Sexualities in Africa and the African Diaspora
This project aims to broaden research on the history of sexuality in Africa and African diasporas in the Americas and Europe with critical attention to events that forward new epistemological and methodological models of research. Research on sexuality in Africa and persons of African descent dispersed across time and space has been characterized by four themes: death, danger, degeneracy, and dearth. Contemporary research has focused on AIDS as originating from and spread by persons of African descent, rape and sexual violence, and the immorality of sexual practices. Particularly for the distant past, scholars bemoan the dearth of primary sources and data to document how persons of African descent conceived of and experiences sexuality. This project will host speakers at the cutting edge of research on conceptions and praxes of sexuality across time and space in the African diaspora.
Events for 2012-13
March 12, 2013
Black Women and Maternal and Child Health: Ghana and the U.S., Past and Present
- Anne Hugon, Professor, University of Paris: "Women of the Right 'Type': Doctors, Colonial Authorities, and Maternal and Child Welfare in Colonial Ghana"
- Melissa Gilliam, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics, Chief of Family Planning, and Director, The Center for Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Innovation in Sexual and Reproductive Health, University of Chicago: "New Innovations: Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health"
May 17th-18th, 2013
African Studies Workshop Graduate Student Conference
No Condition is Permanent?: Permanence, Flux, and Mobility in Contemporary Africa
The first event for this project, "Sexuality and Colonial Black Atlantic Cities" was held the spring of 2012. Selected papers will be published in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Urban History.