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Volume 72, Issue 85,
Monday, February 5, 2007
News Events celebrate African culture Through lectures, art and film the month-long series will highlight the history of African people in America by DANTE EGLIN
The achievements, culture and history of people of African descent will be on display this month as the University celebrates Africana Heritage Month, which focuses on neglected aspects of the black experience in the United States. Ahati N. N. Toure, assistant director of the UH African American Studies Program, pointed to the influence of black studies scholar Dr. John Henrik Clarke as to why the AAS Program promotes Africana Heritage Month as opposed to "Black History Month." "Dr. Clarke would often say that ‘black' tells you what you look like but not what you are," Toure said. "Thus, the term ‘Africana' signified that Africans in the United States identified with a global African cultural heritage that included, but that was not limited exclusively to, the history and culture of African people in the United States." The UH African American Studies Program promotes a series of events that emphasize the diversity of black culture, addressing issues such asaareligion, art, music, popular culture and sociopolitical movements throughout the African diaspora. "It's a chance to explore Africana heritage in different media forms," Paul Easterling, AAS program manager, said. "We wanted to give people a different perspective through various multimedia sources." One such source is the hip-hop lecture series, which features prominent writers from the genre. University of Texas professor Dr. S. Craig Watkins, author of Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Movement, will present at 10 a.m. Tuesday in the AAS conference room, located in Room 628, Agnes Arnold Hall. Dr. Cheryl Keyes, associate professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of California Los Angeles and author of Rap Music and Street Consciousness, will speak at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in Room 106, McElhinney Hall. Various black art will be on display throughout the month. The AAS Program will welcome Rukiya Curvey-Johnson, director of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural Center and Bookstore, at 10 a.m. Feb. 13 in the AAS conference room. Curator Kristina Van Dyke of The Menil Collection will present at 10 a.m. Feb. 22 in the AAS conference room. Percussionist Kenyha Shabazz will hold a drum workshop at 5 p.m. on Feb. 20, at a location yet to be announced. Every Friday in Februay a feature film will be presented as part of the Africana Film Festival in the AAS conference room. The four acts of director Spike Lee's hurricane Katrina documentary, When the Levees Broke, will be shown in two parts over the first two sessions. Ivan Dixon's film adaptation of Sam Greenlee's The Spook Who Sat by the Door will be featured on Feb. 16, and the 2005 film Lord of War about the unregulated global arms trade, will round out the festival on Feb. 23. Concluding festivities for the month, UH students will travel to Washington, D.C. to participate in the National Model African Union Conference. The Model African Union is a student-led simulation of proceedings of the African Union and this will be the fifth consecutive year UH has participated in the conference. Creative writing junior Kalaiah Vaughn said that everyone can benefit from the events that will be on hand this month. "For me, Africana Heritage Month is a time for all people … to reflect on our past, and to strategize for our future. But for those truly concerned about knowing who they really are, learning Africana heritage would be a daily priority," Vaughn said. For more information about guest speakers and events, call AAS Program Manager Paul Easterling at (713) 743-2814 or visit www.uh.edu/aas. Send comments to dcnews@mail.uh.edu |
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