Archives des activités du WARC/CROA

HIGHLIGHT

Pencum WARC: Nations Négres et Culture: Cheikh Anta Diop’s Magnum Opus

WARC Staff celebrate their Director for the decoration awarded to him by the Republic of Senegal

Mr Sène

Presidential Research Professorship Award

Dear Elder colleagues,

WARA Ideas Matter US-based Scholar Fellowship

Dear WARA family,

Visit Pr Montana

HIGHLIGHT: WARC Public Lecture Series: Professor Ismael Montana: African Diaspora Origins of Pan-Africanism: Revisiting the Ties that Bound »

WARC Public Lectures: Cheffe Vallery D. Lomas

Highlight: WARC Public Lectures: Cheffe Vallery D. Lomas: New Culinary Traditions Inspired by African Americans.

Launch of the « Archaelogy in Senegal » Exhibit

HIGHLIGHT: Launch of the « Archaelogy in Senegal » Exhibit

The WARC Fulbright Support Staff met the Fulbright ETA’s posted in Senegal

HIGHLIGHT: The WARC Fulbright Support Staff met the Fulbright ETA’s posted in Senegal

The Oxford Handbook of the Sahel

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Leonardo A. Villalòn, editor: The Oxford Handbook of the African Sahel (Oxford University by Press, 2021)

University Partnership Initiative(UPI)

HIGHLIGHT: The University Partnership Initiative’s Online Training Session on STEM’s wrapped up at the West African Research Center (WARC)

Book Launch: Boubacar Niang

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Boubacar Niang: Le Gouverneur Faidherbe à Saint Louis et au Senegal (1854 -1861 / 1863 – 1865)

AWE Phase 3 launched at WARC

HIGHLIGHT: AWE Training Session

Pencum WARC/WARC Forum: Situation de l’Etat Post-colonial: Exemples du Sahel et de la Corne de l’Afrique

HIGHLIGHT: Pencum WARC/WARC Forum: Situation de l’Etat Post-colonial: Exemples du Sahel et de la Corne de l’Afrique

Book Launch: Mamadou Youri Sall: SAES, le Vecteur des Réformes de l’Enseignement Supérieur

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Mamadou Youri Sall: SAES, le Vecteur des Réformes de l’Enseignement Supérieur, BaJoordo Editions, Dakar (Sénégal) Août 2021

WARC distinguished at the launch of painter Kalidou Kassé’s new International Center of Contemporary Arts and Cultures (CIAC)

HIGHLIGHT: WARC distinguished at the launch of painter Kalidou Kassé’s new International Center of Contemporary Arts and Cultures (CIAC)

Book Launch: Giséle Raimondi Quenum: Construire une Cite de Paix

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Giséle Raimondi Quenum: Construire une Cite de Paix (L’Harmattan -Senegal, Dakar, 2020)

Pencum WARC Panel: Gouvernance des Ressources Extractives au Sénégal: Enjeux et Perspectives

HIGHLIGHT: Pencum WARC Panel: Gouvernance des Ressources Extractives au Sénégal: Enjeux et Perspectives (Governance of Extractive Resources in Senegal: Stakes and Prospects)

Book Launch: Alpha Amadou Sy and Ibrahima Wane, editors: A l’Ombre des Voix

HIGHLIGHT : Book Launch: Alpha Amadou Sy and Ibrahima Wane, editors: A l’Ombre des Voix ( L’Harmattan – Sénégal/CACSEN 2021)

Randy Weston

HIGHLIGHT: Film Screening: Randy Weston, un Africain Ne en Amerique/Randy Weston, An African Born in America (a documentary by Bara Diokhané).

Book Launch: Thierno Diop: Démocratie et Droits de l’Homme: Nouveaux Pièges pour l’Afrique

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Thierno Diop: Democratie et Droits de l’Homme: Nouveaux Pieges pour l’Afrique ( L’Harmattan-Senegal, 2021)

Pencum WARC / WARC Forum: La Nouvelle Carte du Monde et l’Afrique (The New World Map and Africa).

