UW participation in Africa Fest gives Wisconsin Idea global scope at grassroots level

Like rare perfume, the intoxicating call of African drums will waft over Madison’s Warner Park on Saturday, Aug. 26.

The occasion is the eighth annual Africa Fest, sponsored by the African Association of Madison (AAM).

Frank Kooistra, associate dean for administration in the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS), plans to be there with bells on; he’s one of 11 AAM board members and a coordinator of the fest. He spent five years in The Gambia, 1990-95, and met his wife there. He says that of all the activities that the festival offers – drumming, dancing, storytelling, singing, crafts, food and more – he’s particularly partial to the drumming.

“It’s a celebration,” he says. “Each community in Africa tells their stories through drumming. Every beat has its own meaning. When I lived in The Gambia I found it simply amazing to see how the people dance; when the drums started they couldn’t stand still.”

Chris Walker will second that; he’s coming from Jamaica to be a guest artist, in residence for the coming academic year in the UW–Madison Dance Program to help celebrate its 80th anniversary. In fact, Walker has hinted that he may get in there himself and dance impromptu.

Scheduled dance performers will include WADOMA, composed in part of UW–Madison students who have taken the program’s African dance class. They will present at 5 p.m.

And then there is the food. “Africans celebrate with food as well as with music,” Kooistra says, promising that the festival’s culinary elements will offer more irresistible enticements.

“My favorite dish from The Gambia is benachin, a Wolof word meaning ‘one pot.’ It consists of rice cooked in oil, with fish or meat and vegetables, all simmered together. I also like domoda, a peanut paste cooked with meat and peppers,” he says.

Kooistra says that rice is the main staple with a choice of stew – made with fish, chicken, beef, lamb or goat – usually cooked with vegetables and spices. Lunch usually is the main meal of the day, taken from a common bowl.

It’s easy for non-Africans to think of all nations on the continent as one “Africa.” Kooistra says that conceptualization may be easy, but it’s wrong. Indeed, the AAM serves as an umbrella organization, uniting – but not precluding – individual communities in Madison. In fact, this year’s festival theme is “Building and Bridging Communities.”

Adds William Bosu, chair of the AAM board and a UW–Madison professor of animal reproduction, the festival will extend African culture of all kinds and nations to the citizens of Madison.

“There are so many negative stereotypes about African countries in the media. We would like to use the festival as an opportunity to expand a vision of Africa right here where we live,” he says. Bosu himself has lived in Madison since 1983, when UW–Madison’s School of Veterinary Medicine opened, arriving from Ghana by way of Canada.

Aggo Akyea, president of AAM, says that the local level on which the festival operates is a highly effective way for people to become acquainted with the many cultures of the continent. He says that UW–Madison also has contributed to that mission through the university’s Department of African Languages and Literature and the African Studies Program. This year the latter will sponsor a special lecture on Friday, Aug. 25, in honor of the festival. Toyin Falola, on the faculty of the University of Texas at Austin, will discuss “U.S.-African Relations: Beyond Media Stereotypes and Images.” The lecture, free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. at the Red Gym, 716 Langdon St.

Akyea says that UW–Madison’s participation in the festival cannot be overemphasized, since it serves as an example of the Wisconsin Idea carried to global dimensions at the grass roots level.

“The community here cannot help but benefit as UW–Madison faculty and staff use their talents to help build and bridge sustainable diversity and understanding,” he says.

The 2006 Africa Fest will begin at 11 a.m. at Warner Park in Madison. For a complete schedule or other details, contact AAM at (608) 258-0261, visit http://www.africanassociation.org or e-mail info@africanassociation.org.