African Languages and Societies Commons^™

Impact Of Colonialism On Contemporary African Art, Jayna Clemens

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

“If you don’t know history, then you don’t know anything. You are a leaf that doesn’t know it is part of a tree.” – Michael Crichton

Studying history provides insight and explanations for what is present in today’s society. Colonization is not the only piece of Africa’s history, but it is a major contributor. Studying the history of Africa, pre and post colonialism, provides explanations for how Africa arrived at its present and where it is headed in the future. Colonization had a major impact on Africa’s culture and history, including contemporary African art. Contemporary African art, including description, materials, …

European Colonialism And The Formation Of New African Identity, Isha Nabay

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

European colonialism left a devastating effects on Africa. The exploitation of the vast continent began with the slave trade which robbed Africa millions of people. The abolition of the slave trade witnessed the beginning of legitimate trade, which, in turn ushered in direct European invasion, conquest and establishment of colonial rule in Africa. Under colonialism, human rights were extensively violated for decades, African kings and chiefs lost their power to European rulers who imposed their own laws and customs to keep the people of the land degraded and exploited. Some high points of European influence include the introduction of Christianity …

European Christian Evangelism And Cultural Erasure In Colonial Africa, Jessica Ricker

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

It is often argued that the colonization of the African continent in the 19^th and 20^th century was only made possible through the use of professional military infiltration. While the use of a professional military force is one of the ways in which Europeans colonized African territories, it is not the only way. In addition to military force, many Europeans utilized Christian evangelism and cultural erasure as a means of pacification. Many arguments made about colonialism in Africa point to evangelism and cultural erasure as goals of European imperialism, while other arguments boast that the European powers only …

Prospero's Monsters: Authenticity, Identity, And Hybridity In The Post-Colonial Age, Dominique Pen

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Between April 17^th and May 17^th, 2008, London-born, Nigerian-raised artist Yinka Shonibare’s work was exhibited at the James Cohan Gallery in New York City in a show entitled Prospero’s Monsters. The show was organized into three galleries – “La Méduse”, “The Age of Enlightenment” and “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters” – each of which contained works of the same name. This study will focus on the bookends of the show, the first and last galleries, which consisted of seven works in total, in the first: the La Méduse multimedia sculpture/diorama and chromogenic print and in …

Developing Perceptions: Definitions Of Self In African Portrait Photography, Bridget K. Garnai

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

“Developing Perceptions: Definitions of Self in African Portrait Photography”

Photography is a relatively new medium in the art world, and within this world, African photography is consistently excluded from the predominantly Western canon. Despite its introduction to Africa as a mechanism of colonialism, African photography carries with it distinct messages expressing Africa’s experience and global relationship with the world. In the cases of King Njoya, Seydou Keita, and Nontsikelelo “Lolo” Veleko, photography defines itself against the oppressive colonial and postcolonial modes of representation. In doing so, these examples of African portrait photography seek to capture a space that I refer …

Walk Next To The Wall: Images Of Martyrs In The Egyptian Revolution, Kirsten Stricker

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Prior to the Egyptian revolution citizens of Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt are taught to “walk next to the wall”; a phrase that means keep your head down, mind your own business, do not meddle in the affairs of those who outrank you, and feed your family. In the end, walking next to the wall is not enough to save them. They can no longer escape attention by blending into the walls of their cities. Khaled Said is not the first young man to die at the hands of Cairo’s police, nor is he the last. Said’s death could not be swept …

Reframe, Reuse, Recycle: The Found Object In Post-Colonial Africa, Recontextualized By Contemporary Artists, Hanna L. Stanhouse

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

In his essay, “The cultural biography of things,” Igor Kopytoff writes about the ways in which objects have and develop cultural biographies. From the time of their creation, and subsequent adoption into society, man-made objects acquire “social lives” through the various economic, historic, environmental and political intensities in which they “experience.” Current trends for global contemporary artists, especially those working from an African sensibility, explore the materiality of objects, examining their layered identities and social lives. Artists thus consider how materials have loaded and layered histories and biographies. While economic factors force consumers to reuse, it is the creative impulse …

Christianity As A Double-Edged Sword In Colonial Africa, Brian Schmidt

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Christian missionaries were among the first Europeans to move into Africa. They came on a mission to save the souls of a seemingly primitive population, an attitude that was further enabled and encouraged by recently developed ethnocentric philosophies of "scientific racism." Within this social climate, missionaries not only felt obligated to assimilate Africans toward Christian religious practice, but also toward European ways of living. The result, coincidentally or not, was an undermining of African culture that is thought by many scholars to have aided in the successful takeover by colonial governments in the region. Christian virtues of passivity and humility …

Blood Ivory: The Story Of Illegal Poaching And Its Global Influence, Alanna Demers

