Folk Culture: Morphing The World's Cultural Face
Thursday October 20 & Friday, October 21, 2011
Festival Conference & Student Center
James Madison University
General Conference Information:
Contact Information:
(607) 651-8202 Dr. Muhonja
(540) 568-4168 Dr. King
(646) 369-4980 Moussa Sows
Meals: Presenters and attendees will be responsible for their meals. Click here for information on dining options and locations at JMU.
Travel and Accommodation Information:
If you are flying, the best option would be to fly into Shenandoah Vally Airport (SHD). Other locations to fly into include Charlottesville-Albermarle Airport (CHO)which is about 45 minutes away from Harrisonburg and Washington Dulles Airport (IAD) which is about two hours away.
Ground transportation to/from Charlottesville and Dulles is limited and not reliable. Below are the options:
1. Green Shuttle Harrisonburg (Charlottesville/Dulles)
2. Shuttle. Car rental services are available at airports
Parking at JMU:
Campus visitors presenting at the conference will receive temporary parking permits valid October 20 - 22. These permits will enable guests to park in specific lots. You will receive information on this when you receive your parking permit. [Note that the assigned permits do not allow guests to park in specialty spaces such as Service Vehicle spaces, fire lanes, handicap spaces without proper permit, or expired meters].
Refer yourself to the JMU campus parking map.
Hotel Reservation Information:
Click here for a list of local accommodations. James Madison University has a special rate ($85.47) arrangement with:
the Hampton Inn- 85 University Boulevard, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (540) 432-1111
the Jameson Inn- 1881 Evelyn Byrd Avenue, Harrisonburg, VA 22801 (540) 442-1515.
Conference Schedule:
Thursday, 20th October 2011
6.30 p.m. Folk Culture Celebration and Conversations with Prof. Daryl C. Dance at the Blue Nile Restaurant
Friday, 21st October 2011
8.00 am Registration opens Conference Room 5
8.30 am Opening ceremony Allegheny Room
Dr. Lamont King and Prof. David Owusu-Ansah
8.45 am Breakout to panel sessions
9.00 - 10.30 am Session I
Panel 1A: Symbollism and Aesthetics in Visual Culture - Conference Room 2
Moderator: Besi Brillian Muhonja
- Visual Form of Colour Desert - Adeniran Faustin Adebunmi (University of Lagos, Nigeria)
- From Crossroads to Broadway: Fel-Artistry, Felasophy and the (Re)making of an African Icon - Aderonke Adesola Adesanya (James Madison University)
- Cartoonists and Comics in Kenya - Kimani wa Wanjiru (URAIA: Kenya's National Civic Education Program - Nairobi, Kenya)
- Blaxploration à la Boondocks: McGruder's Emphasis on the Individual Black Experience - Katherine Bull (University of Richmond)
Panel 1B: Narratives of Transitioning Technologies - Conference Room 3
Moderator: H. Gelfand
- Indigenous Technologies and the Mediation of African Folk Cultures - Lewis Levenberg (George Mason University)
- Tradition and the Visuals: What's There to Gain as Nollywood Knocks on the Doors of Oral Traditions? - Agatha Ada Ukata (American University of Nigeria)
- Black, Bad, and in Undergrad: The Folkloric Badman Archetype in Spike Lee's School Daze - Amani Morrison (University of Richmond)
Panel 1C: Student Perspectives I* - Conference Room 4
Moderator: Marcus Allen
- Beads and Bull Fights: A Student's Introduction into Kenyan Culture - Andrew Reese
- Rewriting the Narrative of Gender and Political Participation in Kenya - Michael Stephens
- Stories of Difference: Ethnicity in Contemporary Kenya - Phillip Pardue
Panel 1D: Moral Philosophy and/in the Construction of Folk Culture - Allegheny Room
Moderator: Kristen McCleary
- The Resilience of Ethical Paradigm: Nigerian Home Videos as Palimpsest of Igbo Folktales - J. Obi Oguejiofor (Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria)
- The Epistemological and Ethical Significance of Some Selected African Indigenous Proverbs - Akinnawonu, Benson Monehin (Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria)
- Universalism and the Reality of Human Cultures - Oseni Taiwo Afisi (University of Canterbury, New Zealand)
10.45 a.m. - 12.15 p.m. SESSION II
Panel 2A: Transculturation and Religious Practices - Conference Room 2
Moderator: Ian MacClean
- Egun in Disguise: The Jamaican Nine Night Ceremony - Lena Delgado de Torres (Kean University)
- African Cosmologies, Cuban Practices: The Religious Practices of Slaves in Cuba - William Chisholm Van Norman
(James Madison University)
- Religion and Folklore of Slaves in the Americas: The Interconnections - Aminah Wallace (Binghamton University)
Panel 2B: Heritage and Identity Politics - Conference Room 3
Moderator: Lamont King
- "Just" Warriors? Maasai Narratives in the 21st Century - Jennifer Coffman (James Madison University)
- The Challenge to Re-appropriate 'Lost' Heritage - Jemimah Mwakisha (Binghamton University)
- Decolonizing Our Tongue, Reclaiming Our Cultural Values - Barrel Gueye (East Stroudsburg University)
Panel 2C: Student Perspectives II* - Conference Room 4
Moderator: Yvette White
- Wait, What Makes the Racist? - Katherine Fleming Kersey
- Hair as a Medium for Self Expression in the African Diaspora - David Winters
- Scientific Racism - Jacquelyn Jones
- The Evolution of Richmond School Integration from 1950 to 1970 - Keila Folds
12.15 - 1.00 pm Lunch Break
1.00 p.m. - 2.30 p.m. Special Round Table: - Allegheny Room
Folk Culture as the Basis of African American Art and Expression
Chair: Prof. Joanne Gabbin, Director, The Furious Flower Poetry Center.
