to Africa including, African and the old balance of power, new security threats and global challenges, Africa and the new balance of power, and Africa’s economic and political development.
Panelists include several professors from Grand Valley as well
as:
• Paul Williams, Elliot School of International Affairs, George
Washington University
• Mikhail Vishnevskiy, Institute for African
Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
• Abdul Karim Bangura,
Howard University
• George Kieh, Western Georgia University
•
Daniel Mengara, Montclair State University
• Daniel Large,
African-Asia Center, Royal African Society, London
• Gladys
Lechini, National University of Rosario, Argentine
• Seifudein
Adem, Institute of Global Cultural Studies, Binghamton University
•
Emmanuel Cleeve, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
For more information, including a complete list of speakers and topics, call Jack Mangala, conference chair and director of Grand Valley’s African/African American Studies, at (616) 331-8512 or Polly Diven, professor of political science, at (616) 331-3282.
