Upcoming Events

- 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- 4130 Posvar Hall
In this Let's Talk Africa, learn about "Tomorrow's Stars" in Ghana! Providing resources for schools including learning materials, teachers, and student scholarships. George Weir founded Tomorrow's Stars in 2003 after traveling to Ghana in 2000. Hear his story and what his organization has accomplished!

- John Cropper, Assistant Professor, College of Charleston
- 4:00 pm
- 4130 Posvar Hall
This talk offers a historical critique of the Great Green Wall Initiative of the Sahel and the Sahara (GGW) – an audacious project to stop the southern encroachment of the Sahara Desert by constructing a wall of trees across the continent. From the start, the initiative attracted scrutiny from ecologist and climate scientists who argue, rightly, that the GGW was based on the notion of a universally advancing desert border. By upstreaming, or working back in history, this talk will examine how longstanding narratives of environmental decline, deforestation, and soil erosion have been redeployed in efforts to construct the GGW. In focusing specifically on Senegal, which has already devoted significant labor and capital to the initiative, Dr. Cropper will explore how government officials and development experts have relied on ‘declensionist’ tropes – deforestation, desiccation, food scarcity – to legitimize the project, even when the science has undermined its initial aims. Put simply, he will argue that narratives of environmental decline have served as a dynamic framework to rationalize the exploitation of the Sahel’s environments and have become the fetishized commodities of a global neoliberal economy. Dr. Ruth Mostern, Professor of History and Director of the World History Center will moderate.

- John Cropper, Assistant Professor, College of Charleston
- 2:30 pm
- 157 Benedum Hall
Since the nineteenth century, the West has targeted the Senegal River Valley as an ideal location for environmental and agricultural improvement projects. In the early 1800s, French trading companies hoped to transform the Lower Senegal Valley into a massive plantation economy – one that would replace the devastating loss of Saint-Domingue to the Haitian Revolution. By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, however, French colonizers shifted their focus from agricultural to energy, hoping that the establishment of a hydroelectric dam would stimulate the colonial economy and contribute to the growth of the extractive imperial economy. And, by the turn of the 21st century, international development institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, and USAID have once again turned to the Senegal River to construct a dam, though this time to alleviate famine in the region by providing farmlands with irrigation. In each case, these improvement projects not only failed to produce their intended results, but also helped to construct the stubborn and misguided narrative that the Sahel is in a continual state of environmental decline and crisis. In examining these wayward efforts to shape the riverain environment of the Senegal River Valley, this paper explores how Western science, technology, and innovation have ignored, and in some cases undermined, local systems of knowledge that have endured extended periods of ecological and climatic changes over time.

- Mikael Owunna
- 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm
- 4130 Posvar Hall
Multi-media artist and engineer Mikael Owunna, will present works from his artistic practice that transfigure Black bodies into vessels of eternal life. Owunna’s artistic practice explores the intersections of visual media with engineering, optics, Blackness, and African cosmologies. His work seeks to elucidate an emancipatory vision of possibility that pushes people beyond all boundaries, restrictions, and frontiers. Owunna's presentation will be followed by a Q&A. Check out Mikael's website here: https://www.mikaelowunna.com/#4

- 12:30 pm
- Posvar Hall - 4130

- 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
- Global Hub
Explore the World with a Summer Study Abroad Scholarship! Join the Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs' Scholarships Info Session!
Dreaming of an unforgettable summer adventure abroad? We're here to make it happen! Discover your opportunity to study abroad with the help of scholarships at our Summer Study Abroad Scholarships Info Session.
What You'll Gain from Our Info Session:
Scholarship Insights: Learn about various scholarships designed specifically for summer study abroad programs.
Application Tips: Get expert advice on crafting a compelling scholarship application.
Destinations Galore: Explore exciting study abroad destinations and programs available.
Q&A Session: Ask your burning questions and get answers from experienced advisors.
Don't miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime! Secure your spot at our Summer Study Abroad Scholarships Info Session and embark on a transformative journey that will broaden your horizons and enrich your life. Your global adventure begins here!

