Reading List

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June 8 (Wednesday):

Depart New York at 5:55 PM on South African Airways, Flight #204

Arrive Dakar 6:30 AM from New York. Rest.

Evening: Welcome reception (We plan to request the American Cultural Center in Dakar to sponsor and host this reception)

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM Welcome, general introduction, outline of activities and articulation of expectations.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Discussion and Q&A about the Institute goals and expectations

Evening: Dinner with Ousmane Sène, Director of WARC; Koyo Kouoh, Cultural Affairs Specialist, US Embassy, Dakar; Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of CODESRIA; and other scholars and filmmakers.

All day visit to Gorée Island, accompanied by Boubacar Barry, Fatou Kandé Senghor and Koyo Kouoh. In addition to the historical sites on the island, we will also visit the Gorée Institute, the Musée de la Femme (The Museum of Women), and Lycée Mariama Ba (the elite high school for girls named after the famous Senegalese writer) on the island.

10 AM to 12:30: Seminar by Professor Boubacar Barry, Department of History, Université Cheikh Anta Diop and WARC Adjunct Professor, “Overview of Contemporary Africa within a Historical Perspective.”

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Discussion with Professor Barry.

Evening: Soirée Sénegalaise – Cultural evening

10:00 to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “Cinema in Africa: An Overview.” Manthia Diawara, Institute Co-Director. Discussion with Mbye Cham and Clyde Taylor.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 5:00 PM: Visit Cheikh Anta Diop University, IFAN and CODESRIA, led by Boubacar Barry.

10:00 to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “Cinema, Oral Traditions, Literature and the other Arts in Africa: The Dynamics of Exchange.” Mbye Cham, Institute Co-Director. Discussion with Manthia Diawara, Ousmane Sène and Samba Gadjigo.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Film screening and discussion: “Ouaga: African Cinema Now,” a documentary on FESPACO and African cinema.

4:45 to 6:30 PM: Film screening and discussion with filmmaker Fatou Kandé-Senghor: Tara: Search for the Word by Fatou Kandé Senghor. Commentary by Boubacar Boris Diop.

Evening: Soirée senegalaise – Cultural evening. The specific activity will depend on the schedule of cultural events at the time.

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “African Cinema: Theories, Aesthetics and Approaches.” Manthia Diawara, Institute Co-Director. Discussion with Clyde Taylor.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 5 PM: Discussion with Manthia Diawara

Evening: The group will go to see a film at one of the local theaters to experience first-hand African audience viewing styles and habits.

Focus: Negotiating Tradition and Modernity in Cinema. Facilitated by Moussa Sène Absa, filmmaker from Senegal.

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Film screening and discussion with filmmaker: Madame Brouette by Moussa Sène Absa

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Visit to the facilities of Senegalese Association of Filmmakers, accompanied by film-makers Moussa Sène Absa, Fatou Kandé Senghor, Ben Diogaye Bèye.
Evening: Free. Soirée Sénegalaise – Cultural evening.

Free. On your own. Individual screenings of selected films; consultation/visit with filmmakers, scholars and writers. There will also be a list of suggested activities for participants that will be provided by the institute directors and others on the ground

Evening: Soirée senegalaise – Dinner and cultural show.

8:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Visit to the Pink Lake and nearby rural areas around Dakar.

1:00 to 7:00 PM: Lunch and afternoon at the beachfront residence of Moussa Sène Absa at Popenguine. We shall also visit the famous Catholic Shrine at Popenguine (set of one of the most celebrated sequences in Sembène’s film, Ceddo), as well as the residence and publishing house (Per Ankh) of Ghanaian writer, Ayi Kwei Armah who lives in Popenguine.

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Seminar – “African and African American Independent Cinema in Comparative Perspective: Theories, Aesthetics and Approaches.” Clyde Taylor. Discussion with Manthia Diawara and Ousmane Sène.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 6 PM:
Focus: Ousmane Sembène, the Father of African Cinema I

Film screening and discussion: Borom Sarret by Ousmane Sembène and Ousmane Sembène and the Making of African Cinema by Manthia Diawara and Ngugi wa Thiong’O.

Evening: Film screening and discussion: Xala by Ousmane Sembène. Manthia Diawara, Mbye Cham and Fatou Sow.

