Nobel Laureate to Speak at Constitutionalism and Society in Africa Workshop
Contact: Okon Akiba, (740) 593-1995
ATHENS, Ohio (November 2, 2000) -- Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka will present the keynote address "We the People Š Our Dignity and the Constitution" at the Constitutionalism and Society in Africa International Workshop at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6, in the Ohio University Inn ballroom.
A native of Nigeria and a poet, novelist and social critic, Soyinka won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1986. Soyinka's plays have been performed in Africa, Europe and the United States, and his novels "The Interpreter" and "Season of Anomy" have received favorable reviews. Soyinka's poems exhibit a mastery of the lyric, dramatic and meditative forms as he writes about African political and social issues.
The Ford Foundation-sponsored conference runs Nov. 6 through 8 and features panel discussions on African politics, ethnicity, military, religion and other issues by experts from throughout the world. The workshop is being hosted by the Department of Political Science and the Center for International Studies.
In part, the workshop is intended to provide opportunity for scholars and activists to further the debate on prospects for democratic consolidation in Africa. The workshop investigates how constitutionalism might be used to address a broad range of problems including gender equality, ethno-religious conflict and race relations.
For more information, call Okon Akiba at (740) 593-1995, e-mail him at eca@www.ohiou.edu or check the workshop Web site at www.ohiou.edu/eca
Recent challenges to authoritarian regimes in African states and new opening of political space in the post-cold war era present obstacles and opportunities for governance in Africa. The workshop on Constitutionalism and Society will attempt to analyse these evolving constellation of structural forces. The workshop will seek to address the following specific questions:
The issues and questions raised in this workshop are intended to offer fresh insights in the way we conceive, reflect, and study the problems of political transformation and constitution-making in Africa.
