‘I Knew the Answer for World Peace was in Mali’: The Founder of the Malian Manuscript Foundation at GWU

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333, AIG, Amadou Toumani Touré, Bamako, Capitol Archaeological Institute, Douglas Park, GWU, Hank Greenberg, Mali, Mali tourism, Michael Covitt, Sabatier Films, Timbuktu, Tuaregs, Ugly American

(L) Covitt, (R) Park

The last event I covered for Africa in DC, on Afrofuturism, was bizarrely intriguing.  The event I discuss here, Mali: The Peaceful Resolution of Conflict, was just short of a train wreck.  The discussion was hosted by the Capitol Archaeological Institute and I commend them for keeping a focus on Mali now that the conflict has receded.  However, the event’s speaker, the founder of the Malian Manuscript Foundation, Michael Covitt, exhibited the worst traits of an Ugly American during his discussion moderated by recent Yale PhD and former GWU student Douglas Park.

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What GWU Didn’t Tell Me About African/Latin American Relations

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ASWAD, Dominican Republic, GWU, Haiti, Latin America African Relations, Yvonne Captain-Hidalgo

I had the day off yesterday and the blog of the Wilson Center’s Africa Program informed me that there would be a lecture at GWU on ‘Latin-America-Africa Relations: A Dominican Model?’ by a literature professor on the faculty there.

This seemed like a suitably interesting topic.  Unfortunately, the discussion never got to where the lecture title suggested.  The Professor, Yvonne Captain-Hidalgo, has recently shifted from her Latin Afro-diaspora literature focus to politics, enrolling in an international policy graduate program.  Her presentation resembled one of the classes I’d expect she’d be taking.  I got a brief primer on the history of the non-aligned movement, the UN Security Council, and the BRICS.

As far as I could tell, Captain-Hidalgo, had devised her topic in an attempt to ingratiate herself with the hosts of the 7th meeting of the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora, which was held in the Dominican Republic.  However, with the recent news that the Dominican Republic would revoke all claims to citizenship for anyone of Haitian descent whose roots in the country do not predate 1929, Captain-Hidalgo was apparently not willing to discuss her original thesis in the face of such blatant discrimination.

Approaching scholarship in such a manner does not seem to demonstrate much foresight.

(Guest Post) Attending: A Discussion on China’s Future Role in Africa

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China in Africa, GWU, Lula Chen, SADC, Sister Cities International, US China Cooperation in Africa, Winsow Robertson

Ed – See the original by Winslow Robertson at: http://cowriesrice.blogspot.com/2013/10/attending-discussion-on-chinas-future.html. I encourage readers to contact me regarding guest posts – africaindc a t gmail.com

On Wednesday (ed – 10/16), I (ed – Winslow Robertson) dropped by GWU to check out A Discussion on China’s Future Role in Africa, where Lula Chen of the Sino-African Institute of Sister Cities International talked about trilateral partnerships between U.S., African, and Chinese cities.

That is not a typo: trilateral partnerships!