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Lafayette students have organized a conference, “Africa: Turning Our Impediments Into Stepping Stones,” that will bring together students from Lafayette and several regional colleges on campus this weekend to listen to speakers and discuss issues related to Africa and the positive roles that African-Americans can have in the future of the continent.
After an informal opening dinner at Keefe Commons, acclaimed Jamaican screenwriter and playwright Trevor Rhone will give the keynote address and a reading 8 p.m. Friday in Oechsle Hall room 224. He will talk about ways in which people of African descent living in the Americas can help bring about African unification and development. A series of panel talks with professors and follow-up group discussions will be held Saturday in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights room 104. A closing dinner will be served in Marquis Hall at 7 p.m. and a dance will take place 11 p.m.
Lafayette panelists will include Africana studies co-chairs Rexford Ahene, professor of economics and business, and Kofi Opoku, professor of religious studies; John McCartney, associate professor and head of government and law; playwright Samuel Hay, visiting professor of government and law; Thomas Yuster, associate professor of mathematics; Roger Ruggles, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering; and Art Kney, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. Curtis Keim, professor of history and political science at Moravian College, also will participate.
The conference is presented by two Lafayette student groups, Africans Creating African Consciousness and Interest Abroad (ACACIA) and Lafayette African and Caribbean Students Association, and the Africana studies department. Other sponsors include the French, English, religious studies, and government and law departments; the Delta Upsilon fraternity and Tri-Delta sorority; Lafayette Association of Fair Trade Advocates; and Lafayette Activities Forum.
“The aim of the conference is to stir up discussion and ideas about plausible development paths for Africa,” says Martha Osier ’06 (Nairobi, Kenya), secretary of ACACIA. “In this regard we are also inviting students from other schools such as Rutgers, Cornell, and Smith.”
For more information, visit the ACACIA web site.
Other upcoming ACACIA events include a potluck dinner Saturday, March 27, and a Spring Party Challenge event, “Experience Africa,” Saturday, April 3.