HIGHLIGHT

Pencum WARC – Migrations

HIGHLIGHT: Pencum WARC / WARC Forum: Dynamiques Migratoires au Sénégal: Esquisse d’une Approche Nouvelle (Migration Dynamics in Senegal : Outlining a New Approach)

Apply now for the CAORC Multi-Country Research Fellowship

CAORC MULTI-COUNTRY RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP

Prix Al Fassi/ Pr Thioub

Le Professor Ibrahima Thioub Lauréat de la 5e Edition du Prix Al Fassi

Pencum WARC/Panel Dialogue Politique Inter-Generationnel

Pencum WARC panel: Dialogue Politique Inter-générationnel: Regards Croisés sur les Pratiques Politiques au Sénégal

Lutte Contre le Racisme

Lutte Contre le Racisme: » Nous Pardonnons Mais Nous N’oublions Pas » ( Ousmane Sène )

Durban +20 curtain raiser video : contact municipalité Gorée/ Centre d’information des Nations Unies

Warc contributes to the Durban +20 Curtain Raiser at the UN General Assembly(September 22, 2021). Please click on the link below

WARC contributes to the Durban +20 Curtain Raiser at the UN General Assembly

Warc contributes to the Durban +20 Curtain Raiser at the UN General Assembly (September 22, 2021). Please click on the link below

Book Launch: Mandiaye Gaye: Problématique de la Citoyenneté au Sénégal

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Mandiaye Gaye: Problématique de la Citoyenneté au Sénégal (New Edition)

Walner Osna

HIGHLIGHT: WARC Public Lectures Series: Walner Osna: Du Colonialisme à la Colonialité: de la nécessité de poursuivre les luttes de décolonisation / libération des pays du Sud (From colonisation to coloniality or the need to continue decolonization/ liberation struggles in countries in the South)

» Du beau monde au WARC

HIGHLIGHT: Du Beau Monde au WARC/Local Eminent Persons Invited for Lunch at WARC

Celebrating Juneteenth

HIGHLIGHT: Celebrating Juneteenth with Harriet: The Screening of the Film Harriet

Book Presentation: Lamine Kamara: Ethnies, Partis Politiques et Cohésion Nationale: sur les Chemins de la Réconciliation Nationale en Guinée

HIGHLIGHT: Book Presentation: Lamine Kamara: Ethnies, Partis Politiques et Cohésion Nationale: sur les Chemins de la Réconciliation Nationale en Guinée (L’Harmattan-Guinée, 2021)

AWE closing ceremony 2021

HIGHLIGHT: WARC: Closing Ceremony of the Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)

Documentary launch: Khadim Ndiaye (Director): Road Accidents in Senegal

HIGHLIGHT: Documentary launch: Khadim Ndiaye (Director): Road Accidents in Senegal

Book Presentation and Dedication: Seydi Diamil Niane: Mohammed Lamine Diop, le Prince Noir de la Poésie Arabe

HIGHLIGHT: Book Presentation and Dedication: Seydi Diamil Niane: Mohammed Lamine Diop, le Prince Noir de la Poésie Arabe (Les Editions Afrikana, 2021)

ASA workshop at WARC: « Youth, Entrepreneurship and Innovation »

HIGHLIGHT: ASA workshop at WARC: « Youth, Entrepreneurship and Innovation »

Book Launch: Femmes Noires Francophones (Kala-Hermann, 2020) and Gouvernance et Luttes d’Influences Politiques au Sénégal: 1960-2000

HIGHLIGHT: Book Launch: Femmes Noires Francophones (Kala-Hermann, 2020) and Gouvernance et Luttes d’Influences Politiques au Sénégal: 1960-2000 (Kala-Hermann 2020)

centenaire Amadou M. Mbow – Event N°2

HIGHLIGHT Amadou Mahtar Mbow’s Centennial: Mbow’s Political and Civic Engagement as testified by the National Assises (Assises Nationales) and the National Commission for Institutional Revision (CNRI)

Centenaire Amadou Mahtar Mbow

HIGHLIGHT Professor Amadou Mahtar Mbow’s Centennial: A High-Level Panel at WARC: Amadou Mahtar Mbow and the Re-Writing of African History

