Symposiums
Democracy and Culture symposium
The African Studies Institute and Department
of International Affairs presented a symposium titled “Democracy
and Culture: African Perspectives” on February 15-17, 2006.
The purpose of the symposium was to bring together scholars
and practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines and regions
that examine the controversial topic of democracy and culture
both in theory and practice, specifically in Africa. The word
“democracy” has become central to international politics in
the post Cold War era as evidenced by the commitment from President
Bush’s inaugural and state of the union addresses and the events
in Iraq. Still, the topic of democracy has proven to be highly
controversial both in theory and in practice. Some of these
controversies discussed included: How is democracy to be defined?
Is the Western style of democracy replicable in all places?
Given, Africa’s historical, social, cultural, economic and political
realities, can African states become democracies?
Globalization symposium
The Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia
hosted its tenth annual Program for Global Understanding February
18-20, 2004. The international symposium focused on “Globalization
and Human Rights in Africa”. Approximately twenty distinguished
artists, scholars, and diplomats will discuss the effects of
globalization on human rights, religion, and the process of
democratization in sub-Saharan African nations.
Keynote address
was delivered by Tanzanian Ambassador Gertrude Mongella. Mongella
is a member of Parliament in Tanzania, Goodwill Ambassador for
Maternal Mortality Reduction in the African Region for the World
Health Organization and President of Advocacy for Women in Africa.
Winston
Nagan, a professor of law and affiliate professor of anthropology
at the University of Florida, gave opening remarks. Nagan has
served two terms as chair of Amnesty International USA and has
been named a James B. Warburg Fellow in the University Consortium
for World Order. He is cofounder of the Human Rights and Peace
Center in Uganda.
An “Ambassadors’ Roundtable” was moderated by Dr. Lioba Moshi,
director of UGA’s African Studies Institute and University Professor.
Participants included Augustine Mahiga, Ambassador of the Permanent
Mission of the United Republic of Tanzania to the United Nations;
Barbara Masekela, Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa
to the United States; Faida Mitifu, Ambassador of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the United States; and Zac Nsenga,
Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United States.
Additional
roundtable discussions addressed “Human Rights, Development
and Democratization in the Age of Globalization” and “Religion
in the Age of Globalization”. |
