Registration Continuous throughout conference

August 8, 2006 11AM to 1:00 PM

RIC Student Union, 3^rd floor hall

1:00- 1:30 PM, Conference Opening,

Welcoming remarks:

Dr. John Nazarian, President, Rhode Island College

Aaron Bruce, Director RIC Unity Center

Bela Teixeira, Executive Director, Rhode Island Black Heritage Association
Dr. Ali B. Ali-Dinar, SSA President

Announcements:

SSA President or Executive Director presiding

“The roots of the SSA at RIC and incorporation in the state of Rhode Island in 1981”

Local Arrangements committee

Panel 1. 1:30 PM—3:15PM -Student Union Ballroom

SOUTH SUDAN: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON SCHOLARSHIP AND HIGHER EDUCATION

Chair: Michael Kevane (mkevane@scu.edu)

1.      “The University of Juba and the Development of higher education in Southern Sudan,” Beniah Yongo-Bure, Kettering U.

2.      “They are all represented: Ali, Ali, and Ali, Re-examining the official knowledge in Sudan’s basic education curriculum,”

Hala-Asmina Ibrahim, Ohio University, Athens

3.      “The Paradoxical nature of the interest in Sudanist Scholarship,” Dawood H. Sultan, University of Tennessee at Martin

4.      Teaching Module on Economic Development in Southern Sudan,

Michael Kevane, Santa Clara U.

(N.B. panels 2 and 3 run simultaneously)

Panel 2. 3:30-5:15 PM – HUMAN RIGHTS- President’s Dining Room

Chair: Jemera Rone (Ronej@hrw.org)

1. “My Personal Experience as a Refugee in Uganda: Scopas Poggo, Ohio State University

2. “Torture and Detention in the Sudan: Historical and contemporary perspectives,” Kevin DeJesus, York U., Toronto
   
   3. “Political Economy of Wars and Genocides in the Sudan: 1955 to present,” Lako Tongun, Pitzer College

Panel 3. 3:30-5:15 AM-- SU Ballroom

GENDER, REFUGEES, AND SOCIAL REHABILITATION

Chair: Stephanie Beswick sfbeswick@bsu.edu

1. “Gender Violence at the Grassroots Level in South Sudan”Suzan Christopher Y. Lasu, Director ELPWCE, Maridi, South Sudan

2. “IDPs, Refugees, and Citizens: Youth in and after war and their mental health,” Stephanie Santos, Boston University School of Public Health
3. “Comparative Perspectives on the Rehabilitation of Ex-slaves and child soldiers in Sudan,” Randall Fegley, Pennsylvania State University, Berks campus
4. “The Ignored History of Women in Sudanese post-colonial scholarship,” Jane Kani Edward, York University, Toronto

SPECIAL FEATURES 5:30-6:15PM—South Dining Center, Faculty Center

1. Musical Tribute by Mahgoub al-Tigani Mahmoud, Tennessee State University, Nashville to Burra`y Mohamed Daffa Allah

Performance and Commentary “The Human Rights of Sudanese Musicology, Burra`y M. Daffa Allah: Musical Creativity and Cultural Heritage”

2. 6:15- 6:45 PM Khalid Kodi discusses his Art Exhibition “Women’s dress and the politics of repression during the NIF regime”

South Dining Center, Faculty Center

6:45 PM

Reception at the Faculty Center, hosted by the SSA

Dinner on your own

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Panel 4. 8:30 AM- 10:15AM DARFUR – Student Union Ballroom

Chair: Jay Spaulding jspauld@cougar.kean.edu

1.      “About Alliance and Coalition Building: Example of Darfur Alert Coalition” Mohamed Ibrahim Elgadi, American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia

2.      “What are the Opportunities and constraints that International and regional organizations face when attempting to resolve intra-state conflicts? The current conflict in Darfur,” Jenna Ansell, SAIS, Johns Hopkins International Center, Bologna

3.      “Conflicts and conflict resolution in post-independence Sudan,” Garoot Suleiman Eissa, Int’l Islamic Univ., Malaysia

4.      Evidence and Arguments for the Bad Rainfall Explanation of the Darfur Crisis. Leslie Gray, Santa Clara U.

10:15-10:45 AM

ROUND TABLE ON THE MEDIA AND THE SUDAN/DARFUR CONFLICTS

Richard Lobban, Ali Dinar, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, and others.

11:00 AM Film “All About Darfur” by Taghreed Elsanhouri in the President’s Dining Room, across bridge above SU cafeteria

10:45AM-11:00 AM COFFEE BREAK

Panel 5. 11:00AM-12:15PM

1. “Alien and indigenous cultural identities in northern Sudan: how the Republicans succeeded and others failed,” Albaqir Afif Mukhtar and Haydar Badawi Sadig
2. “Geography and Baraka, the public spheres of the Republican Brothers,” Steve Howard, Ohio University
3. “Literary Perspectives on the Mahdiyya: European and Ansar,” Kim Searcy, Loyola University of Chicago

Lunch Break. 12:15PM 1:30 PM at Donovan Dining Center cafeteria or Coffee Shop, lower level Student Union

Panel 6. 1:30- 2:30 PM REFLECTIONS AND HISTORY OF THE SSA BY PAST PRESIDENTS – Student Union Ballroom

Chair: Beniah Yongo-Bure

1.      “Twenty Five Years of the Sudan Studies Association, and Sudanist scholarship as a reflection of Sudan’s Fifty Years of Independence”

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, RIC, SSA president 1984-85; 1990-91

2.      Ismail Abdalla, College of William and Mary, SSA president 1988-89; Jay Spaulding (1987-88), Connie Berkley (1989-90), Richard Lobban (1981-82)

BUSINESS MEETING 2:30-3:30PM (Location??)

