UGA Apero Africana lunchtime lecture series begins today

Lectures begin today at 12:15 in room 481 at Tate Center

By JESSICA LUTON

jluton@uga.edu

Today is a special historical anniversary.  Fifty years ago today, hundreds of thousands of civil rights activists descended on Washington D.C. to call for civil and economic rights for African Americans.

In Washington D.C. today, a special series of events will mark the occasion. A website for the events, http://50thanniversarymarchonwashington.com, sheds some light on just how significant the event is at this point in time.

But right here on the UGA campus, a series of lectures kicks off with one lecture that continues a necessary dialogue on civil rights and race relations—on a global and national scale.

Known as the Apero Africana lecture series, this brown bag lunch time event is co-sponsored by the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences’ Institute for African American Studies and Institute for African Studies.  The series was originally a project of the African Studies Institute, but has now evolved into a larger, collaborative event that’s been going strong since 2008 thanks to series co-directors Freda Scott Giles and Akinloye Ojo.

“It is a joint effort by African American Studies and African Studies to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of our scholarship, to let the campus know that African American Studies and African Studies are for everyone, to bring new insights to topics of general interest, and to bring together people from the campus and the community to interact and discuss the issues/topics in a less formal setting,” said Giles, associate director for the Institute for African American Studies.  

“Having a dialog is vital to enhancing communication and developing in-depth understanding of issues,” she added.  “The speakers really appreciate the feedback they receive from the audience--they are talking about subjects they are passionate about, and they want to share that passion effectively.  The audience enjoys interacting with the speaker and developing ideas based on the material presented.”

The first lecture in the series this fall is “Unscripted Anxiety, Amnesia, and the Complex Duplications of Black Identity.” David Olali, from the T’fori-Atta Institute for the Study of Religion Heritage of the African World in Atlanta, is the scheduled speaker.

Here’s a list of all of the upcoming lectures in the series.  Take a look. The topics run the gamut and are likely to produce some lively discussion and dialogue.

The lecture series is also a blue card event.  Fulfill those 10 events by the October 30 deadline and get the added benefit of registering for classes early.

Image: Copyright Estate of Leonard Freed/Magnum Photos via Brigitte Freed