Events

Columbia University Seminar
STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA
invites you to our events & seminars for AY 2024-2

This year's seminar is dedicated to our dear colleague, Elleni Centime Zeleke,
author of Ethiopia in Theory: Revolution and Knowledge Production, 1964–2016

Since pre-colonial times, music in Africa has served as a means for women to express themselves through social commentary. Recently, African women in music are still communicating to the world under the genre of Afrobeats—a term loosely used to describe the contemporary transatlantic sound of popular African music. This presentation examines the cross-generational dialogue between Angélique Kidjo, Yemi Alade, Nneke, and Little Simz, exploring what these women tell the world about their homeland, Africa, through their songs. Their experiences as visitors, immigrants, and Black individuals in the diaspora shape their messages, and their songs about Africa and womanhood in the diaspora uncover their journeys, illustrating their evolution and representations of Africa across different generations. This presentation sheds light on the shaping of the global perception of Africa through the lens of African women in music.

Ruth Opara’s research centers on African and African diasporic music and knowledge production, specifically music and decolonial discourse, women in music, music and gender, and African music and transnational encounters. As a practitioner, a teacher, and a scholar who has lived and taught on the African continent and the diaspora, Ruth successfully straddles both worlds' musical cultures.

Please contact [email protected] to RSVP