Congratulations to the WARA 2020 fellows!
This Spring we received a pool of very strong candidates for each of the WARA Fellowships. We are continually inspired by the work of all of our applicants and look forward to seeing even more impressive candidates next year! In the meantime, please join us in congratulating the recipients of this year’s fellowship competition.
WARA Post-Doctoral Fellows:
Jacqueline-Bethel Mougoue
Asst. Professor – African Cultural Studies
(Univ. of Wisconsin – Madison)
project title: Transnational Histories, Nodes of Encounter, and Belonging in Africa
Michael Birenbaum Quintero
Chair/Associate Professor – Musicology & Ethnomusicology (Boston Univ.)
project title: Sound, Music, and the Ear in Yoruba Ifa Ritual, Cosmology, and Ethics
WARA Pre-Doctoral Fellows:
Caroline Angle
Phd Student – History
(Univ. of Maryland)
project title: Decolonizing Knowledge: Reclaiming Colonial Museums in North and West Africa
Angelina Arrington
Phd Student – Education Policy, Organization & Leadership
(Univ. of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign)
project title: Classroom Ethnographies in Rural Ghana: Harnessing Teachers’ Interpretations and Adaptations of Standards-Based Curriculum Reform to Improve Teacher Training
Sophie Lewis
Phd Student – Music
(Princeton Univ.)
project title: Towards a Global Understanding of the Musical Avant-Garde: Experiments in Technology and Sound at West African Radio Stations, 1950-1979
Dana Liljegren
Phd Student – Art History
(Graduate Center – CUNY)
project title: L’art de la poubelle: Récupération and Politics of Trash in Senegalese Art, 1970-2010
Wallace Teska
Phd Student – History
(Stanford Univ.)
project title: Social Conflict and Paths to Justice in Colonial Mali
WARA Residency Fellow:
Joseph Oduro-Frimpong
Director – Center for African Popular Culture
(Ashesi Univ. – Ghana)
Residency at Unversity of Kansas African Studies Center
WARC Library Fellow:
Dajou Cottrell
Student – Anthropology
(McGill Univ.)
Library residency at the West African Research Center in Dakar, Senegal
WARA congratulates the Spring 2020 WARC Travel Grant Awardees
Thank you to everyone who submitted applications for the WARC Travel Grant this summer. We received an abundance of excellent proposals and regret that we are unable to fund more of them.
Please join us in congratulating the following awardees! We are excited about the work you are doing and look forward to your success!
Afoussatou AMADOU –
Université d’Abomey-Calavi (Bénin)
Project title: Therapeutic efficacy of the synergy between probiotic bacteria and plant extracts in the fight against food mycotoxins: product development.
Chu IWEH –
University of Energy and Natural Resources (Ghana)
Project title: Renewable Energy Integration and Distributed Generation (DG) in the Electric Grid; A Panacea for Sustainable Development in Sub Sahara Africa
Mamadou Laye NDOYE –
Université Cheikh Anta Diop (Senegal)
Project title: Evaluation of the effectiveness of employment promotion programs in Senegal: Case of the National Convention State-Employers (CNEE)
Christiana OWOLABI –
Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta (Nigeria)
Project title: Efficacy of Soft Landscape Elements and Their Management Practices as Carbon Sequestration Tools
To our community…
We are all saddened and moved by the events of the last two weeks, which have come during an already stressful time. The West African Research Association, and its corollary institution, the West African Research Center, wish to express our strong sentiment of support for ongoing protest, collective action, and anti-racist mobilization within our communities in response to the senseless killing of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. The ramifications of these terrible events has sparked national and global outrage and has resulted in ongoing protests across the US and many cities around the world in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen Black communities in the western world disproportionately negatively impacted by death and complications from this disease.
WARA stands against racism. We also recognize that approaching the problem of racism without learning and engaging with the history and contemporary study of African Americans, Africa and the diversity of the African Diaspora is almost impossible. For this reason, WARA calls attention at this pivotal moment to the importance of African Studies and African diaspora studies in the fight against racism and social injustice.
As researchers and faculty teach they are confronted each year with the ignorance that many Americans bring to the classroom about the past, present and future realities of the African Diaspora and the inherited prejudices many unwittingly carry about Africa. These gaps in knowledge affect American attitudes towards Africa and its many diaspora communities.
WARA expresses its very deep concern for our community and particularly for black youth of diverse ethnic and national origins in our country who will be carrying a particularly heavy burden into our classrooms. Likewise, there are many non-African American students who are also experiencing significant angst and discomfort. In this difficult time, all students will need our support. WARA’s community of researchers and faculty have a significant role to play in helping students learn about West Africa and the links between that region’s history, culture, environment, economy, education, etc. and that of the United States. WARA recognizes its particular importance and responsibility in supporting outreach and learning in this regard.
For educational resources, one of our partners, the Smithsonian Institute, shared these:
158 Resources to Understand Racism in America
Congratulations to the Fall 2019 WARC Travel Grant Awardees
Congratulations to the Fall 2019 WARC Travel Grant Awardees
Thank you to everyone who submitted applications for the WARC Travel Grant this summer. We received an abundance of excellent proposals and regret that we are unable to fund more of them.
Please join us in congratulating the following awardees!
Fabrice Blanchard ALLECHY (Université Felix Houphouet Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire) – “Apport des chaînes de Markov et arbre de décision à la détermination des sites propices à la riziculture pluviale dans un contexte de changement climatique et de sécurité alimentaire : cas du bassin versant de la Lobo (Centre-ouest de la Côte d’Ivoire)”
– The objective of this study is to determine the potential sites for rain-fed rice cultivation in order to completely satisfy local demand for rice. The study will produce a map predicting these sites by 2050, which will serve as a tool for aid and decision making.
Christiana DAPULIGA (Kwame NKrumah University, Ghana) – “Application of phages as biocontrol for Shigatoxin producing Escherichia coli in vegetables”
– In considering alternatives to chemical antimicrobials, the development of a biocontrol agent using bacteriophages (phages) is a natural and promising technology. This research therefore seeks to develop biocontrol from bacteriophages that can be used to eliminate shiga toxin producing Escherichia coli from vegetables.
Emmanuel Agada DAVID (Gombe State University, Nigeria) – “The Impact of Medication Adherence Counseling on Glucose Control in Patients with Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus”
– This study aims to demonstrate the impact of adherence counseling on glucose control of patients receiving oral anti diabetic medications at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital, Liberia.
Nwabueze Monday GIDEON (Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Nigeria) – “Practices Required by Lecturers of Agricultural Education in the Development and Utilization of PowerPoint for Quality Instruction in Universities in South-East Nigeria”
– For travel to present paper at a conference organized by the Institute for Scientific and Engineering Research in Accra, Ghana.
Roukiatou TRAORE (Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Burkina Faso) – “Caractérisation moléculaire et épidémiologiede la résistance aux antibiotiques de souches de Staphylococcus aureus”
– This project aims to characterize the strains of Staphylococcus aureus meticillono-resistant (SARM), by molecular methods, including PCRs, PFGE and MLST. This research will provide knowledge about the level of circulation of MRSA in Burkina Faso as well as the degree of virulence of these germs. This will allow corrective action to be taken in the care of infected patients and in the fight against antibiotic resistance.