Book presentation by Pr Cheikh Anta Babou

Book Launch:

Dakar Jambaar Toastmasters Club

HIGHLIGHT

on Pr Mendy ‘s presentation titled The Black Sking Business in the Black

Presentation: The Black Skin Business in the Black: An Anthropological Approach (by Professor Louis Mendy, Department of English, UCAD)

World Women’s Day at WARC

Celebration of World Women’s Day at WARC: Screening of the documentary DARK GIRLS (2013, 71mn)

Black History Month: Movie Screening: Separate but Equal

In-person attendance with large crowds being now banned at WARC because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the West African Research Center was truly challenged as to what activity to conduct to meet the expectations of its numerous friends for Black History Month. That’s when this 1991-film, Separate but Equal, came to mind and was screened on Thursday February 25th. Although the film lasts more than 3 hours, the virtual audience were eager to re-discover the icon of african american film, Sidney Poitier, in his excellent impersonation of the celebrated black lawyer Thurgood Marshall. Indeed, the movie traces the events that led to the landmark 1954 US Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared that segregated schools are unconstitutional and detrimental to the building of learning, knowledge and self-confidence and worth in the young black minds in the South of the United States particularly (the events took place in South Carolina). As illustrated by the film, Thurgood Marshall, then chief council for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)’s Legal Defense Fund, displays exceptional moral leadership in the case. It should also be noted that the then Chief Justice Earl Warren uses his skill of negotiation as a former prominent political leader to convince the other justices of the Supreme Court to cast their vote for desegregation and the cause was unanimously won for the integration of schools in South Carolina and other parts of the United States.

Black History Month: Virtual panel on a new documentary on Sembene’s Manda Bi

On October 22nd, 2020, the Senegalese great novelist and essayist Boubacar Boris Diop and the sociologist-cum political and social leader and influencer, Marie Angelique Savané, sat together in the gardens of the West African Research Center to discuss the political, cultural and social environment prevailing in Senegal in 1968. Indeed, Sembene’s film Manda Bi (The Money Order) reflects life in Senegal in 1968, the year of the big union and student strike which rocked many countries in the world including Senegal. Their conversation was to be turned into a 25-minute documentary paid for by the World Cinema Foundation specialized in preserving world movie classics and the Criterion Collection of New York specialized in the circulation of independent films.

Ideas Matter Doctoral Fellowships for West Africa

This Grant is currently OPEN for applications! The deadline is March 1, 2021.

Senegal and Mandela : The Great Secret

Book Launch: Mamoudou Ibra Kane: Le Senegal et Mandela: Le Grand Secret / Senegal and Mandela: The Great Secret

Six WARA fellowship opportunities open now!

WARA currently has 6 fellowships open for applications! See below for descriptions of each fellowship and their deadlines (the deadline for the WARA Fellowships is Feb. 15!). Please share with your students, colleagues and networks in the US and West Africa!

President Biden’s Inauguration

President Biden’s Inauguration: « America has Prevailed, and Democracy along with it »

Fellowships & Grants Available from CAORC and the Overseas Research Centers

Deadlines approaching! CAORC and the Overseas Research Centers have many fellowship and grant deadlines coming up in the next three months. Please find below a list of upcoming deadlines. Note this list is not exhaustive and there are numerous programs with deadlines throughout the year. Please check the CAORC and Overseas Research Center websites for the latest information.

WARC pays a visit to UCAD

WARC pays a visit to UCAD: The New Rector Prides Himself on Being a Former WARA/WARC Fellow

Machel-Mandela Fellowship – Applications Open

The Machel-Mandela Fellowship Programme

Senegal Jamm Rek

HIGHLIGHT

US Presidential Election

HIGHLIGHT

on the Finale of Sembene Across Africa 2020

HIGHLIGHT Sembene Across Africa: Grand Finale at WARC with the film XALA

SAA 2020

HIGHLIGHT An African Cinema for Africa Sembene Across Africa, Fourth Edition, October 19-25, 2020

African Cinema for Africa: Sembene Across Africa returns for fourth edition

African Cinema for Africa Sembene Across Africa returns for fourth edition, October 19-25, 2020

CAORC Fellowships – Applications Now Available

CAORC is now accepting fellowship applications! CAORC offers two fellowship programs that enable recipients to visit and carry out research within it’s network of Overseas Research Centers: the CAORC-NEH Senior Research Fellowship and the Multi-Country Research Fellowship.

