2024-2025 Africa~Diaspora Forum
April 2025
The Power of Art: The World Enslaved Blacksmiths Made in the Americas
April 1 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Drawing on a chapter of the book, The Power of Art: The World Black Artists Made in the Americas, this presentation explores the rich history of blacksmiths from Africa to the Americas. Focusing on selected cases from the United States and Brazil, Dr. Araujo show’s how Africans and their descendants used iron to resist slavery and build a world of their own. Revered by their communities, enslaved blacksmiths and their descendants continued the long-lasting tradition of their African ancestors who mastered the art of fire. They became accomplished artists in the Americas, where their creativity and resilience kept disrupting the iron chains of slavery.
February 2025
Pan-Africanism in Africa and the U.S.: Marcus Garvey and I.T.A. Wallace-Johnson in Conversation
February 20 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
This panel event will explore themes of Pan-Africanism. Dr. McDuffie considers the significance of the U.S.Midwest to shaping twentieth-century Pan-Africanism through Garveyism. Dr. McDuffie’s research unveils new research and offers insight into imagining a liberated future Black world. In tandem, Dr. Rashid investigates the ideas, activities, and influences of Isaac Theophilus Akunna Wallace-Johnson, a journalist, trade unionist, Pan-Africanist, and politician, who played a pivotal role in energizing the anti-colonial and national movement in West Africa between the 1930s and 1960s. Untangling this paradox offers interesting insights on different ways in which Pan-Africanism consciousness and politics were shaped and expressed during the colonial period.
October 2024
An Age of Black Revolution: New Directions
October 24, 2024 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
“An Age of Black Revolution: New Directions” brings together two notable scholars, Vincent Brown and Crystal Eddins, whose works forge new paths in studies of 18th and 19th century Caribbean slavery, resistance, and revolt. This conversation will probe issues around archival research, enslaved people’s sacred rites, women and gender, and the formation of maroon communities as part of the salient issues concerning the Age of Black Revolution.
Sudan’s Counterrevolutionary War
October 9, 2024 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Dr. Nisrin Elamin’s lecture-based discussion will provide context for Sudan’s current counterrevolutionary war and famine from a political economy perspective. In particular, it will center struggles over land and the role civilian volunteers are playing at the frontline of mutual aid and relief efforts.
September 2024
Africans in Byzantium: Kings, Merchants, and Monks
September 25, 2024 @ 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
This talk builds on the research conducted for the Africa & Byzantium exhibition, offering new case studies that examine the visual and literary portrayals of Africans within the Byzantine context. Additionally, Dr. Achi will address the challenges of revealing these often-overlooked narratives from an art historical perspective and provide insights into the broader implications for our understanding of cultural interactions in the medieval world.