Events

Please visit our online events calendar for information on upcoming events.

EVENTS ARCHIVE

Dr. Daniel Weiner - addressing 2009 - 2010 new students (video)

Southeast Asian Studies Welcomes Visiting Scholar in Literature
The Southeast Asian Studies Program is pleased to welcome Dr. Harry Aveling as a visiting scholar during spring quarter. Dr. Aveling received his Ph.D. in Malay Studies from the National University of Singapore. He also holds a Doctor of Creative Arts degree in Literary Translation from the University of Technology, Sydney. He has taught for many years at a variety of universities in Australia and Southeast Asia, including schools in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam. While at Ohio University, Dr. Aveling will teach two courses - one on translation and the other on Southeast Asian literature. Read more about Dr. Aveling here.

Mother Africa: African Women and the Arts Symposium and Aza Concert to be held April 30 and May 1-2
Arts for Ohio, the Schools of Music and Dance, the College of Arts and Sciences and the African Studies Program are pleased to present Mother Africa: African Women and the Arts April 30-May 2. The three-day symposium will feature keynote presentations in the areas of dance, theater, music, and visual arts as well as drumming, dance and kente weaving workshops. The 2009 Aza Concert will take place Friday, May 1 featuring Azaguno, West Virginia University Women's Choir, Stilt Walker, Kombo Omolara (Senegal), Estelle Lavoie (Canada), Ohio University's African Ensemble, and others. Click here for the schedule of events.

Center for International Studies Welcomes PGIS Specialist
Giacomo Rambaldi is a Natural Resource Management and Participation Specialist and has been active in development and conservation in South-east Asia, Africa, the South Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean for 23 years. He promotes participatory approaches to planning and development, adoption of sustainable production systems and collaborative natural resource management. Rambaldi has worked internationally for various agencies including FAO, the European Commission, the Italian Aid to Development, the Asian Development Bank and the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and for private consulting firms. He is currently Senior Programme Coordinator in the Communications Channels and Services Department and Senior Coordinator of the ICT Innovation Team at CTA. Rambaldi will speak on "Participatory Spatial Information Management and Communication in Developing Countries" at the International Studies Forum on Friday, April 24 at 3pm in Walter Hall 145.

Including, Empowering Children Focus of the Institute for the African Child's 10 Year Anniversary Conference
UNESCO reports that Sub-Saharan Africa is a region in which 47% of the world's children who do not attend school reside; half of the world's 10 million under-5 deaths occur; and 158 of every 1,000 children born die before age 5. Statistics such as these prompted the creation of the Institute for the African Child (IAC) at Ohio University in 1999, now celebrating ten years of advocacy for Africa 's children. The IAC, which is housed within the Center for International Studies, will commemorate its 10 th anniversary with an international conference titled Including Children: Celebrating 10 Years of the Institute for the African Child . The conference will take place March 12-14 in Grover and Walter Halls on the Athens campus. For more information, the preliminary conference schedule, and registration information please click here

100 Years of Progressive Islam: A Conference Honoring the Life of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha 1909-2009
January 18, 2009 will mark the 100 th anniversary of the birth of Sudanese teacher and Islamic reformer Mahmoud Mohamed Taha (1909-1985), a widely respected teacher and promoter of individual freedom, gender equality, and democratic values throughout the Muslim world. Ohio University is pleased to host a national conference January 17 and 18 focused on Taha's life and work. Conference highlights will include a cultural dinner and address by Asma Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, daughter of the late teacher, in the Walter Hall Rotunda on January 17 and paper presentations and a keynote address by Princeton University scholar Cornel West in the Baker Center Ballroom on January 18. An exhibit of posters and photos related to Mahmoud Mohamed Taha and his movement will be available for viewing both days. Click here for more information and the schedule of events. Watch a video about the conference.

International Development Student Recognized for Innovative Work

Damion Croston, a former Peace Corps volunteer and graduate student in the International Development Studies Program, is part of a team that won second place this past spring in the Social Innovation Competition of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas, Austin. The team's project, Planting Empowerment, aims to find sustainable solutions to deforestation in Panama that benefit local communities.

Damion and the Planting Empowerment project are the subject of a recent story in Outlook .

Muslims and modernity focus of visit by Islamic scholar

Progressive Muslim movements and thinkers are often absent in American media reports dealing with Islam, contributing to a lack of public understanding of Islam’s place in the modern world.

