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Africa's oral heritage part of IU summer program
July 19, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A group of educators are learning how to assimilate Africa's past into contemporary times in a four-week summer program at Indiana University.
"Incorporating Africa's Oral Heritage and Indigenous Knowledge into a Changing World" is the title of the July 9-Aug. 5 summer institute coordinated by the IU African Studies Program and funded by a Ford Foundation grant.
The 10 participants are junior faculty and advanced graduate students in the humanities and social sciences from various colleges and universities in the United States and Africa.
The program includes guest lecturers from the University of London, Harvard University, St. Lawrence University and Iowa State University, plus several IU African Studies faculty members. The participants also are involved in a research project, with IU faculty mentors, as part of the institute format.
Workshops are introducing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies relevant to research on indigenous knowledge and oral heritage, specifically with consideration for how this can be integrated into the contemporary world. Included will be tours of the IU oral history archives, Mathers Museum research areas, African library collections, and the Archives of Traditional Music.
Directing the institute is IU Assistant Professor of Anthropology Gracia Courtright Clark. For more details on the program, contact the IU African Studies Program office at 812-855-6825.
(Richard Doty, 812-855-0084, rgdoty@indiana.edu)