Members:
Nikitah Imani- Sociology/Africana Studies, James Madison University
Artisia Green- Theatre, Speech and Dance, The College of William and Mary
Theresa Davis- Department of Drama, University of Virginia
2.45 p.m. - 4.30 p.m. SESSION III
Panel 3A: Culture, Colonialism and Political Consciousness - Conference Room 2
Moderator: Tammy Castle
- African Oral Folk Tales: Contending with Colonialism and Unjust Incarceration - Kennedy A. Waliaula (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
- Buur du Mbokk: Africa, Modernity and the Specter of the Colonial Paradigm - Cheikh Thiam (The Ohio State University)
- Traditional Customs and Values in Contemporary Political Behavior in Nigeria - Segun Ogungbemi (Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria)
Panel 3B: Participatory Culture in Education - Conference Room 3
Moderator: Melinda Adams
- Girls' Development in Ukerewe, Tanzania: Empowering Schoolgirls to Discover their Rights - Rachel Hagues & Hunter Parker (University of Georgia)
- Using Fiction in the Social Science Classroom - Karen M. Gagne (University of Wisconsin-Platteville)
- Textbook Content Analysis: Representation of Culture in Kenyan Primary Schools - Carine Omole (State University of New York, Binghamton)
Panel 3C: The Beat, The Word, The Song - Conference Room 4
Moderator: Mieka Polanco
- Blacks in Classical Music - Amadi Azikiwe (James Madison University)
- How Wisdom Came Into the World - Jamar Jones (College of William and Mary)
- African Folklore in Trinidad and Tobago - Godfrey Vincent (Tuskegee University)
Panel 3D: Encountering and Engaging the Personal and the Communal in Public Locations - Allegheny Room
Moderator: Kia Johnson
- The Disabled Population of Kenya - Jennifer Aspinwall (University of New Hampshire)
- Property Rights that Serve Human Rights: Seeking a Sustainable Land Solution in Kenya - Jonathan Deng (Harvard Law School)
- Contemporary Realities of the 'Oldest Profession: Prostitution in East Africa - Daniel Ehrlich (University of Texas at Austin)
5.00 p.m - 6.00 p.m. Keynote Lecture - Ballroom A
We Meet Ourselves Coming Back: The Denial and Embrace of the Oral Folk Tradition
Prof. Daryl Cumber Dance, the "Dean of Folkculture"
Moderator: Prof. Joanne Gabbin, Director, The Furious Flower Poetry Center.br>
6.30 pm Reception - Highlands Room
Event Sponsored by:
Africana Studies
Cross Disciplinary Studies
Furious Flower Poetry Center
Office of International Programs
Office of Diversity
The JMU Visiting Scholars Program
Interdisciplinary Liberal Studies
Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures
Call for Papers:
Born out of celebrations and struggles through history and handed down orally, through artifacts and now also through written, audio-visual and new media, Africana folk culture is permeated throughout by an overriding syncretism in which seemingly impenetrable cleavages of region, language, nationality, ethnicity, and ideology are daily subliminated in the diasporic production of culture. Be it by word, song, visual forms, performed arts, inter-personal interactions, or other forms of expression, each manifestation of the Africana cultural form is distinctive for its soulful spirit and dynamism. Africana folk culture continues to influence and impact world consciousness, cultures, politics, economics, education, language, technology, and religion.
We are seeking papers, panels*, artistic renderings, posters and other presentations on work by scholars from all disciplines, as well as organizers and activists engaging the novelty, advances, and originality of Africana cultural expressions across disciplines. We are especially interested in creating those three E's - engagement, experience, and encountering - that preserve and inform Africana cultural expressions, even when other elements of Africaneity are the subject of contestation and debate.
Prospective speakers are invited to submit a 200-word proposal along with a cover note indicating the title, author's name, affiliation, telephone number and e-mail address to the organizers at africanastudies@jmu.edu by 15th July 2011.
*We welcome panel proposals for up to three presenters. A proposal should be provided for each presentation on the panel. Already constituted panels, which are accepting paper proposals include: Oral Literature; Music; Visual Arts; Theatre; and Philosophy and Religion.
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