Panel 7 – Foreign Relations 3:30-5:00 PM SU Ballroom

Chair: Ali Dinar aadinar@sas.upenn.edu

Session on Foreign Policy with the Honorable Senator Lincoln Chafee from RI ®, member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Commentary by Ambassador Donald Petterson (confirm?)

SSA Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Banquet

6:00—8:00 PM at Faculty Center Dining Room

Abdullahi An-Na’im, “The Wages of Peace in Sudan: What difference can the SSA make?”

Presided over by outgoing and incoming presidents Dinar and Wakoson

CULTURAL PERFORMANCE

9:00 – 10:30 PM-- Student Union Ballroom

Performance BY Baraka Oyuru and his band from South Sudan and Portland, Maine

Singing “Sharia,” No to war,” and others

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Note: Double Sessions on Thursday morning

Panel 8 8:30-10:15 AM NUBIAN ANTIQUITY – President’s Dining Room

Char: Bela Teixeira blkheritage@netzero.net

1. “Exploring the Exodus: Nubia in 1964,” Herman Bell, Oxford
2. “Dinka History and comparative traditions,” Bol Deng, Utah.
3. “Investigation of the Zipf-Plot of the extinct Meroitic Language,” Reginald Smith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

4. “From Nubian village-based charities to the comprehensive Nubian Congress: an attempt for developing democracy with an ethnic boundary,” Muhammad Jalal Hashim, UK
5. “On toward Meroitic decipherment: Meroitic monumental texts,” Richard Lobban, Rhode Island College

 10:15-10:30 AM COFFEE BREAK

Panel 9. 10:30 AM– 12 Noon POLITICS, SU Ballroom

Chair: Richard Weiner (?) rweiner@ric.edu

1. “The Politicization of ethnic sentiments in the Sudan: Implications for Nation-building,” Elfatih Abdullahi Abdel Salam, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. “Sixty Years of Repression: the story of organized labor in Sudan,” Siddiq Elzailee, London Metropolitan University
3. “What If? Sudan with a possible different political configuration,” Ismail H. Abdalla, College of William and Mary
4. “Understanding Sudan’s Tragedy Politically,” Amir Idris, Fordham University, New York
5. “The Sudan Press Act 204,” Abu Obeida Abdel Gadir, Ohio University, Athens

Panel 10 10:30AM-12 Noon SOUTH SUDAN, DIASPORA, FUTURE

Chair: Stephanie Santos

1. “Refugees are abusing our system, aren’t they?”

Siddig Babiker Elzailee, London Metropolitan University

2. “Current Health status of the “Lost Boys” in Salt Lake City, Utah,” Augustino Mayai, University of Utah

1. “Lack of Teachers impact on the development of South Sudan,” Levi Khamis, Maridi, South Sudan
2. “South Sudan has reached a point of no return and must depart from the Sudanese Union,” Hoth Chan, Dartmouth, MA

Silver Anniversary Luncheon 12 Noon – 2:00 PM in Faculty Dining Center

Guest Speaker: Ambassador Donald Petterson, Chair Abyei Land Dispute Commission, 2005; American Ambassador to Sudan 1992-1995; Chairman Abyei Boundaries Commission, 2005; author of Inside Sudan and Revolution in Zanzibar

”Abyei Unresolved: a threat to the North-South Agreement”

Panel 11. 2:00-4:00PM SOUTH SUDAN HISTORY, Presidential Dining Room, DDC

Chair: Scopas Poggo

3. “The Rise, Collaboration, and Fall of the Shilluk And Bari Kingdoms in the Nineteenth-century slaving era of South Sudan,” Stephanie Beswick, Ball State University, Indiana
4. “Bari Trade in the Age of Lakono,” Jay Spaulding, Kean University, New Jersey
5. “The Bacwezi brought iron: the relationship between the kingdoms of the Nile Valley and the Bunyoro-Kitara of Uganda,” kharyssa rhodes, University of Florida, Gainesville 2:00-

4:30-5:00 PM CONFERENCE CLOSING

Closing remarks SSA officials and program co-organizers

__________________________________________________

Conference Information

1)    Registration is continuous throughout the duration of the conference, 3^rd floor hall RIC Student Union

2)    Two art exhibitions—by Khalid Kodi and Ismail Farah—are on display in the Student Union Ballroom (?); the South Dining Room and the Main Dining Room of the Faculty Center

3)    A map of the conference site, exhibitions, computers, and Sweet Dormitory is provided in the registration materials and posted at the Registration desk.

4)    Restrooms are on the 3^rd floor of the SU near the Registration desk; and in the foyer outside the dining rooms in the Faculty Center.

5)    Computers for internet access and use by conferees are located in the Student Union Coffee shop, level 1 of SU; and in Adams Library, across the quad from the SU

6)    T-shirts commemorating the 25th anniversary of the SSA are available for sale at $10 at the Registration desk

7)    Rhode Island College is fully handicapped accessible

SSA Program Co-Sponsors: African and African-American Studies; Anthropology Department; Unity Center; African Alliance of RI; RI Black Heritage Society

Special Thanks to: the 25^th silver anniversary program organizers, Stephanie Santos, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban, Richard Lobban

Officers of the SSA: President Ali Dinar, President-elect Elias Nyamlell Wakoson; Newsletter editors, Michael Kevane, Stephanie Beswick and Jay Spaulding,RIC Printing Center: Ken Coulbourn Logo, Hannah Ressenger

Computers/e-mail available in the Coffee Shop in the basement of the Student Union. Please share as needed.