Student’s Corner: Learning Somali 

by Demetria Mack, Undergraduate Student

If I could choose one word to describe my semester in Somali 001 it would be worthwhile. I was considering which foreign language I wanted to take for this semester and I told myself I could take a language that was common (ex: Spanish., French, etc. ). However, I wanted to give myself a challenge and learn a language that was not very common and comes from an African country.

Howard at 63rd ASA

This year, at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association (ASA), Howard University has a strong representation. Below please find the Howard faculty and students who are presenting along with their sessions and paper titles.

The African Studies Review together with the ASA Board launched a distinguished lecture in 2011 featuring state of the art research in African Studies. This year, the speaker will be Bob Edgar, Professor Emeritus of Howard University.

The ASA Annual Meeting is the largest gathering of Africanist scholars in the world.

CfAS celebrates International Education Week

International Education Week (November 16-20, 2020) is a national week of the U.S. Department of State and U.S.

Welcome to Maryan Ali, our new Somali Instructor

A Word from Professor Maryan Ali

I am a former refugee from Somaliland. My educational journey started in the late 90s in the US and I completed my Bachelor in Computer Information Systems in Minnesota and moved to the Washington Metropolitan area at the end of 2006, where I taught, developed, and tested the Somali language for the last ten years. I have completed my Masters of Career Technical Education online at Concordia University.

New CfAS Director speaks on SABC News prior to the US Vice Presidential Debate

To preview the Vice Presidential debate in the US, we are joined by SABC's Sherwin Bryce-Pease in New York, Nick Harper, correspondent in Washington, and Dr. Krista Johnson Associate Professor and Director of the Center for African Studies at Howard University in Washington D.C. She is a political scientist whose work has focused largely on African Politics and Health Politics in Africa and the Diaspora. We are also joined in the studio by SABC News' Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena.

NBC Nightly News highlights Dr. Edgar and Leteane Monatsi's Popup Protests

NBC Nightly News highlights Dr. Bob Edgar, Professor Emeritus, in the Department of African Studies, Howard University, and his son, Leteane Monatsi, who are unable to join large demonstrations for racial justice in Washington, DC, so they protest regularly on their local street corner. They hope their voices will inspire others to action. Watch the NBC video below.

ASA News highlights CABA, awards for authors and illustrators of the best children’s books on Africa

ASA News highlights the work of Brenda Randolph and Vanessa Ouygi of Howard's Center for African studies, regarding Children's Africana Book Awards (CABA), awards for authors and illustrators of the best children’s books on Africa. Read the article "Reading the Rainbow" in the Fall 2020 issue of ASA News here.

Our former Amharic/Arabic FLAS fellow, Sara Swetzoff, is awarded a 2020-2021 Fulbright Research Fellowship

Our former Amharic/Arabic FLAS fellow, Sara Swetzoff, has been awarded a 2020-2021 Fulbright Research Fellowship. Her Fulbright research focuses on the resilience and community-building within the shared network of Ethiopian returnees and Yemeni refugees in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since the 2014 start of the ongoing war in Yemen, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian and Yemeni nationals have fled from Yemen to Ethiopia; many individuals belong to bicultural and mixed-citizenship families who call both countries home.

Dr. Krista Johnson receives a UMBC Inclusion Imperative Fellowship

Dr. Krista Johnson, Associate Professor in the Department of African Studies at Howard University, will be participating in the Inclusion Imperative Visiting Faculty Fellowship Program at the University of Maryland in the Fall of 2020.

Children’s Africana Book Awards announces the 28th Annual Winners!

The Children’s Africana Book Awards (CABA) are presented annually to the authors and illustrators of the best children’s and young adult books on Africa published or republished in the U.S. The awards were created by Africa Access and the Outreach Council of the African Studies Association (ASA) to encourage the publication and use of accurate, balanced children’s materials about Africa.

See the 28th Annual Winners on the Africa Access website.