- 8:00 am to 4:00 pm
- William Pitt Union and OHara Student Center, Pitt-Oakland Campus Model United Nations high school simulation

- 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
- TBD
Learn about the 6 study abroad programs in Africa this Summer and hear from fellow students who have already traveled to Africa! Pizza provided! See our study abroad programs here: https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/africa/study-abroad

- Cindy McNulty, Catherine Fratto
- 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
- via Zoom
Join us for this FREE online K-12 educator workshop that will examine the history, current status, and future of Africa and China's relationship through a global lens and offer strategies and resources for classroom use. We will explore not only Chinese investments in infrastructure in Africa, but provide examples from other regions such as Europe, as well. This workshop will offer teaching strategies and resources for K-12 classroom use, and Act 48 hours and FREE classroom materials will be provided for all participants. This workshop is being conducted in conjunction with the day-long conference, "Africa-China Relationship and Its Global Impact," which will take place on Friday, November 10 from 9 am-4 pm ET via Zoom. Workshop participants are invited (but not required) to register for and attend parts, or all, of the November 10 conference, if interested. To register for this workshop, please click here.

- 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
This seminar delves into the multifaceted nature of the Africa-China relationship and its impact on the international stage. Exploring the economic, political, socio-cultural, and developmental dimensions of this dynamic partnership, the workshop seeks to analyze how the growing interaction between Africa and China is shaping and influencing the global geopolitical landscape and economic development. Through its focus on infrastructure as a tool of politics, the workshop discusses not only Chinese investments in infrastructure in Africa, but also provides examples from other regions (Europe, Latin America, etc.) about the challenges and opportunities that arise from these relationships. The presenters will provide a comprehensive understanding of their impact on both the regional and the global landscape. They will also examine the role of Africa in China’s Belt & Road initiative and how it impacts China’s international aspirations. Through critical discussion and interdisciplinary perspective, participants will gain insights into the impact of the Africa-China connection and its significance in the broader context of international politics and the challenges of debt distress.

- 12:30 pm
- Zoom Webinar
It is 60 years since the signing of the Yaoundé Convention (1963). This was a moment in the history of decolonization when the Associated African States, 12 mainly young postcolonial Western African countries, signed a trade agreement with the also young European Economic Community. The Yaoundé Convention was part of the EEC’s Eurafrica initiative, an effort to maintain a presence in the former colonies. Yaoundé initiated a series of trade and aid agreements that replaced the colonial relation with a developmental model. An era of trade and infrastructural development followed. However, many critics have suggested that this strategy of aid set off a pattern of uneven and unequal development.
This Conversation on Europe and Africa takes this event as an opportunity to consider development aid in Africa historically and in its contemporary form. Our panelists bring a mix of historical and regional knowledge to the conversation, including Mounir Saidani from CERES in Tunis.
Although Tunisia was not part of the Yaoundé convention, it is at the center of controversial aid discussions: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's recent visit to Tunis as part of a deal of aid for migration "control” left many critics concerned about this new turn in EU-Africa relations.
Moderator:
Randall Halle, University of Pittsburgh
Panelists:
Mounir Saidani, Centre des Etudes Economiques et Sociales (CERES)
Pernille Røge, University of Pittsburgh
Michael Odijie, Univeristy College London
Abdou Seck, Gaston Berger University, Groupe D’Action et D’Etude Critique Africa (GAEC)

- 5:00 pm
- Zoom and 4217/4130 Posvar Hall
In the fifth installment of the Global Issues Through Literature Series (GILS), educators will convene to discuss Home is Not a Country by author Safia Elhillo. This year's theme is: Marginalized Voices in Global Context: Centering Overlooked Narratives in Literature This reading group for K-16 educators explores literary texts from a global perspective. Content specialists present the work and its context, and participants brainstorm innovative pedagogical practices for incorporating the text and its themes into the curriculum. Sessions this year will take place in a hybrid format, with virtual and in-person discussions taking place on Thursday evenings from 5-8 PM (EST). A copy of the book and 3 Act 48 credit hours are provided for each session.