African Studies Graduate Seminar Series
The African Studies Graduate Seminar Series takes place bi-monthly at the Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University. It allows graduate students to share their research work with the Department of African Studies, the Center for African Studies and the university at large, while receiving constructive feedback.
Prospective presenters, please use the form below to submit your abstract.
Measuring The 1.5 Generation of Eritrean Immigrants’ Cultural Affinity to Food: During Their Adulthood In North American Cities (2001-2021)
April 24, 2025
3:15 - 4:30 pm
Douglass Hall, RM 101
Abstract/Overview:
Ph.D. Student Milen Mehari's dissertation examines the 1.5 generation of Eritrean immigrants in North American cities and their relationship to the homeland through a review of their consumption habits of traditional Eritrean cuisines. This research illuminates the particular and unique diaspora communities of Eritrean migrants that have formed in the occupied Turtle Islands, now known as the United States, and more specifically four major U.S. cities: Washington D.C., Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) tri-state metropolitan; Dallas, Texas; Oakland, California; and Seattle, Washington. The urbanized nature of cities makes them a desirable space for recent migrants to settle, due to their existing immigrant networks, material support provided by the municipality, and the heightened prospects for economic mobility. Thus, this dissertation is guided by the interdisciplinary framework of food studies, diaspora studies, and urban studies to conduct a nuanced and wholistic exploration of Eritrean diaspora members’ relationship to their homeland and their new-lands of residence.
Presenter:
Milen Mehari, Ph.D. Student, Department of African Studies
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
The Year of Return & Beyond: An Analysis of Policies & Cultural Impact
April 3, 2025
3:15 - 4:30 pm
Douglass Hall, RM 221
Abstract/Overview:
The Year of Return 2019, launched by the Ghanaian government, marked a significant call for the African diaspora to reconnect with the continent, positioning Ghana as the gateway to this homecoming. This initiative, followed by Beyond the Return, reinforced Ghana’s historical engagement with the diaspora, aiming to integrate returnees into the national, social and economic landscape. While previous discussions have largely focused on its economic implications, this presentation by Yaw Asare, PhD Student (Department of African Studies) proposes a study which critically examines the policies emerging from these initiatives and their cultural impact to assess the Year of Return’s impact and propose pathways for a more meaningful and sustainable engagement.
Presenter:
Yaw Asare
Ph.D Student, Department of African Studies
Akan Twi Lecturer, Department of World Languages & Cultures
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
Narrative Resistance and Feminist Reimagination in African Women’s Literature
March 27, 2025
3:15 - 4:30 pm
Douglass Hall, RM 221
Abstract/Overview:
Theon Gruber Ford, PhD Candidate, Department of African Studies examines the works of Buchi Emecheta, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Tsitsi Dangarembga, focusing on how their narratives disrupt patriarchal, colonial, and socio-economic frameworks through innovative storytelling techniques such as fragmentation, polyphony, and nonlinearity. African women’s literature offers a compelling critique of entrenched systems of power while simultaneously envisioning new possibilities for identity, community, and agency.
Through close readings of The Joys of Motherhood, Half of a Yellow Sun, Purple Hibiscus, Second-Class Citizen, Nervous Conditions, and This Mournable Body, this study explores how these authors challenge dominant narratives and reclaim African women’s voices. Drawing on African feminist frameworks such as nego-feminism and African womanism, this research foregrounds relational agency, community-centered resistance, and the negotiation of power beyond Western feminist paradigms.
Further, this presentation examines how these texts engage with race, class, gender, and historical trauma, situating African women’s experiences within both continental and diasporic contexts. Beyond critique, these works function as radical sites of possibility, imagining alternative socio-political structures and asserting literature’s capacity to shape justice-oriented futures.
By centering African women’s fiction within larger literary and feminist discourses, this research contributes to scholarship in African Studies, gender studies, and postcolonial thought. Ultimately, it underscores storytelling as an intellectual and political act, demonstrating how African women writers transform literature into a space of resistance and world-making..
Presenter:
Theon Gruber Ford, PhD Candidate, Department of African Studies
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
The Roles and Resilience of Women During the Nigerian Civil War
February 27, 2025
3:15 - 4:30 pm
Douglass Hall, RM 221
Abstract/Overview:
Chidinma Chidoka, PhD student, explores the transformative impact of the Nigerian Civil War of 1967-1970 on women. This session will uncover how the conflict reshaped gender norms and created new avenues for empowerment among women. Drawing on various sources, including firsthand survivor accounts, historical documents, and thematic analyses of oral histories and archival material, she explores the significant yet often overlooked roles women played during and after the war. Learn about the strategies women used to navigate the war's challenges, their pivotal contributions to rebuilding communities, and the enduring influence of these experiences on post-conflict society.
Presenter:
Chidinma Chidoka, PhD Student, Department of African Studies
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
The Sudanese Communist Party: Examining Marxist-Leninist Theory and Praxis
February 20, 2025
3:15 pm - 4:30 pm
Frederick Douglass Hall, Room 221, Howard University
Overview:
Join us as PhD Student Miranda Rivers engages us in a seminar presentation titled: The Sudanese Communist Party: Examining Marxist-Leninist Theory and Praxis. Miranda's presentation will focus on her dissertation research, which examines the Sudanese Communist Party from Sudan's pre-independence period until today. The discussion will focus on the party as a social, political, and cultural force within Sudanese society, with a focus on its strategy and tactics and role during national uprisings. It will also explore the adoption of Marxist-Leninist thought and praxis as employed by the party and other African revolutionary leaders and thinkers.