Focus: Ousmane Sembène, the Father of African Cinema II

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Film screening and discussion: Faat Kine. Led by Samba Gadjigo and Ousmane Sène.

12:30 to 1:30: Lunch

1:45 – 2:45: Screening and discussion: Conversations With Ousmane Sembène by Samba Gadjigo.

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Visit Doomi Reew, the office and production house of Ousmane Sembène, and meet the filmmaker. (To be confirmed)

Evening: Soirée Senegalaise

Focus: Cinema in the West Africa sub-region: Themes, Styles and Issues (Facilitated by Gaston Kaboré, filmmaker from Burkina Faso)

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Film screening and discussion with the filmmaker: Zan Boko by Gaston Kaboré.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 4:30 PM: Discussion with Gaston Kaboré on issues and directions of African cinema

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Film screening and discussion with the filmmaker: Un Amour d’Enfant (A Childhood Love, 2004) by Ben Diogaye Bèye.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 6:00 PM: Panel: Writers and Filmmakers: What Relationships?
Boubacar Boris Diop, Ben Diogaye Bèye, Khady Sylla, and Gaston Kaboré. Moderated by Manthia Diawara, Institute Co-Director.

Evening: General group discussion on progress of the Institute: Concerns, Suggestions, Adjustments, etc.

Focus: Gender and Creative Practice I
10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “Gender, Culture and Change in Contemporary African Societies.” Fatou Sow, CNRS.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 6 PM: Film screening and discussion with the filmmaker: Les Bijoux by Khady Sylla, Senegalese novelist and filmmaker. Moderated by Manthia Diawara.

Evening: Free. There will be a list of suggested activities for participants that will be provided by the institute directors and others on the ground

Focus: Gender and Creative Practice II
10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “Gender, Culture and Change: Female Creative Voices.” Siga Fatima Jagne-Jallow, SISEAM, Gambia.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 6 PM: Film screening and discussion: Bintou by Regina Fanta Nacro and Femmes Aux Yeux Ouverts (Women with Open Eyes) by Anne-Laure Folly. Moderated by Koyo Kouoh, with Siga Fatima Jagne-Jallow.

Evening: Free

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: African Cinema and Traditional Texts: What Relationships?
Screening and discussion of Keita: Heritage of the Griot (adapted from the Sundiata Epic by Dani Kouyaté). Led by Manthia Diawara, Ousmane Sène and Mansour Sora Wade.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3:00 to 6:00 PM: Screening and discussion with the filmmaker: Ndeysaan (The Price of Forgiveness, 2002, 85 minutes) by Mansour Sora Wade.

Evening: Free. There will be a list of suggested activities for participants that will be provided by the institute directors and others on the ground

Focus: Southern Africa
10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Seminar: “Cinema in Southern Africa: Trends and Tendencies.” Mbye Cham, Institute Co-Director. Accompanied by screening of three short films, Ubuntu’s Wounds by Sechaba Morojele, Waiting for Valdez by Dumisani Phakhati and A Drink in the Passage by Zola Maseko (adapted from a short story by Alan Paton).

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch

3 PM to 5 PM: Film screening and discussion on practices of adaptation of literary texts to film in South Africa: A Walk in the Night by Mickey Madoda Dube (adapted from the Alex LaGuma novel).

Evening: Soirée senegalaise – Dinner and cultural show.

9:00 AM to 12:30 PM: New Global Africa: History, Memory and Emerging Identities. Screening and discussion of Pièces d’Identités (ID) by Ngangura Mweze (DRC). Facilitated by Clyde Taylor and Manthia Diawara.

12:30 to 2:45: Lunch.

4 PM to 5:00 PM: Group breakout sessions.

Evening: Free

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM: Address, “The State and Directions of Humanities and Social Science Studies and Research in Africa Today: Intersections and What Role for Cinema and the Creative Arts.” Dr. Adebayo Olukoshi, Director of CODESRIA

Rest of the day: Free

Evening: Grande Soirée senegalaise - Farewell Party

3:45 AM: Depart Dakar, South African Airways Flight #203, and arrive New York 6:30 AM (Departure from the hotel on TUESDAY NIGHT AT MID NIGHT)

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