Tag Archives: scholarship

“Nollywood: A National Cinema” Call for papers for an international workshop in Illorin, 7-10 July, and updated bibliography on Hausa film scholarship

Posted on June 5, 2010 | 3 comments

An international workshop on the theme, “Nollywood: A National Cinema” will be held at the Kwara Hotel/Kwara State University, Malete, Ilorin, Nigeria, from 7-10 July, 2010. The deadline for registration is 15 June 2010.

Contributors are required to send e-copies of their abstracts to the guest-convener at onookome.okome@kwasu.edu.ng or ookome@ualberta.ca. Selected and refereed papers will be published in two books to be co-edited by Abiola Irele, Awam Amkpa, Onookome Okome and Abdul-Rasheed Na’Allah. Confirmed guest speakers include Prof. John McCall, University of Illinois; Professor Jon Haynes, Long Island University, New York; Mr. Afolabi Adesanyan (NFC), Mr. Emeka Mba (NFVCB); Barclays Oyakoroma(NICO);Prof. Manthia Diawara, NYU, New York, and Professor Jane Bryce, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, Barbados.

For more details on the theme, submission of abstracts, and registration see the call for papers, posted on the Hausa Home Video Resource Centre blog.

In other academic news, I recently spent a week at Ahmadu Bello University looking through PhD and MA Theses in several departments looking for work being done on Hausa film, and I have updated the working bibliography on Hausa film scholarship also at the Hausa Home Video Resource Centre blog. If there are readers of this blog who have done academic work and would like to be listed in the bibliography or know of works that I haven’t yet listed (it is very much a work in progress and quite incomplete), please send me the details. One thing that struck me as I was looking through a lot of hand-written lists of theses in various departmental libraries (and even the main library in the Africana PhD and Ma Thesis section) was that there is some incredibly interesting work being done that is very difficult for people in other locations (whether in Nigeria or outside) to access because the bibliographic lists have not yet been digitized for online access or even typed. I hope this bibliography I’ve compiled will help make researchers aware of other work that has been done on Hausa films. So, far I have added lists from Bayero University and Ahmadu Bello University and hope to travel to other northern Nigerian universities in the near future. If anyone at other universities would like to help me compile records at their universities for posting on the website of the Hausa Home Video Resource Centre, I’d be very grateful!

Thanks.

3 Comments

Posted in Hausa film, Nigerian film

Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Academic opportunities for PhDs or PhD candidates in African Studies

Posted on October 10, 2009 | Leave a comment

My friend Katrin Schulze just sent me the links to some fantastic academic opportunities in the UK that I rather wish I could apply for myself. Since I can’t, I will go ahead and pass them on to any others reading this blog.

1) Junior Research Fellowship in African Studies at King’s College Cambridge.

King’s College wishes to appoint, with effect from 1st October 2010, a Junior Research Fellow in African Studies. This is defined as the disciplines of humanities and social sciences as applied to the study of the African continent, including history, social anthropology, human geography, politics, literary and cultural studies, and development studies. The successful candidate will be associated with the University’s Centre of African Studies, an internationally renowned interdisciplinary research centre established in 1965 (www.african.cam.ac.uk). He/she would be expected to participate in the Centre’s activities and to contribute up to 6 hours of teaching a week to a new interdisciplinary M.Phil in African Studies which will be launched in October 2010. Further enquiries about the Centre and the M.Phil may be directed to Professor Megan Vaughan at mav26@cam.ac.uk.

A Junior Research Fellowship is a faculty-level postdoctoral position that is tenable for up to 4 years. Applications are welcome from graduates of any university. Candidates will usually have completed their PhD, and must have undertaken not more than 2 years of postdoctoral work by 1 October 2010.

To apply, click here.

For more information, click here.

Application Deadline 13 November 2009

2) 10 Week Cadbury Fellows Workshop at Centre of West African Studies at the University of Birmingham

The Centre of West African Studies at the University of Birmingham (www.cwas.bham.ac.uk) invites applications to contribute to the 2010 Cadbury Fellows’ Workshop, which will focus on popular culture in contemporary urban Africa.