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Illegal animal product trade such as the trade of ivory and rhinoceros horn has become a problem that influences the entire world. Throughout history, from pre-colonial times to modern day, illicit trade in ivory and rhino horn have drastically affected Africa’s development, eco-system, and society. The decline in the rhinoceros and elephant populations on the African continent drastically effect vegetation, which directly correlates with agriculture and the health of people and animals. The history of the illegal ivory and rhino horn trade is complicated, and provides an essential context in order to understand the modern day situation. Scholarly works and …

The Impact Of The Second World War On The Decolonization Of Africa, Erin Myrice

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

This project discusses the Second World War as a catalyst for African political freedom and independence. The war helped build strong African nationalism, which resulted in a common goal for all Africans to fight for their freedom. World War II led to decolonization of Africa by affecting both Europe and Africa militarily, psychologically, politically, and economically. The Second World War was instrumental in arming Africans with the military knowledge and leadership skills they would utilize when fighting for their own independence. One of these skills included the ability to communicate and work together, which had previously been an issue among …

Germaine Tillion's Colonial Writing: Complicity And Resistance, Elizabeth Adamo

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Germaine Tillion's Colonial Writing: Complicity and Resistance

Abstract Submitted by: Elizabeth Adamo

M.A. Candidate, French and History, 2015

During the Algerian War, many intellectuals in France and Algeria voiced their opinions on the infamous “Algerian Question.” Rejected by both the Right and the Left in France, Germaine’s political and moral views evoked many emotions because of the parallels she drew between her experience in a Nazi concentration camp and the treatment of Muslim Algerians during this polarizing war. Although this theme has been explored in depth by other scholars, none have yet enquired into her complicity and strategies of resistance …

Truth Games: Negotiating Power, Identity And The Spirit Of Resistance In Contemporary South African Art, Dominique Pen

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Sue Williamson has come to hold an esteemed and influential role in the South African art world not only for her literary gifts as the author of several books about South African art (perhaps most notably her first book, Resistance Art in South Africa, published in 1989), but also as an artist whose work often deals with the social, political, and conceptual repercussions of apartheid in South Africa. Indeed, much of her development as an artist stemmed from her activism during the struggle against apartheid in South Africa beginning in the late 1970’s and has evolved to include the contemporary …

Made In Ethiopia?, Janet M. Purdy

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

This paper provides an overview of historical textile production in Ethiopia through a visual analysis of regional style and motif variations, with a subtext consideration of the new developments and possibilities that surround the growing interest in Ethiopia’s emerging role in the global textile industry.

In many ways Ethiopian textiles as part of art history remain understudied or at least under-published, and accordingly, without the benefit of primary research, the scope of this paper is general in nature. Combined with historical and visual analysis based on secondary sources, consideration is also given to recently published information by organizations including The …

Caribbean Commodity: The Marketing And Consumption Of Black Bahamian Female Identity, Dellareese Higgs

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Abstract

In this essay, I explore the Bahamas’ connection to tourism, tracing and defining how it became the central aspect of the country’s economy, and how whiteness was re-deployed in this new era of tourism. I examine the impact of these phenomena on the identity constructions of the local culture, and articulate women’s placement in the effort to re-invent the Bahamas as the ultimate tourist destination. While the essay specifically documents the nature of tourism in the Bahamas, it focuses primarily on the women within tourism’s many fronts of cultural change and marginalization. I use the term ‘white tourist culture’ …

"Synthesizing Cubism And Surrealism: Wifredo Lam's 1940s Cuban Works", Kelsey Winiarsky

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

As a modernist artist, Wifredo Lam used issues of racial degradation and colonialism as a catalyst to create work that directly addressed issues of colonialism in Cuba. Akin to Picasso’s process of appropriating of African motifs within a modern, Cubist style, Wifredo Lam created and appropriated a pastiche of both Surrealistic and Cubist styles into his 1940s paintings. The utilization of these modern styles engendered Lam’s international reputation while providing him with a powerful, creative outlet to express his struggle as an Afro-Cuban. Through the use of African masks and the Santería religion in his paintings during this time period, …

"Africa In The Museum: The Politics Of The Display Of African Material Culture At The Field Museum", Kristin Otto

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

In this paper, I will analyze how museum exhibitions use material culture to construct and present a narrative about Africa. Exhibiting material culture reflects the power, authority, and ideology of the exhibitor, sometimes at the expense of the displayed culture’s agency in representation. Museums have a particularly infamous history of distorting African culture in exhibits, often validating racist ideologies. Consequently, zealous museum critics have begun to question the relevance of museums in the future public education. The public, however, continues to visit museums and experience exhibits featuring African objects. Based on the challenges and controversies museums exhibiting African objects face …

Africa's Conflict Minerals, Toni Smith

Africana Studies Student Research Conference

Conflict minerals are becoming a significant concern in the international community (as seen in the passage of legislature regulating and addressing them such as America’s Dodd Frank Act). Through the efforts of the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, and grassroots organizations (among others), Africa’s conflict minerals are receiving an ever increasing amount of attention. Though conflict minerals are mined in a variety of nations around the world, one nation that is endowed with all four minerals (tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold) discussed in this paper is the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Along with being a nation highly endowed with …