Virtual: ‘Social and Political Justice in Africa Series’

The African Studies Center is offering a 3-part virtual series for K-12 educators on Social and Political Justice in Africa. The talks will be held on Wednesday evenings in April at 7:00 p.m. Sign up for one, two, or all of the programs, and receive certificates of completion for sessions you attend, to submit for Continuing Education Units credit.

This series of talks explores social justice movements on the African continent as a multi-layered tapestry of local community action, mass movements, and state-sponsored social change. Since social justice is a project that people work on from different levels, the series will examine different arenas for social justice action, while also looking at three different regions of the continent.

Networked Revolutions?: Social Media and Popular Protest in North Africa and the Modern Middle East | April 14

Registration links for each individual session are in the description below. Pre-registration required to receive the zoom links for the sessions. The sessions include a talk with Ashley Anderson on April 14 at 7:00 p.m. who will give a talk titled “Networked Revolutions?: Social Media and Popular Protest in North Africa and the Modern Middle East.” Ashley Anderson is an assistant professor of political science at UNC-Chapel Hill. She received her doctorate and masters in government from Harvard University, and also holds a bachelor of arts in international relations from Stanford University. A specialist in comparative politics, her research interests include contentious politics, authoritarian regimes, and political institutions. Register for the April 14 session.

Students of the Struggle: Apartheid Schools and Protest in South Africa | April 21

On April 21 at 7:00 p.m., Lauren Jarvis will give a talk titled “Students of the Struggle: Apartheid Schools and Protest in South Africa.” Lauren Jarvis received her bachelor’s degree in history at Duke and her doctorate at Stanford. She is currently an assistant professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she teaches and writes about South Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Broadly, she is interested in the histories of unequal societies and how people respond with creativity in the face of injustice. Register for the April 21 session. 

Ghanain Democracy: Melding Political Traditions and Practices | April 28

On April 28 at 7:00 p.m., Omar Ali will give a talk titled “Ghanain Democracy: Melding Political Traditions and Practices.” Omar H. Ali is Dean of Lloyd International Honors College and Professor of Comparative African Diaspora History at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Conducting fieldwork in West Africa with the Ghanaian anthropologist Maxwell Owusu, Ali is a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science and received his doctorate in history from Columbia University. The author of five books on the global African Diaspora,  Ali is a coordinator of the Ethiopian and East African Studies Project at UNC Greensboro and was named Carnegie Foundation North Carolina Professor of the Year. Register for the April 28 session.