Title

Making Sense of Global Awareness on American College Campuses: Women’s History in the African Tradition

Author(s)

Nwando Achebe, Michigan State University

Files

Publication Date

8-18-2019

Place of Publication

Dayton, OH

City

Dayton, OH

Abstract

I feel deeply honored and privileged to have been asked to deliver the Keynote Address for this 2019 College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Chair in Humanities Symposium—Global Voices on the University of Dayton Campus. I wish to thank Professor Julius Amin, the Alumni Chair in Humanities for inviting me, and Heidi Hass for making all the arrangements.

As I contemplate the challenge before me, I have decided to approach it from a very personal space: to speak to, with the aim of making sense of, my journey into awareness, African awareness—an awareness that materialized out of my desire to decolonize knowledge on, and about, Africa and African women; and how I have transmitted that awareness into my teaching about Global Africa on two American college campuses — the College of William and Mary and now Michigan State University. It is an awareness that developed and found expression at another American college campus: namely, the University of California Los Angeles, the institution from which I earned my master’s and PhD degrees.

Keywords

University of Dayton, Immigration, Race, Diversity

Disciplines

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Higher Education

Comments

The Global Voices Symposium is designed to educate, inform, and contribute to ongoing conversations to strengthen global consciousness and awareness on the University of Dayton’s campus and the larger Dayton community. It brings together faculty, staff, students, and community leaders to discuss and find ways to enhance global engagement within our community. It is the hope that these conversations will help us to find commonality in the human experience, identify things that unite rather than divide, and enable us to engage one another to learn and be informed. The symposium challenges us to continue to dare as we build a vibrant diverse, inclusive, and multicultural community.

These proceedings, free for download but also available for purchase in print for $5 plus tax and shipping, contain content provided by the participants. Some presenters did not include their presentation materials in the proceedings. Texts have been edited for clarity.

eCommons Citation

Achebe, Nwando, "Making Sense of Global Awareness on American College Campuses: Women’s History in the African Tradition" (2019). Proceedings: 2019 Global Voices on the University of Dayton Campus. 4.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/global_voices_2/4