ANU Africa Network

Workshop: Friday 6 April at the ANU, 10am

From the School of Politics & International Relations

“Scholars, early career researchers, and post-graduate students are invited to join Visiting Fellow, Professor Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham) for a workshop exploring the opportunities and challenges of democratic systems in new and post-colonial democracies. As Professor Cheeseman’s core research interests lie in the area of comparative politics and democratization in sub-Saharan Africa, addressing themes including democratization, governance, political violence, election rigging, and the politicization of ethnicity, the workshop will explore these and related themes raised by participants.

For more information about Professor Cheeseman’s  publications,see his personal website: www.democracyinafrica.org

Call for Participation (Due 15 March)
“Participants: We invite short presentations of works in progress, ideas and theoretical concerns (between 5-10 minutes) from academics, including ECRs and post-graduate students from the ANU and other universities which address themes
noted above and/or other related concerns including research on democracy and governance based on the African continent as well as other regions, including but not limited to Eastern and Central Europe and across Asia and the Pacific.
Send a short biography (100 word max) and a 200 word abstract to Christina Kenny (Christina.kenny@anu.edu.au) by 15 March 2018. Successful applicants will be notified by Monday, 19 March.

Audience members: Should you prefer to attend the workshop as an observer, please rsvp by 15 March 2018 for catering purposes.”

In April  Atem Atem will be returning to the ANU on a part-time basis to complete his PhD work on ‘Settlement Experiences of South Sudanese Families in Western Sydney’ while continuing to work at the Fairfield City Council as the Multicultural Officer

He came to Australia from Sudan in 2002 as a refugee. He completed a degree in Medical Sciences (Medical Laboratory) and worked as a Pathology laboratory technician for three years.  Atem has been working with refugee and migrant communities in various roles supporting them with settlement and adjustment to life in Australia..

His post on South Sudanese youth crime can be found at

https://acrawsa.org.au/2018/03/02/the-other-side-of-the-story/

In 2017 his article ‘Basketball, soccer, AFL:the path to Successful settlement’ was published in the Winter issue of Australian Mosaic.

In April Atem Atem will be returning to the ANU to continue his PhD work on ‘Settlement Experiences of South Sudanese Families in Sydney’

His post on South Sudanese youth crime can be found at

In April Atem Atem will be returning to the ANU to continue his PhD work on ‘Settlement Experiences of South Sudanese Families in Sydney’

His post on South Sudanese youth crime can be found at
https://acrawsa.org.au/2018/03/02/the-other-side-of-the-story/

In 2017 his article ‘Basketball, soccer, AFL:
the path to Successful settlement’ was published on the
Winter issue of Australian Mosaic.

In 2017 his article ‘Basketball, soccer, AFL:
the path to Successful settlement’ was published on the
Winter issue of Australian Mosaic.

The ANU’s Research and Innovation News (March 2018) has reported that Bonnie McConnell has ‘been funded over $250,000 by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and Medical Research Council for the project ‘Developing a Community Singing Based Intervention for Perinatal Mental Health in the Gambia’.

An abstract of Dr McConnell’s article from the July 2017 issue of Ethnomusicology reads as follows:

‘Kanyeleng fertility society musicians have become an integral part of health promotion programs in the Gambia. Health workers have embraced kanyeleng performance in the name of making their programs more participatory and therefore more effective in combating persistent health problems.’

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/ethnomusicology.61.2.0312

Dr McConnell also presented a paper at the annual African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific Conference held at University of South Australia in November, 2017. Her Abstract is from the conference website

https://afsaap.org.au/conference/adelaide-2017/

African Popular Music, Politics, and Belonging in Australia – Bonnie McConnell, School of Music, The Australian National University
Australian political and media discourse frequently presents African cultural difference as a
problem that prevents people of African descent from integrating into Australian society.
While research has drawn attention to the problem of negative representations of Africans
in Australian society (Nolan et al. 2011), the cultural strategies that African Australian
communities use to challenge these representations have not been adequately explored.
This research examines two African Australian cultural festivals as important sites of self representation and political action, challenging the negative representations of African
Australians in the media. Drawing on ethnographic research with musicians and festival
organisers in Sydney and Melbourne, I examine the way African Australian performers
negotiate and communicate notions of history in order to articulate a sense of place and
belonging. I show that popular music in particular provides a powerful site for negotiating
multi-layered identities and plural histories, challenging one-dimensional representations of
African Australian people. By focusing on popular music, this research seeks to draw
attention to “hidden histories” (Hall 1990) of African Australian communities, as well as
cultural strategies for maintaining a sense of coherence in the face of displacement and
disjuncture.