50 Years of Research on Islam and West African History

Research Africa Reviews Vol. 4 No. 2, August 2020 These reviews may be found on the RA Reviews website at: https://sites.duke.edu/researchafrica/ra-reviews/volume-2-issue-2-aug-2020/.

Welcome Video for the Asian Studies Association Conference

Welcome Video fothe Asian Studies Association Conference

Call for Applications Project Coordinator for Fulbrighters in West Africa ( final version)

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Project Coordinator for Fulbrighters in West Africa

Black Lives Matter: a panel discussion of the University of London SOAS Virtual Festival of Ideas

Hello,

WARC honors « Black Lives Matter » with SOAS (London) and UCI (California)

HIGHLIGHT

Broad as a Baobab Trunk: Lessons from Senegal

Broad as a Baobab Trunk: Lessons from Senegal By Rebecca Jacobs-Pollez

Dismantling Racial Injustice

Are you coming? Am I invisible or are you refusing to see me? What is the matter with you? Are you doubting I am human? Is my complexion obscuring your vision? You see everything around me. What is wrong with your eyes? Wait, wait! watch your steps. I can’t breathe, when you kneel on my neck to show your eminence. I can’t breathe, when you step on my God-given dignity, Blocking the winds of freedom, knowledge and self-awareness. Enough, today I rise! What do you think I am going to do to you? Are you afraid that I might hurt you? That is not befitting of a seeker of peace and justice. I am on my way to equity and liberty. Are you coming?

Les auteurs ont donné au WARC l’autorisation de publier ces textes en hommage à George Flyod / The authors of the following texts gave WARC authorization to post them on its website as another tribute to George Floyd

UNE AMÉRIQUE INFIDÈLE À SES RÊVES … – LA MORT DE GEORGES FLOYD –

Protest for Change: An American Tradition

The US Embassy in Dakar, on Thursday June 8 at 3pm, organized a live Zoom panel on a topic relating to current developments in the United States and titled Protest for Change: An American Tradition. The panel, which was held in french with the following title: Comment dans l’histoire de l’Amérique les protestations ont conduit à un changement? included the following speakers: Ndeye Bineta Mbodj, a PhD student of University Gaston Berger(UGB) currently a Fulbright scholar at Georgia State University, Dr Pape Malick Ba, an American literature specialist at University Cheikh Anta Diop and Professor Ousmane Sene, specialising in American literature and Director of the West African Research Center (WARC).

To our community…

We are all saddened and moved by the events of the last two weeks, which have come during an already stressful time. The West African Research Association, and its corollary institution, the West African Research Center, wish to express our strong sentiment of support for ongoing protest, collective action, and anti-racist mobilization within our communities in response to the senseless killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. The ramifications of these terrible events has sparked national and global outrage and has resulted in ongoing protests across the US and many cities around the world in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen Black communities in the western world disproportionately negatively impacted by death and complications from this disease.

DECLARATION OF DAKAR TRIBUTE TO GEORGE FLOYD : A NEW BREATH TO REBUILD HUMANITY

DECLARATION OF DAKAR TRIBUTE TO GEORGE FLOYD : A NEW BREATH TO REBUILD HUMANITY

Statement by the African Studies Association on Police Violence and Racism in the United States

Statement by the African Studies Association on Police Violence and Racism in the United States. June 6, 2020

George Floyd: A Memorandum from the MCN and WARC

George Floyd: Memorandum du MCN et du WARC

Pre-Symposium on Religions and World Peace

The Académie des Professeurs pour la Paix Mondiale (Professors’ Academy for World Peace) had initially planned to hold in March 2020 at the West African Research Center (WARC) an international symposium on religions and their contribution to peace in the world. With the turn of events and the worldwide freezing of people’s movements and large gatherings because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was postponed. To better prepare the future holding of the activity, a virtual pre-symposium was held with the participation of eminent academics who discussed various religion-related issues with the Director of WARC moderating the debates.