Presenter:
Miranda Rivers, PhD Student, Department of African Studies
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
Hip Hop, Identity, and Race: A Transnational Perspective on Black and Coloured Communities
February 6, 2025
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Frederick Douglass Hall, Room 221, Howard University
Overview:
In honour of Black History Month, we invite you to the African Studies Graduate Seminar Series, on Thursday, February 6th. The Seminar, titled Hip Hop, Identity, and Race: A Transnational Perspective on Black and Coloured Communities, will be presented by Dr. Msia Kibona Clark (Associate Professor in African Studies) and focuses on how Hip Hop culture in South Africa, the UK, and the US serves as a platform for racial and gender identity discourse, particularly among Black and Colored communities, while also examining the role of AI and NVIVO software in qualitative research methodologies. Please view the event flyer attached to this message for additional details, and let us know if you have any questions or need assistance.
Presenter:
Dr. Msia Kibona Clark, Associate Professor, Department of African Studies
Zoom option:
For those who are interested in participating virtually, the following is a Zoom link to the Seminar:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://howard.zoom.us/j/88364581612?pwd=T0c3q2R8AGTaWLd3PZ4SqDUrpnuNp4.1
Meeting ID: 883 6458 1612
Passcode: 05473279
Academic Proliferation: The Early Cold War University
January 30, 2025
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Frederick Douglass Hall, Room 221, Howard University
Overview:
The Seminar, titled Academic Proliferation: The Early Cold War University, will be presented by Dr. Amsale Alemu (Assistant Professor in African Studies) and focuses on the founding of Ethiopia’s first national university in the wake of an attempted coup against the emperor in 1960.
Presenter:
Dr. Amsale Alemu, Assistant Professor, Department of African Studies
The PhD Brand: The Little Things That Make All the Difference
October 3, 2024
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Frederick Douglass Hall, Room 221, Howard University
Overview:
This informative seminar, led by Dr. Anita Plummer (Director of Graduate Studies, Department of African Studies) and Ms. Hellen Maleche (PhD Student, Department of African Studies), will focus on "The PhD Brand: Making a Lasting Impression." As PhD candidates, it is essential to leave a strong, positive impression in presentations, elevator pitches, and academic interactions. Participants will learn key techniques to make a memorable impact within the first 7 seconds of engagement. Additionally, the seminar will cover public speaking techniques and strategies for building a compelling online presence, including creating an inspiring LinkedIn profile and crafting professional email sign-offs.
Presenters:
- Dr. Anita Plummer, Graduate Studies Director, Dept of African Studies
- Helen Maleche, PhD Student, Department of African Studies
Gye Nyame: An A[fri]kan Cosmological Thought
April 4, 2024
3:00 - 4:30 pm
Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center
Overview:
Adinkra are visual motifs with verbal complements. Although information surrounding its genesis varies, these motifs, aesthetically sound and inherently profound have been an integral part of Akan writing and visual culture. Each Adinkra walks with a proverbial complement in the Akan language, Twi. These proverbs have been translated into other languages, particularly English to allow for comprehension by those who may not understand Twi.
A tyranny however is sometimes presented as the translations distort and many times gradually usurp the Twi proverbs and meanings associated with the symbols over time. In this presentation, I examine the Adinkra known popularly as Gye Nyame. I present this Adinkra analyzing its complementary proverb to show a cosmological thought amongst the Akan peoples. Relating this to the BaKongo visual cosmogram dikenga, this deep thought goes on to further elucidate an Akan conception of time: a cyclical transformational process whose beginning and end is unknown. Moreover, the Gye Nyame adinkra allows us to probe into the Akan concept of the all-pervasive force Nyame. In many instances, Afrikan concepts are equated to Eurasian concepts which unfortunately contribute to the reduction and distortion at best, a cancerous mutation or an erasure at worst of our profound thought. In this case, Nyame is often equated to the Eurasian concept of ‘God’.
The Gye Nyame adinkra brings to the fore the Akan conceptualization of Nyame which when put in its rightful Afrikan context and analyzed will be shown here to point to ‘The Totality of Creation’. Here, I argue it is important to probe indigenous knowledge with indigenous languages. The implications of equating our thoughts blindly to foreign concepts will also be discussed.
This discussion will be grounded in the theoretical framework of conceptual mimicry which I borrow from the plant and animal world to explain this phenomena.
Presenter:
Yaw Asare, PhD Student, Department of African Studies
Seminar Chair:
Dr. Mario Beatty, Associate Professor, Afro-American Studies
The Miracles of Mary Texts
March 21, 2024
3:00 - 4:30 pm
Ralph J. Bunche International Affairs Center
Abstract/Overview:
Historically, Africa has been subjected to a Euro-centric narrative that diminishes its contributions and portrays the continent as devoid of any substantial history. Contrastingly, Europe is often positioned as the epicenter of knowledge production, shaping Africa's way of life. This ahistorical revision not only jeopardizes the validity of scholarly pursuits but also influences the formulation of policies. To address this historical misrepresentation, it is imperative to acknowledge Africa's rich history and its valuable contributions to global development. This shift in perspective will lay the foundation for more informed and equitable policies that respect Africa's agency and diversity. Ethiopia stands as a counter-narrative to the prevailing Western perspective on Africans and their role in embracing Christianity. Contrary to the Western account that often associates the introduction of Christianity in Africa with European colonizers, Ethiopia's historical trajectory challenges this narrative. Among Ethiopia's intellectual treasures, the genre of Ethiopic texts known as the Miracles of Mary (TM) has captured the fascination of scholars. These TM manuscripts, constituting a collection of miraculous stories about the Virgin Mary, have been written over a millennium across the globe.
Presenter:
Dawit Muluneh holds a Masters degree in Ethiopic and Coptic Studies from the Catholic University and is currently a PhD student at Howard University in the Department of African Studies.