Lectures to explore ‘VOICES of Africa’

A new lecture series dedicated to identifying, presenting and exploring issues related to Africa and its Diaspora will debut Friday, Sept. 26.

Luis Maduieira, UW–Madison associate professor of comparative literature, will inaugurate the series by discussing, “The Surplus of Historicity of a Discarded Army Boot: Mozambique’s Mia Couto, Political Violence and the ‘Withering Away’ of the Postcolonial State.” The talk, free and open to the public, will begin at noon in 1418 Van Hise Hall.

Organizers say that the lecture series, “VOICES of Africa: Language, Literature and Cultural Politics,” throughout the coming year will present discussions on African languages and culture, the arts, postcolonial issues and more. The series is designed to accompany VOICES, a student-founded scholarly publication exploring issues of written and oral artistic production in Africa and the Diaspora. Editor Mireille Djenno says that the publication is unique because of its commitment to publishing work in all languages of Africa, as well as English, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish, German and others. A new issue will be out later this fall.

For more information on the publication or the series, contact Djenno at (608) 262-5758/voices@studentorg.wisc.edu.