Trans-Atlantic Memories: Senegal’s Hip-Hop Griots and the Black Radical Tradition

In this essay, Kimberly Monroe, assistant professor of global affairs at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C. and a 2020 participant in CAORC’s faculty development seminar to Senegal, reflects on her personal and professional journey to West Africa and the deep musical and cultural traditions that live on in Senegal’s contemporary artists.

Sports Africa Network’s Virtual Documentary Discussion: « Sadio Mane, Made in Senegal »

As we may recall, Sports Africa Network, last year in Dakar, teamed up with the West African Research Center (WARC) on June 20th, 21st, 22nd, 2019 to convene its 13th international conference on Popular Sports, Mass Sports and Elite Sports in Everyday Africa.

Film Screening and Discussion – Documentary : James Baldwin : I am Not Your Negro

The screening of this film and the ensuing discussions took place at the West African Research Center (WARC) in the afternoon of Friday, February 28th, 2020. The session was introduced by Professor Hilary Jones of Florida International University, Miami and the debate after the screening moderated by Prof Louis Mendy (UCAD) and Professor Ousmane Sene (WARC). Authored by the filmmaker Raoul Peck, the documentary features world-renowned african american novelist James Baldwin discussing many issues and problems challenging social harmony in the american nation. According to Baldwin, the word « white » cannot be seen as the color of a particular racial group. It is rather a metaphor for power and domination. Likewise, the word Negro and its underlying negative and stereotypical meanings and implications cannot possibly describe and categorize people like Baldwin (I am Not Your Negro!) Baldwin addresses the need for introspection and soul searching in the american society and concludes with the need for America to look at herself in the mirror because « nothing can be changed until it is faced ». Many other issues are also addressed in the film by the fiery and committed novelist visibly angered by the loss of the three M (Martin, Malcolm and Medgar): the notion of racial purity and superiority, the hatred and fear of the black man (considered as the dark double), pervasive social violence etc….. The audience including 61 people were mesmerized by Baldwin and his eloquence but also emotionally moved by certain images featured in the documentary.

WARC celebrates the Museum of Black Civilizations: Public Lecture: Senegal as the Door of Return for the Black Diaspora

To celebrate its first anniversary, the Museum of Black Civilisations lined up a series of public lectures including one to be chaired by the Director of the West African Research Center (WARC) and titled Senegal as the Door of Return for the Black Diaspora. The topic was covered on Thursday February 27th in the WARC conference room by Professor Jeremy Lewitt (International Law), Florida A and M University. Apart from the Director of WARC, discussants included Professor Babacar Diop (History and Classics, UCAD), Dr Ibrahima Seck (Department of History, UCAD, and Whitney Plantation, Louisana) and M. Eloi Coly, Curator of the Goree Slave House. For the speaker of the day, Professor Levitt, Senegal has much more to be proud of and to offer the world than its projected gas and oil productions. Indeed, history and culture are assets this country should be putting on the table to attract the entire world. Goree Island itself, the African Renaissance Monument and the Museum of Black Civilizations are the winning « Black Trifecta » which should be promoted to draw the Black Diaspora back to the African continent. Professor Lewitt gave a passionate plea for the Black Diaspora and Africans on the continent to engage in a conversation likely to be conducive to the re-unification of all the daughters and sons of the Black Continent. The lecture attracted an audience of no less than 72 people who engaged in an exciting conversation with the speaker and the discussants.

Black History Month 2020 at WARC : Film screening and discussion: Glory

Following the battle of Antietam (Maryland), Colonel Robert Gould Shaw is offered command of the United States’ first all-African-American regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. With junior officier Cabot Forbes, Shaw puts together a strong and proud unit including the escaped slave Trip (Denzel Washington) and the wise old grave digger John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman). The regiment, initially used for menial tasks, will rise to fame thanks to courage and dedication and will end up being placed at the heat of the battle. The ensuing discussions on the film were co-moderated by Professor Louis Mendy (American Civilization, Department of English, University Cheikh Anta Diop) and Professor Ousmane Sene (American Literature, Department of English, UCAD, and WARC Director) The public substantially contributed to the exchange of ideas as their interest was particularly kindled by the story dramatized in the film but also by the performances of Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman (at their best). Over 32 people attended the session.

