African Studies

Wesleyan University’s African Studies Cluster is devoted to facilitating a deeper understanding and engagement with Africa for the Wesleyan Community and beyond. We bring together a diverse array of courses focusing on Africa, culling the interests of faculty specializing in Africa from a wide variety of disciplines. This broadly interdisciplinary cluster focuses on a large geographic region that is of great historical, cultural, political, and artistic importance and interest to American university students, not to mention American society in general. The cluster promotes interdisciplinary learning in the best of liberal arts traditions.

 

Fall 2023 Events 

 

SEPTEMBER

9/16

Akwaaba Wes (Welcome back to campus from the African Studies Association)

3-6pm in the Zelnick Pavilion

 

9/20

Wesleyan faculty member Maaza Mengiste presents in the Russell House Reading Series

6pm in the Russell House

 

OCTOBER

10/13

Compagnie Nacera Belaza: L'Onde

7:00pm in the CFA Theater (CFA Programming)

 

10/14

African Studies Movie Night

6:30pm in Cross Street Dance Studio (160 Cross Street)

 

NOVEMBER

11/28

Talk with Duncan Yoon (NYU) author of China in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century African Literature

4:30pm Place TBA

 

11/29

Writers Talk with Mihret Sibhat and Ubah Cristina Ali

4:30pm Translators "Craft Talk and 6:00pm Writers Reading in Russell House

 

DECEMBER

12/1

West African Drumming and Dance Concert

6:30pm in CFA Theater

https://www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/events/2023/12-2023/12012023-orchestra.html

 

12/5

Talk with Prof. Fumilayo Showers (UConn) "Who Cares for America? Race, Gender, State, and West African Immigrants at Work in US Health Care" (talk followed by book signing)

5:30pm Location TBD

 

 

From Our Blog

ASA Indaba 2018

The ASA organized the annual Indaba with a range of interesting events and speakers before the annual Ariya Cultural Show.

African Studies Minor Info Session

African Studies Minor Info SessionPlease join faculty and students at noon at Ubuntu House (34 Lawn) for a discussion of the African Studies Minor at Wesleyan. Food will be served.
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Student Profiles

Maxine Gibb '19
I am a senior ('19) from Cape Town, South Africa majoring in the College of Social Studies with an African Studies Minor. I am the current president of Wesleyan's African Students' Association and am writing my senior thesis on female youth activism in anti-Apartheid South Africa. 

Student Profiles

Keith Mundangepfupfu '19
My name is Keith Mundangepfupfu and I am a senior from Zimbabwe, a CSS major and an African Studies Minor. I am currently the House Manager for Ubuntu House, the African student house on campus. I am also writing a thesis on the experience of queer male Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa. 

Student Profiles

Kyllian Pather '20
I'm Kyllian Pather, proudly from South Africa. I’m a CSS major and African Studies Minor. I also designed a University Major in Race Studies in Africa and the Diaspora. I’ve been a member of the African Students’ Association from my first day and it is my home away from home. Our new Ubuntu House is a celebration of our African heritage and a space to share our culture with the university.

Student Profiles

Ferdinand Quayson ’20

I am a Junior from Accra, Ghana-West Africa. I am a Government Major concentrating in International Politics. A board member for the Wesleyan African Student Association, I also serve on the Advisory Board for the Patricelli Center at Wesleyan. Outside Wesleyan, I am the President and Founder of Young Achievers Foundation Ghana, an initiative working to promote access to higher education for low-income students in Northern Ghana. 

Student Profiles

Iris Ridley '20
I am a junior from Northumberland in England. I am double majoring in Dance and Anthropology with an African Studies Minor.