Three visiting fellows from Africa will be appointed to participate in a ten-week schedule of seminars,  discussion groups, and other activities. The workshop will culminate in an international conference, 6-8 May 2010 jointly organised with Institute of Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA), University of Leuven, within the framework of AEGIS.

One aim of the Fellowship scheme is to assist new scholars to develop a research paper and bring it to publication, and the conference papers will form the basis of a special issue of Africa, the journal of the International African Institute.

Fellowships will cover return air-fare, accommodation and living costs for a period of ten weeks.

[…]

Who is eligible for a Cadbury Fellowship?

We are looking for younger African scholars who have something to contribute to the theme, and whose research would benefit from a residential fellowship of ten weeks at the University of Birmingham. They should be in the early stages of their academic careers and based in an institution on the African continent. They should have a PhD or be close to completing one. It is intended that the Fellows will have time to use the University’s excellent library resources, discuss their work with academic staff at CWAS, and contribute to the intellectual life of the department by participating in academic and cultural events here.

To apply, click here.

To find out more information on themes etc, click here

Application Deadline 1 November 2009


Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , ,

Xtend foundation fellowships for African students

Posted on September 25, 2009 | Leave a comment

[UPDATE: Just communicated with the scholarship founder, and the deadline for application is October 31, so there is still time…. APPLY!!!]

I’m sorry for the long delay in posting to this blog! I have been travelling and busy and have not had as much news to update.

Here’s something a bit late (the deadline is October 1–UPDATE–Make that October 31), but which still might be useful (there are still a few days left in September!). A friend of mine has started a small scholarship fund to help exceptional African students fund their undergraduate education in Africa. According to the Xtend foundation website, they

“granted 6 (six) scholarships […] in 2008 and hope to award an additional 25 (twenty five) scholarships to exceptional African undergraduate students during the 2009/2010 academic session.

The applicants awarded last year were all from south-western Nigerian universities; however, the goal of the founders is to help fund students throughout Africa.

Applicants must have a 3.5/5.0 GPA and come from families with an annual income less than $10,000. The application must include personal university information like a student ID number, name of department, and GPA, as well as reference information from the Head of Department and another lecturer. There is also a short 500 word essay explaining why you deserve the fellowship.

The application window is between August 1 and October 31. You can find out more information and download the application file at http://www.xtendfoundation.org/application.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged , , , ,

Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria 1999-2006: A Sourcebook

Posted on February 23, 2009 | 1 comment

This weekend I met up with law scholar, Philip Ostien, who walked me through the 5 volume set (a 6th coming soon) he has edited, and which is published by Spectrum Books: Sharia Implementation in Northern Nigeria: 1999-2006: A Sourcebook. This is an amazing resource that has been made available on the  internet free of charge (in the form of pdfs) by Bayreuth University. The set includes a history of sharia implementation and reproduces important primary documents such as the Sharia Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes and other committee reports and white papers. Volume 6 focuses specifically on the legal cases of Safiyatu Hussaini and Amina Lawal, giving the details of the case that are often lost in the media hype. 

What is specifically useful for me is Volume III, which reproduces much of the censorship law, and Volume IV which reproduces the “Harmonised Sharia Criminal Procedure Code Based on the Harmonised Sharia Penal Code” put together by the Centre for Islamic Legal Studies, at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria in October 2005. There are extensive footnotes which note wherever sharia law has been modified from the Penal Code of 1960, which was the magistrate law code put into place after independence in Northern Nigeria. So, although most useful for scholars of shari’a, it is also a handy reference for anyone who wants to know what a magistrate law is. Deviations from sharia should be noted in the footnotes and can be followed up by research on Kano State magistrate law.

The Volumes are as follows:

Volume 1: Historical Background

Volume II: Sharia Implementation Committee Reports and Related White Papers

Volume III: Sanitizing Society (This is the volume in which the Kano State censorship laws can be found.)

Volume IV: The Sharia Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes

Volume V: Two Famous Cases (namely those of Safiyatu Hussaini and Amina Lawal)

1 Comment

Posted in Law in Northern Nigeria

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,