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Harvard Du Bois Institute

The W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University is the nation's oldest research center dedicated to the study of the history, culture, and social institutions of Africans and African Americans. Founded in 1975, the Institute serves as the site for research projects, fellowships for emerging and established scholars, publications, conferences, and working groups. Named after the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from Harvard (1895), the Du Bois Institute also sponsors four major lecture series each year and serves as the co-sponsor for numerous public conferences, lectures, readings, and forums.break

http://dubois.fas.harvard.edu/

Re-Membering Africa: Retrieval and Exchange of African Memory

Wed, Mar 15, 2006

Ngugi wa Thiong'o explores the resistance of African memory to European capitalist modernity's attempts to bury it under Europhonism. The resurrection of African memory is seen as part and parcel of the African renaissance and Afro-modernity. In all three lectures, he draws on the experiences of other cultures, the European Renaissance and the Irish Experience particularly, to draw parallels, comparisons and contrasts. In this lecture, wa Thiong'o looks at remembering political, intellectual and literary visions like Pan-Africanism and the practices of African writing, and examines their limitation in their relationship to the African linguistic means of memory. This lecture is a part of a series of lectures called Re-Membering Africa: Burial and Resurrection of African Memory.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Re-Membering Africa: Planting European Memory on Africa

Tue, Mar 14, 2006

Ngugi wa Thiong'o explores the resistance of African memory to European capitalist modernity's attempts to bury it under Europhonism. The resurrection of African memory is seen as part and parcel of the African renaissance and Afro-modernity. In all three lectures, he draws on the experiences of other cultures, the European Renaissance and the Irish Experience particularly, to draw parallels, comparisons and contrasts. In this lecture, Ng_g_ wa Thiong'o talks of the historical, economic, political and psycho-cultural fragmentation of the continent by slavery and colonialism, arguing that the search for wholeness is the animating force in the continental and Diasporan-African (contiafrican and Diafrican) struggles. This lecture is a part of a series of lectures called Re-Membering Africa: Burial and Resurrection of African Memory.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Tour of Duty: How to Write About Africa

Tue, Feb 28, 2006

Michael Vazquez of Transition Magazine hosts an evening with the next generation of African and African American writers. Cosponsored by Transition Magazine, Granta and the Virginia Quarterly Review.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Re-Membering Africa: Memory, Restoration and African Renaissance

Thu, Mar 16, 2006

Ngugi wa Thiong'o explores the resistance of African memory to European capitalist modernity's attempts to bury it under Europhonism. The resurrection of African memory is seen as part and parcel of the African renaissance and Afro-modernity. In all three lectures, he draws on the experiences of other cultures, the European Renaissance and the Irish Experience particularly, to draw parallels, comparisons and contrasts. Here, Ngugi looks at the much talked about African Renaissance arguing that the economic, political and cultural re-membering of Africa is the real basis for the flowering of the African Renaissance. The reconnection with African memory and its means of being is seen as crucial. In short, the resurrection of African memory is seen as necessary for the African renaissance. This lecture is a part of a series of lectures called Re-Membering Africa: Burial and Resurrection of African Memory.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Mental Health Awareness in the Black Community I

Wed, Mar 22, 2006

Inform Your Mind, Fuel Your Spirit is a panel discussion about mental health awareness in the black community moderated by Terrie Williams author of *A Plentiful Harvest: Creating Balance and Harmony Through the Seven Living Virtues*. Williams is also founder of The Terrie Williams Agency and The Stay Strong Foundation. Williams is joined by Alvin F. Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of *Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African Americans*; Altha J. Stewart, president of the American Psychiatric Foundation and former president of Black Psychiatrists of America; Rhonda Ross, a writer, vocalist, and Emmy-nominated actress; and Tracy Tyrone Moore, the president of the Black Men's Forum at Harvard University.

Mental Health Month

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Mental Health Awareness in the Black Community II

Wed, Mar 22, 2006

Terrie Williams leads a panel discussion about mental health awareness in the black community. Panelists include Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of Lay My Burden Down: Suicide and the Mental Health Crisis Among African Americans; Dr. Altha J. Stewart, president of the American Psychiatric Foundation and former president of Black Psychiatrists of America; Rhonda Ross, a writer, vocalist, and Emmy nominated actress; and Tracy Tyrone Moore, the president of the Black Men's Forum at Harvard University.

Mental Health Month

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Social Inclusion of Disenfranchised People

Fri, Apr 30, 2004

Benedita da Silva talks about how she has fought to prioritize racial, class, and gender issues within both Brazil's political institutions and the Workers' Party, and how she has opposed discrimination against women and blacks. Note: A translator is present in this lecture to translate from Portuguese to English.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Africa in the Soul: Continent Severely Wounded

Tue, May 4, 2004

Emmanuel N. Obiechina discusses the upheavals that led to the mass expatriations of millions of Africans.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Giant Steps: Formations of a Black Music Aesthetic

Thu, Mar 18, 2004

Dwight D. Andrews, an accomplished musician, scholar, composer, and minister, describes what we might mean when we talk about "black music."

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Harvard Du Bois Institute
Africa in the Soul: Narrators and the Age of Enlightenment

Thu, May 6, 2004

Emmanuel N. Obiechina discusses African narrators in the Age of Enlightenment, in defense of the true integrity of the race.

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Harvard Du Bois Institute