One of the world’s leading proponents of progressive Islamic thinking, Dr. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, will visit Athens next week to address this issue. An-Na’im is Charles Howard Candler Professor at the Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, GA where he teaches international law, human rights, and Islamic law. Click here to read more.

The Kenyan Crisis: Challenges of Nation-State Consolidation in Africa

The African Studies Program and the Center for International Studies are pleased to announce a lecture by H.E. Zachary Muburi-Muita, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations. This session of the International Studies Forum titled “The Kenyan Crisis: Challenges of Nation-State Consolidation in Africa” will take place on Friday, May 16 at 3:00pm in Walter Hall 145.

H.E. Ambassador Muburi-Muita was appointed permanent representative of the Republic of Kenya to the United Nations in 2006. He joined the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1982 and has served in the Sudan, the Netherlands, Israel, and Tanzania, where he also served as one-time Kenyan High Commissioner.

OHIO’s National Resource Centers Awarded SSRC Grant

Polls show that Americans are deeply concerned about Islam, but know comparatively little about the religion, often mistakenly connecting the religion with negative stereotypes. For the vast majority Americans, what they know about Islam they learned from the media.

Ohio University’s African Studies and Southeast Asian Studies National Resource Centers have been awarded a joint two-year Social Science Research Council grant to develop a series of media events that will draw attention to reform and progress in the contemporary Muslim world. The goal of the project is to increase public understanding of the religion and the diversity of viewpoints that can be considered “Muslim.” Click here to read more.

CommDev Workshop, Forum to highlight Media for Social Change

The Communication and Development Studies Program will host a two-day workshop focused on “Media for Social Change” that will explore how community media has been used to promote social change in developing countries. The workshop will look at both academic and practical aspects of community media, coupling scholarly lectures with hands–on workshops and presentations. The two–day workshop will culminate with a hands–on radio transmitter building workshop led by Prometheus Radio Project. Click here to read more.

Summit to highlight OHIO’s African health research, initiatives

Few people would imagine that a former Foreign Minister would be delivering babies in a hospital on a site that once housed a dump, but they have obviously never met Edna Adan Ismail. Ismail, who donated her UN pension and other personal assets to build the Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, will be the keynote speaker at the African Health Summit on April 18. Click here to read more.

Drumming Party Moves Outside for Spring Quarter

Ohio University’s School of Music, the Center for International Studies, the Multicultural Center, and the Ohio Valley International Council (OVIC) are moving the ‘Live to Drum’ world drumming parties outdoors for spring quarter. Drummers of all ages and skill levels are invited to join in the fun every Tuesday beginning April 8 from noon to 1:00 at the West Portico of Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Click here to read more.

Ohio University Celebrates 40 Years of Engagement with Southeast Asia

Ohio University’s unique 40-year history in Southeast Asia will be the focus of the upcoming “40 Years of Engagement with Southeast Asia” conference taking place March 7 and 8. The conference will celebrate Ohio University’s national prominence in the field of Southeast Asian Studies and recognize contributors to the program’s growth and success. Click here to read more.

Ohio University to host seventh Ohio Latin Americanist Conference March 1, 2008 - Cuban scholar to present keynote address on transnational Caribbean culture

The recent stepping down of Cuban President Fidel Castro and renewed interest in the future of this island nation makes a visit by Cuban scholar Eliana Rivero both timely and pertinent. Rivero will deliver the keynote address for the Ohio Latin Americanist Conference taking place March 1 in Gordy Hall. Other highlights of the conference will include seventy-five paper presentations by faculty and students and a Latin dance with music by Latin Jazz. Click here to read more.

Brazilian Scholars Enhance Latin American Studies Winter Quarter

For most residents of warm and sunny Niteroi, Brazil – a suburb of Rio de Janeiro - Athens, Ohio may seem an unlikely place to spend the months of January and February. This is not the first time, however, that scholars Wainer and Regina Silva have done just that - the pair are visiting scholars attached to Ohio University’s Latin American Studies Program for winter quarter.
Click here to read more.

Security Specialist Appointed Inaugural Frances M. and Stephen F. Fuller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Southeast Asian Studies

Dr. Carlyle Thayer, American-born professor of politics at the University of New South Wales, Australia, has taken up his post as the inaugural Frances M. and Stephen F. Fuller Distinguished Visiting Professor of Southeast Asian Studies at Ohio University. Thayer is internationally known for his research and publications on Vietnamese politics and security issues in Southeast Asia..
Click here to read more.

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