The English Department is pleased to announce its co-sponsorship (with Sociology/Anthropology) of a conference, Africa Forum, which will take place on Wednesday, November 17.
The topic of the conference is the experience of African immigrants in New York, and the program includes screenings of two interesting films,
This America (filmmakers, Bethels Agomouh and Oliver Mbamaraand) and
African Youth (filmmaker, Vigil Chime), as well as a reading by Uche Nduka (a student in the English Department's Creative-Writing MFA program) and novelist Teju Cole.
Please join us!
Click the image to see a larger version of the flyer for this event.
The following is the full conference program:
Africa Forum
Conference Program
Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus
November 17, 2010
Library Learning Center (LLC) 122-----------------------------------------------------------------
8:30-9:00am Arrival of panelists
9.00 – 11.30 Morning session
Introductions: Profs. Yusuf Juwayeyi and Jonathan Haynes
Screening of the film
This America followed by discussion with film makers Bethels Agomouh and Oliver Mbamara. Moderator: Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi
11.30- 12.30 Lunch break
12.30 – 5.00 Afternoon session
12.30 – 2.30 Readings by Uche Nduka and Teju Cole and panel discussion. Panelists:
Bethels Agomuoh Vigil Chime, Teju Cole, Oliver Mbamaram, Uche Nduka
2.30 – 5.00 Screening of the film
African Youth followed by discussion with film maker Vigil Chime. Moderator: Prof. Yusuf Juwayeyi
5.00 – 5.30 Informal reception
Note: Students who are taking Africa Forum for one course credit are required (i) to indicate their participation in today’s sessions by signing the attendance sheet at the end of both the morning and afternoon sessions, and (ii) to contact Professor Yusuf Juwayeyi by December 1st, 2010 to collect the course assignment.
Conference Participant Bios
Bethels AgomuohBethels Agomuoh began his career as an actor in Nigeria, appearing in productions at the National Theatre in Lagos before moving to the United States, where he has acted in plays Off and Off off Broadway. As a businessman, he founded AfricaMovies.com, the first internet site selling films from Nollywood, Nigeria’s film industry. He is a founder and the president of United African Artists, a not-for-profit organization supporting African performing artists in the Diaspora. He has directed, acted in, and/or worked on the scripts for a number of films, including
This America and its recently-released sequel
On the Run Again,
A Mile to Cannan,
In a Stranger’s Arms,
Tears of my Joy,
Unguarded, and
Tobi.
Vigil Chimé
Vigil Chimé is a film producer, writer, editor, director, and novelist. As a child she moved with her family from Nigeria to Houston, Texas. She got a degree in English and technical writing from the University of Houston and then an MFA in film and screenwriting from Columbia. She has lived in New York since 1990. Her career as a filmmaker began in 2002 and includes the documentary TV series
African Life and the feature films
African Dilemma, parts 1 & 2,
African Youth,
Manchester Bound, and
Honeysuckle. She has recently published a novel,
My Songbird Can Dance. See vigilchime.com for more information on her career.
Teju ColeTeju Cole was raised in Lagos, Nigeria, moving to the US at the age of seventeen. He is the author of
Every Day is for the Thief, a novella of Lagos, as well as
Open City, a novel of New York City which will be published in February. His writing has appeared or is in press with
Transition,
Tin House,
Chimurenga, and other journals, and he has been featured several times on the BBC World Service. In addition to his fiction writing, Teju is a professional historian of art, with publications on sixteenth-century Flemish visual culture and contemporary African art. He lives in Brooklyn and is currently at work on another book about Lagos. For more information and to view his work as a photographer, go to tejucole.com.
Oliver Mbamara
Oliver Mbamara began multiple careers as a lawyer, theater and film actor, playwright, poet, and director of photography in Nigeria before moving to the United States. He has continued all these activities in this country and has also become the publisher of several on-line magazines. He is currently a New York State Administrative Law Judge. He wrote, co-directed, and starred in the films
This America and its sequel
On the Run Again. He is also at the center of
Slave Warrior and the series of Spade films (
Spade: The Last Assignment and
The Return of Spade). For more on his many accomplishments, see http://www.olivermbamara.com.
Uche Nduka
Uche Nduka began publishing his poetry in his native Nigeria before moving to Germany, where he lived for many years. He recently relocated to New York and is currently in the LIU Brooklyn MFA in Creative Writing Program. His volumes of poetry include
Flower Child,
Second Act,
The Bremen Poems,
Chiaroscuro,
If Only the Night,
Heart’s Field, and
Eel on Reef. He has also published a volume of prose,
Belltime Letters. An e-chapbook of poems can be found at http://www.wheelhousemagazine.com/chapbook/nduka.pdf.