Black History Month 2020 at the West African Research Center (WARC)

The 2020 edition of Black History Month (BHM) kicked off at the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar on Wednesday February 5th in the afternoon with the screening of the film Remastered: the Devil at the Crossroads. This documentary takes a look at the short, mysterious life of Robert Johnson, the blues singer, songwriter and musician who has significantly influenced later generations of musicians. The document title comes from the myth about how he made a deal with the devil at the crossroads in rural Mississippi to achieve musical success. This is reminiscent of one of James Brown’s tunes « A Man Has to go Back to the Crossroads to Find Himself » and also of the West African myth whereby the mandinka world famous musical instrument, the Kora (21 strings), was bestowed on the first mandinka player by a spirit which came out straight from the waters. The session was chaired and moderated by Fulbrighter and CAORC fellow, Hilary Jones, Associate Professor of History at Florida International University (Miami). The event was attended by 27 people including reporters, visiting and local researchers, students and members of the larger public.

Book Launch: La Codification des danses africaines

Book Launch: La Codification des danses africaines: Revue de l’art et perspectives de recherche

URICA/WARC Seminar : The Prohibition of the Islamic Veil in Catholic Private Schools in Senegal

A few months ago, the talk of the town was the decision made by a number of catholic private schools to prohibit the wearing of the veil among school girls as a sign of their religious belonging. The case which drew more attention and caused a lot of commotion in the Senegalese capital was with the secondary school Jeanne d’Arc run by the Catholic Church. Indeed, the incident was peacefully settled but it raised a lot of concerns and questions as to Senegal as a secular nation, the right to attend a school of one’s choosing based on the universal right to education etc……

Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh: Nasiha (Those Who Take up Arms Stray away from Virtue)

The Nasiha is an epistolary text written by the religious leader Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh to his brother Ma El Ainin who, in the 19th century, was engaged in a Jihad warfare between Morocco and Mauritania to fend off the expansionist ambitions of the French colonial invaders.

Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE): Closing Ceremony at WARC

A few months ago, a grant was awarded by the US Embassy in Senegal to a group of local young women entrepreneurs for a training over several weeks to give them the knowledge, know-how and expertise to improve their performances as entrepreneurs in various areas such as the processing of agricultural produce, the production of hair and body lotions, shuttle and taxi services to places such as the airport, computer technologies etc… The training took place at WARC and the funds were also entrusted to the West African Research Center (WARC) for safe management. The closing ceremony drew all 27 recipients to WARC in the morning of Saturday December 14 and was presided over by the Deputy Chief of the Mission of the US Embassy in Senegal and the Director of the West African Research Center

Book Presentation: Fabrice Jaumont: Unequal Partners: American Foundations and Higher Education Development in Africa (Palgrave Macmillan 2016)

The french-born author, Fabrice Jaumont, can most certainly be ranked among the world greatest experts of the working and operation of philanthropy with American foundations. His research activities focus on the role of American foundations and emerging new trends in their operations all over the world, the prerequisites determining the success of philanthropic initiatives, the problems and challenges facing foundations in their daily activities etc…..

Book presentation: Katie Kilroy – Marac: An Impossible Inheritance: Postcolonial Psychiatry and the Work of Memory in a West African Clinic

This book published by the University of California Press in May 2019 is the result of the research project conducted a few years ago by anthropologist Katie Kilroy-Marac presently associate professor at the University of Toronto in Canada. During the 60’s and 70’s a French military psychiatrist, Dr Henri Collomb embarked on a transcultural psychiatric project blessed by late President Leoplod Sedar Senghor, one of the initiators of the Negritude movement. The main idea was to introduce traditional african mental disorder case management in the more western-influenced psychiatric modes of treatment applied in hospital units such as Hospital de Fann in order to take into account the socio-cultural and linguistic environments of patients.

