Senior OPIC Executive and New America Foundation Fellow on Africa Rising

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Africa Rising, Booker T Washington, Dayo Olopade, Ethiopia, Josh Keating, Mimi Alemayehou, New America Foundation, Sino - Africa, technology in Africa, The Brightest Continent, World Health Organization

 

Olopade (L) and Keating (R). The very short dress is worth acknowledgement.

After a long day on Capitol Hill (post to follow) yesterday, I ventured to Dupont Circle, where I learned that Arizona State has an office, for an event with a former Fellow of the New America Foundation.  Dayo Olopade, spoke on her new book, The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa.   I wasn’t able to get an especially clear picture of Olopade’s book from the talk, but it seemed that she has traveled widely throughout east and west Africa during her Fellowship and sought to challenge assumptions of Africa as a stagnant continent lacking the capacity for innovation (although the way she articulated this didn’t particularly resonate with me).  Mimi Alemayehou, Senior VP at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) was also on hand to provide refreshingly candid remarks for a government official and Josh Keating of Slate moderated.

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DC Sino-Africanists are Winning with SADC Happy Hours (and you can too tomorrow)

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DMV Africa happy hours, Penn Quarter, SADC, Sino - Africa, teaism, Winslow Robertson

I recently blogged about Winslow Robertson, an extremely exuberant addition to the DC Africa scene who is really making things happen, particularly in regards to his primary field, Sino – Africa relations.

While I hope to soon treat readers to an exclusive interview with Winslow, you can check out the network of Sino-Africanists he has convened and nurtured through very interesting newsletters, lectures, and probably other forums that I’m not aware of tomorrow evening at Teaism in Penn Quarter.  I’m not sure if alcohol will be involved given the name of the establishment.

And if you want to chat with me, I hope to be there as well.

Winslow Robertson on Two Triangles of the DC China – Africa Triforce

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China - Africa, Deborah Brautigam, SAIS, Sino - Africa, Yoon Jung Park

Readers will likely know of the indefatigable Winslow Robertson, the coordinator of the very useful Sino-Africa DC group (even if just because I’ve cross-posted some  work from his blog, Cowries and Rice before).

Earlier this month, Winslow attended a not too well publicized event with two local giants of the China – Africa scholarly scene: Deborah Brautigam of SAIS and Yoon Jung Park (who I’ve previously covered) at SAIS.

You can read Winslow’s take on the event here.  Winslow is extremely dynamic and active on Twitter, providing lots of useful analysis and insights to his followers, whose numbers vastly dwarf mine (perhaps I need to start live tweeting).  Get in on the action @Winslow_R.

I’m very curious to know more about what makes this China – Africa devotee tick and hope to publish a profile on him on these pages before the year is out (I have recently gotten away from doing the profiles, which I found to be very rewarding).

African Perceptions of China and the US – The Missing Fun Factor

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African perceptions of China, Afrobarometer, kristie Inman, national Intelligence university, Peter Lewis, SAIS, Sino - Africa, UC - Davis

Yesterday, I attended a talk on “Determinants of African Perceptions Toward Chinese and American Engagement in Africa: A Hierarchical Approach” at SAIS.  I forgot my camera, so I have no fuzzy pictures of the speaker, Dr. Kristie Inman, to post.  I understand that Dr. Inman recently received her PhD from UC – Davis, in Political Science I believe.  She is currently a research adviser at the Center for Strategic Intelligence Research at the National Intelligence University.

Like almost all public speakers with government affiliations, she gave the standard disclaimer that

The Brookings Institution Tackles the US, China, and Africa

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Brookings Institution, China in Africa, He Wenping, Niger, Sino - Africa, Witney Schneidman

I first became interested in Chinese engagement in Africa while living in Niger.  My favorite restaurant in Niamey (the capital) was Chinese and much of my kitchenware came from a Chinese shop in the city of Zinder, near where I lived.  Youth in Zinder occasionally greeted me (a caucasian male) in Chinese.  The Chinese were also constructing a large embassy while I was in the country, using predominantly Chinese labor.

The Brookings Institution convened several experts yesterday to discuss The U.S., China and Africa: Pursuing Trilateral Dialogue and Action.  I couldn’t make it, but read Winslow Robertson’s post on the event.