MBANEFO FOUNDATION CONFERENCE 2007

Interrogating African Modernity: Art, Cultural Politics, and Global Identities

May 4-5, 2007
McCune Conference Room, HSSB 6020
University of California Santa Barbara

Conference Schedule

Thursday May 3
6:30 – 9:00 pm: Dinner in honor of Art Mbanefo

Friday May 4, 2007
8:00 – 9:00 am - Coffee/light breakfast

9:00 – 9:40 am - Introduction and Opening Remarks

9:00 – 9:05 am - African Studies RFG Introduction: Sylvester Ogbechie and Stephan Miescher

9:05 – 9:10 am - IHC Director Dick Hebdige’s remarks; introduces Dean of Humanities

9:10 – 9:20 am - Dean of Humanities welcome remarks

9:20 – 9:25 am - Chair of History of Art and Architecture, Peter Sturman’s remarks

9:25 – 9:35 am - Art Mbanefo Opening Remarks

Session 1
Panel 1 (Moderator: Stephan Miescher, UCSB)
9:40 – 10:00 am - Francis Ugiomoh (University of Port Harcourt).
Constructing History and the Historical Imagination: The Thing, Time, and Space in African Art

10:00 – 10:20 am - Kinsey Katchka (North Carolina Museum of Art).
‘Heritage comes from the past’: cultural policy rhetoric & the problem of contemporary arts in Francophone Africa

10:20 – 10:40 am - Stephen Wooten (University of Oregon).
“The Power of the Ciwara is Awesome”: How “Traditional” Bamana Culture Becomes “Modern”

10:40 – 11:00 am - Discussion
11:00 – 11:10 am - Break

Panel 2 (Moderator: Laurie Farrell, Savannah College of Art and Design)
11:10 – 11:30 am - Jennifer Bajorek (University of California Berkeley).
Negatives of Independence: (Dis)locating Freedom in the Photographic Portrait

11:30 – 11:50 am - Erin Haney (Visting Scholar, Smithsonian Institution).
Bringing Art up to Date: Photographic Modernities in Time

11:50am– 12:10 pm - Monique Fowler-Paul (School of Oriental and African Studies).
From “Primitive” to Postmodern: Artists of African Descent in Britain

12:10 – 12:30 pm - Discussion
12:30 – 1:30 pm - Lunch

Session 2: Plenary Session (Moderator, Steven Nelson, UCLA)
1:30 – 1:40 pm - Steven Nelson (University of California Los Angeles).
Introduction of Plenary Panelists

1:40 – 2:10 pm - Moyo Okediji (Denver Art Museum/University of Colorado, Denver).
Semioptics: Al Jabara of African Modernity

2:10 – 2:40 pm - Evelyn Nicodemus (Independent Scholar, Brussels).
An Art History Africa Badly Needs

2:40 – 3:00 pm - Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie (University of California Santa Barbara).
From Masks to Metal Cloth: Interrogating the Aesthetic Regimes of Modern African Art

3:00 – 3:20 pm - Discussion
3:20 – 3:30 pm - Break

Session 3
Panel 4 (Moderator: Bishnupriya Ghosh, UCSB)
3:30 – 3:50 pm: Julie McGee, (Fellow, Smithsonian Institution).
Indigenous Relations:Art and Modernity in South Africa

3:50 – 4:10 pm - Laurie Ann Farrell, (Executive Director of Exhibitions, Savannah College of Art and Design).
Clearing New Hurdles: Strategy and Conflict Within Recent African Initiatives

4:10 – 4:30 pm - Drew Thompson (Ph.D. Student; University of Minnesota Twin Cities).
For Love of a Nation or For Want of Recognition: A Batswana Artist’s Struggle for Voice, Survival, and Acceptance

4:30 – 4:40 pm - Break

Panel 5 (Moderator: Peter Bloom, UCSB)
4:40 – 5:00 pm- Nick Bridger (Independent Scholar).
The “Rediscovery” of Religion in Contemporary Nigerian Art History

5:00 – 5:20 pm - Afe Adogame (University of Edinburgh).
To God Be the Glory! Home Videos, Art Symbology and Religio-Cultural Identity in contemporary African Christianity

5:20 – 5:40 - Hakim Abderrezak (University of Minnesota).
Morocco’s Modernity: An Exploration through Literature, Cinema and Culture

5:40 – 6:00 pm - John Peffer (Case Western Reserve University).
Grey Areas: The History of Black Modernism in South Africa.

6:00 – 6:30 pm - Discussion

6.20 pm - Closing Remarks (Sylvester Ogbechie)

Saturday May 5 (10am – 4pm): Day Trip to the Fowler Museum, UCLA