La Montée de la Xénophobie en Afrique (The Rise of Xenophobia in Africa)

This panel discussion was held by WARC on Thursday October 20th, 2019 in collaboration with the Senegalese Social Forum (Forum Social Sénégalais), an active member of the senegalese civil society. Chaired by Dr Divine Fuh from Codesria, it grouped prominent personalities such as Dr Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, former senegalese minister of foreign affairs, Dr Pierre Sané, former executive secretary of the Canadian International Center for Development and Research (ICDR/CRDI) and former UNESCO deputy director and professor Fatou Sow-Sarr, a sociologist at IFAN/UCAD. The joint initiative from WARC and the Senegalese Social Forum was prompted by xenophobic developments noted lately in countries such as South Africa and Angola etc…where anti-immigrant violence erupted and cost the lives of scores of foreigners hailing from other African countries. While regretting such occurrences, Dr Sané pointed out that those countries should not be exclusively blamed for such hostile flurries of violence since exclusion and stigmatizing are also and regrettably defining features of human societies. He also insisted on the need for african governments to further develop economic opportunities for their populations to avoid such desperate and blamable reactions. Professor Fatou Sow Sarr also insisted on the need to understand the inner workings of human societies and to urge decision-makers on the continent to cultivate unity, tolerance, social living and refrain from using the populations’ anxieties and worries as political ploys for political gains. Dr Gadio more emphatically insisted on the need for Africa to be united so that artificial borders and national identities would no longer be a pretext to pitch the various human groups each against the other. He added that this was a very urgent task the more so as the continent is being gradually encroached upon by the peril of violent extremism and radicalism. The event was well-attended with over 82 gathering at WARC to hear the panelists, ask questions or contribute to their respective presentations.

WARC and the US Embassy pay Tribute to Toni Morisson

The main conference room of the West African Research Center (WARC) was packed full on this afternoon of Wednesday, August 21st and this aptly befitted the occasion. A tribute was to be paid to the great lady of African American letters Toni Morrison so beautifully described by Oprah Winfrey as the Emperess of African American Literature.

SASA mini-symposium: Africa in American World Literature

The Senegalese American Studies Association (SASA) has been active for several years now and is an invaluable partner of the West African Research Center (WARC). Every year, they hold a mini-symposium on issues relating to american studies with a focus on the social sciences, and the literary field more particularly, as most of SASA members are faculty, graduate and post-graduate students in the Department of English.

Documentary film on a senegalese Sufi leader: « Voyage dans l’Univers d’un Intellectuel Engage: Serigne Mansour Sy Borom Daara Ji »

This documentary produced by a follower of the Tijani Muslim brotherhood, Serigne Cheikh Oumar Sy Djamil, features the life and achievements of one of the most prominent paramount leaders of the Tijjaniya in Senegal, Serigne Mansour Sy aka Borom Daraa Ji because of his dedication and commitment to the teaching of the Kuraan in many of the schools he opened and supervised all over the country.

Professor Cheikh Anta Babou (U PENN): Islam, State and Society in Senegal: the Role of Sufi Brotherhoods

Professor Cheikh Anta Babou is a historian teaching and doing research at the University of Pennsylvania. He can certainly be considered one of the greatest specialists of the Muriddiya (Murid brotherhood) as evidenced by one of his most seminal publications on Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba and the greater Jihad.

Book Launch: Un Homme de son Temps: Hommage au Professeur Assane Seck

CACSEN (Communauté Africaine de Culture/Section Sénégal) is an association dating back to the time of the first president of Senegal, Léopold L. Senghor, and aiming at promoting cultural resilience, vibrancy and expression in african countries. After so many years, even decades, the organisation is still active as it has been the initiator of several landmark activities including the celebration of the 50 years after the First World Festival of Negro Arts, annual panels dedicated to the celebrated filmmaker Ousmane Sembene, among other things. Over the years, a strong and very productive partnership has developed and grown between CACSEN and the West African Research Center (WARC).

