| The AIA returns with its first lecture of the new year with a talk by Dr. Stephen Bishop, Professor of Africana Studies and French at the University of New Mexico and Director of UNM’s International Studies Institute. His talk titled “Colonialism, Neo-Colonialism, and What to Make of France’s and China’s Competing Roles in Africa in the 21st Century” is scheduled for Thursday, January 25 at 4 pm at the Albuquerque Special Collections Library, Botts Hall at 423 Central NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (Central & Edith).
Dr. Bishop will discuss France’s postcolonial attempts to maintain economic, political, and even military influence across much of its former African colonial empire, how that influence has waned in recent decades, and the role China has played both in hastening France’s diminished influence and in establishing its own ascendant influence across the continent. He will examine where and how France has managed to maintain good relations and where and how it has squandered such goodwill, and then compare China’s meteoric rise in the 21st century, including both praise for being a “Global South ally and role model” and criticism for being a “neo-colonialist hegemonic power.”
Dr. Stephen Bishop is Professor of Africana Studies and French at the University of New Mexico. He is also Director of UNM’s International Studies Institute and occasionally teaches in the Law School. He works primarily on African literature and culture in the areas of Law and Literature, comparative feminisms, and narratives of violence, as well as representations of shame, exemplified in his book Scripting Shame in African Literature (Liverpool UP).
$15 for AIA Members; $20 for Non-Members; Students– Free. Register at https://conta.cc/3QCmTJc or on our website at www.abqinternational.org or mail check made out to AIA by January 23 to: AIA, PO Box 92921, Albuquerque, NM 87199.
Upcoming AIA Lectures in 2024:
Join the AIA and receive a discount on all AIA lectures! Go to this link to join or renew: https://conta.cc/3TZeK53February 15, Ann Harris Davidson, health researcher, lecturer, university and government administrator, and former resident of France’s southwest corner that includes the French part of Catalonia. “Discover Catalonia: Ancient and Modern.”March 14, Jerry Pacheco, Albuquerque Journal columnist, Director of the International Business Accelerator, and promoter of international trade, especially with Mexico. “New Mexico’s Border Region: Transforming the State’s Border Economy.”April 18, Felicia Mancini, Doctors Without Borders aid worker and midwife activity manager in Ukraine, Myanmar, and South Sudan. “Doctors Without Borders Emergency Medical Response to Sexual Violence in Areas Around the Globe.”May 23, Jennifer Moore, Professor, UNM Law School and researcher on women’s restorative justice in Sierra Leone and Uganda. “The Peace Mothers of Sierra Leone: Building Peace and Justice in War Affected Communities.”June 20, Martha Heard, retired Albuquerque Public Schools Spanish teacher and author of Salir del Silencio: Voces de Càlig 1900-1938. “Return to Spain.” |
