Cosby Chair Events

Cosby Chair Hosts Culminating Event:
'Africa in the Americas: Light, Sound, Movement, Water'

Press Release | Program | M. Jacqui Alexander, Ph.D.

M. Jacqui Alexander, Ph.D., is the 2008-2009 Cosby Endowed Chair in the Humanities and professor of gender and women’s studies at the University of Toronto. On Friday and Saturday, April 17 and 18, she will host her culminating event, "Africa in the Americas: Light, Sound, Movement, Water." Prayer, dance, film screenings and conversations are highlights of the event that showcases ancient African spiritual practices.

For more information, contact the Office of the Provost at (404) 270-5021

Program

Friday, April 17, 2009

6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed. D. Academic Center Auditorium

6:30 p m. Reception

7:00 p.m.
Ancestral Drum and Prayer
Ile Ori Ifa Temple African Cultural Center, Atlanta

Welcome:
Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph.D., President, Spelman College
Beverly Guy Sheftall, Ph.D., Director, Women’s Research & Resource Center
M. Jacqui Alexander, Cosby Endowed Chair in the Humanities

7:30 p.m.
Screening: “When the Spirits Dance Mambo/Cuando Los Espiritus Bailan Mambo”

Producer, Franklin H. Williams, Caribbean Cultural Center/African Diaspora Institute, New Yor; Associate Producer, Marinieves Alba

Question & Answer Session

Saturday April 18, 2009
10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby, Ed. D. Academic Center Auditorium

9:30 a.m. Refreshments

10:00 a.m. Meet the Panelists

Wande Abimbola, Professor, Yoruba Religion in Africa and the Diaspora, Room 219

Marinieves Alba, community school director, Rima and Rebeldia (Rhyme and Rebellion): Reflections on Global Hip Hop at the Crossroads, Room 217

Susheel Bibbs, professor, Atlanta Premiere Screening: “Meet Mary Pleasant: Mother of Civil Rights in California,” Room 103

Xochipala Maes Valdez, Iyanifa Pakayode, Seats of Honor: Women, Lesbians and Gay Men in Orisha Practice, Room 104

Luisah Teish, Yeye’woro Iyanifa Fajembola, A Cast of Cowries: Ancestral Folktales and Contemporary Life, Room 214

12:00 p.m. Lunch

1:30 p.m.
Africa in the Americas: Light, Movement, Sound, Water
Cosby Auditorium

Welcome:
Johnnella Butler, Ed. D., Provost, VP for Academic Affairs, Spelman College

Moderator: M. Jacqui Alexander, Cosby Chair

Wande Abimbola, Ifa Will Mend a Broken World

Marinieves Alba, Queens and Goddesses: Orisha Women as Models of Liberation

Susheel Bibbs, Vodou: A Heritage of Power

Xochipala Maes Valdez, The Bird in the Calabash: Women, Knowledge and Ifá

Luisah Teish, The Ecology of Orisha: Forces in the Global Ecospiritual System

4:00 p.m.
Cyberquilting: Migrations of the Sacred

Moderators:
Moya Bailey, graduate Women’s Studies, Spelman College; Ph.D. candidate, Emory University

Alexis Gumbs, Ph.D. candidate, Duke University

Spelman College: Tabitha N. Benison, Kyla Marshell Berry, Lauren Clark, Monia Johnson; Alejandra C. Jupiter; Alysia Lewis, Marikaa Nixon

University of Toronto: Lisa Child, Deena Dadachanji, Sara Mohammed, Tejpreet Saini, Danielle Smith

5:30 p.m.
Performance: Ashietu: The Sister’s Chapel African Dance Ministry, Spelman College

6:30 p.m.
Closing Reflection, M. Jacqui Alexander
Closing Prayer, Rev. Dr. Chief Iyanifa Fagbemileke Fatunmise

6:45 p.m. Reception