13th Sports Africa Conference: Popular Sports, Mass Sports and Elite Sports in Everyday Africa

For ten years running, the Sports Africa Network, an affiliate of the African Studies Association (ASA), convened its first ten annual gatherings in the United States. After meetin for the first time on the continent in South Africa in 2017 and in Zambia in 2018, the conference was held for the very first time in a francophone african country thanks to the active cooperation and collaboration with the West African Research Center (WARC) in Dakar.

UNC-WARC Symposium: Gender, Social Behavior and Public Health

The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill teamed up with the West African Research Center (WARC) for a symposium on Gender, Social Behavior and Public Health. The event took place in one of the Center’s conference rooms on Monday and Tuesday, June 17th-18th and was attended by faculty, health specialists, sociologists and other resource persons knowledgeable in the sector and hailing from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, University Cheikh Anta Diop (Dakar), University Gaston Berger (Saint Louis), donor organizations such as USAID and civil society entities such as COSEF (Conseil Senegalais des Femmes).

Sembene Across Africa: Screening Le Mandat (The Money Order) all over the continent

This will be the third year Galle Ceddo projects has been teaming up with WARC and its network of partners in West Africa as well as other resource persons and institutions across the continent to launch the screening of one of Sembene Ousmane’s film (this year Manda Bi – The Money Order was selected) and/or Prof Samba Gadjigo’s documentary titled Sembene! Over 20 screenings in 15 locations in Senegal and the rest of the continent were featured between June 14th and June 16th

A CHAQUE SEEREER SON DEE-NDOOR (seetu, ndaarorgal, miroir)

Pendant que la grippe équine décime les pauvres ânes de FOUNDIOUGNE, les chevaux de Dakar changent de harnais…. Moralité : “De tout temps le bruit court ou encore mieux l’idée a cours qu’il existe une issue”.

Conférence du Pr Abdoulaye Bathily

Cérémonie de Dédicace Seydi Diamil Niane

Opening Ceremony of the Museum of Black Civilizations

Before the official opening on Thursday, December 6th, 2018, a number of events were organized over the last two years for the pre-figuration and configuration of the Museum of Black Civilizations recently erected in Dakar.

Book Presentation and Dedication : Macky Sall: Le Sénégal au Coeur

The West African Research Center was recognized and honored when its Director was called upon for a critical reading and presentation of the book recently published by the President of the Republic of Senegal, Macky Sall, who, according to his words, need to engage in a one-to-one conversation with the senegalese people and the rest of the world to better represent his personality and the content of his character to them. The essay is titled: Le Senegal au Coeur (Senegal in my heart and soul).

The BU African Studies Center reaches out to WARC to consolidate cooperation and collaborative initiatives

The Director of the Boston University African Studies Center, Professor Fallou Ngom, and the Center’s Assistant Director, Dr Eric Schmidt, visited the West African Research Center (WARC) on Tuesday, July 31st, for a highly promising meeting with the WARC Director and some of his collaborators.

Book Launch: Alioune Diop: Gouvernance des Diversités: Enjeu de Prévention de Conflits en Afrique (L’Harmattan-Senegal, 2018)

The author, Alioune Diop, is a retired colonel of the Senegalese armed forces who, for a long time, served in various international organisations operating in the world for peace keeping and the prevention of conflicts. The book he wrote is a compendium of his experience in the field specially with his long-time involvement in peace keeping and crisis solving on the african continent.

Developing the next Research Agenda for the Study of Violent Extremism

An international workshop on the above topic was hosted on July 18-19 at the West African Research Center (WARC) as the first illustration of a developing partnership between the Center and the Resolve Network of the United States Institute of Peace. The meeting was attended by 31 participants from the United States, Nigeria, Tunisia, Chad, Cameroon, Mali , Lybia & Senegal to discuss research issues and strategies to better grasp the intricate nexus of violent extremism in North Africa and the Sahel.

The 4th international conference of the Dakar Institute opens at WARC

For four years running, the Dakar Institute of African Studies (DIAS) mostly grouping young african faculty teaching in US and west african universities has been convening high-level international conferences on various topics and subjects relevant to current issues on the continent and in the area of the social sciences and the humanities. This year’s topic focused on “Bridging the Gap: Black Studies Across Social, Geographic, Epistemic and Linguistic Lines“.