Symposium celebrates 45 years of African history

Top scholars in the field of African history will help celebrate 45 years of African history on campus.

UW–Madison’s African history program is one of this nation’s oldest, founded in the 1960s under the leadership of faculty Jan Vansina and Philip Curtin.

The symposium, “Pre-Colonial African History in a Post-Colonial Age,” is set for Friday-Sunday, March 11-13, at the Pyle Center.

Organizers say the symposium will assess current methodology in the field, which has come to include environmental history, labor history, medical history, cultural history, religious history, intellectual history and political history as relationships between ancient and recent pasts, and the present emerge.

Paul Bjerk, a program assistant in African studies and one of the symposium organizers, says that the event will be like going to the Academy Awards. “All the stars in this field will be there!”

One such star will be Thomas Spear. In addition to celebrating 45 years of African history at UW–Madison, the symposium will honor the career of alumnus and former department chair Spear, who received both his master of arts degree and Ph.D from UW–Madison. He joined the UW–Madison history faculty in 1993 and chaired the department from 1996 until his retirement last year. In addition to his administrative duties, Spear is an expert in ethnic identity in East Africa. A dinner in his honor is planned for March 12 at the University Club.

For more information or to register, visit http://history.wisc.edu/symposium 2005 or contact Bjerk at 256-8343 or pkbjerk2wisc.edu.