West Virginia University students and staff will have an opportunity to celebrate Africa Week from Monday (March 4) through Sunday (March 10). This year’s theme is “The Tales of Africa,” focusing on telling stories in various ways including poetry, music and dance.
Throughout Africa Week, events will be implemented that reflect the continent of Africa—giving students and the community a chance to see the real Africa. For a complete list of events, go to http://cbc.wvu.edu/africa-week-march-2013.
“Africa has such a rich history and I personally believe that Africa is portrayed in a way that does not represent the entire continent,” said Mohamed Ali, president of the African Student Association. “When Africans come to WVU, it is an opportunity to blend together and actually learn about one another instead of just understanding out boarders.”
This year’s Africa Week features many events hosted by the African Students Association. The goals of the Association are to promote unity, cooperation, socio-cultural and educational aspiration among African students at WVU. The Association devotes time to organizing various programs and activities to educate its members and the WVU community about issues concerning the continent and its diaspora.
This week’s events include a comedy night (Monday); dance, poetry, drama and musical performances (Wednesday); “African Monologues (Thursday),” Golden Goal World Cup (Thursday-Saturday); a Tales of Africa Festival booth display (Friday); and Africa Night (Sunday).
“This year’s featured speaker is renowned historian and Egyptologist Anthony Browder,” Ali said. “Mr. Browder is an authority on some of Egypt’s most important sites. I believe he will create a real unified group amongst the Africans, offer the untold story to African-Americans while educating the world at large that what he does is the history of the world.”
Africa Night, which is Sunday (March 10), will be the first time the Association has teamed up with the WVU International Student Organization. Africa Night is an event where Africans and the community meet to celebrate similarities, enjoy various cultures, performances, food and a guest speaker.
For more information on Africa Week, go to the Center for Black Culture and Research website at http://cbc.wvu.edu.
For more information on the African Student Association, go to http://asa.studentorgs.wvu.edu/.
-WVU-
cg/03/04/13
CONTACT: Marjorie Fuller, director of the Center for Black Culture and Research
304.293.7029; Marjorie.fuller@mail.wvu.edu
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