"The Giants of Africa: Teaching Politics and Popular Culture in 20th Century Nigeria and South Africa.

"The Giants of Africa: Teaching Politics and Popular Culture in 20th Century Nigeria and South Africa." Dr. Lisa A. Lindsay, Associate Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will lead the workshop. It will be on Saturday January 30, 2010, from 10 am to 3 pm at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellence.

Lisa will lead us through a workshop that will question our common assumptions about Africa in the twentieth century. After providing a framing overview of the decolonization experience in Africa, she will use the musician Fela and soccer as two case studies to explore new ways to teach African political economy, apartheid, and youth movements. Fela, for example was one of the world's most influential musicians in the late twentieth century. By combining American music styles and political movements with African rhythm, politics, and culture, Fela used music to speak out against the abuses of the recently de-colonized state of Nigeria.
Fela's life reveals how politics and culture intersect in ways that can broaden our understanding of what we think we know and broaden our approach to teaching the material to our students.

Lisa is an expert in late nineteenth and early twentieth century West Africa. Her current book project explores the connections between West Africa and the southern United States through the experience of one man and his family. She regularly teaches the popular course, the Atlantic Slave Trade, to undergraduates at UNC.

This workshop will be on Saturday January 30, 2010 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It is free and open to the public, though donations are accepted to off-set workshop costs. Food and beverage are provided throughout the day.
Attendees can receive .5 CEUS. It will be at the Carolina Center for Educational Excellencee in Chapel Hill. The Center has ample parking.
Directions to the Center can be found here: www.unc.edu/ccee/directions

To register for this workshop, please fill out a brief survey:
http://uncodum.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_dgVrU73IljLTA8s&SVID=Prod

You can also register by sending an email to phe[at]unc.edu; please write "Registration" in the subject line.

For more information, including the competency goals this workshop meets, please see the attached flyer. Also, help spread the word about this workshop by passing on our flyer to your colleagues or directing them to the PHE blog: http://community.learnnc.org/weblogs/partners/phe/

Take care,
Catherine