Afrocentricity in "The Lion King" and senior living in upstate New York for African Americans are some of the topics to be addressed in a colloquium series this fall at Cornell's Africana Studies and Research Center. Free and open to the public, the series will be held Wednesdays from noon to 1:30 p.m. in the Hoyt Fuller Room of the Africana Center, 310 Triphammer Road, Ithaca; refreshments will be served.

The series begins Sept. 11, with “Afrocentricity on the Internet: The Continuing Debate,” by Ayele Bekerie, a visiting assistant professor at the Africana Center. Bekerie is an assistant professor at Temple University and director of its Institute for the Preservation, Reclamation and Promotion of Ancient African Artifacts and Manuscripts; he also is an executive board member of the Ethiopian Community of Greater Philadelphia.

After receiving a Cornell master’s degree in agronomy, he became interested in ancient African history and went on to obtain a master’s degree in Africana studies from Cornell and a doctorate in African-American studies from Temple. He collaborated on the 1996 book One House: The Battle of Adwa 1896 – 100 Years and has participated in the Afrocentricity debate, both in print and cyberspace.

In a letter published in the March 17, 1996, New York Times regarding Mary Lefkowitz’s book Not Out of Africa, Bekerie argues that Egypt is linked to the rest of Africa not only geographically but also culturally, economically and linguistically, and writes, “the Greeks and the Romans cannot be sole claimants of classical traditions.”

On Sept. 25, Marcia Fort, director of the Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) for the past six years, will give a talk titled “My Community: The Color of Our Struggles.”

“Often, students and faculty members are not aware of the day-to-day issues that people of color face in the downtown Ithaca community,” she said. “I want to share with them what we as people of color – and not just African Americans – face living here and the ways in which Cornell students can get involved.”

• Oct. 9, Galyn Vesey will discuss “Retirement and Well-Being of Black Seniors in Upstate New York.”  A postdoctoral associate in Cornell’s Department of Human Development and Family Studies and Applied Gerontology Research Institute, Vesey has studied the health of Black seniors living in Syracuse and will discuss his findings from that study; he’ll also make suggestions for more effective policies and outreach efforts.
• Oct. 23, Patricia Kaurouma, visiting associate professor, will discuss “Duke Ellington’s Vision of the Sacred: An Exploration in Words, Music and Visuals.”  A graduate of the Yale University Divinity School, she will discuss the spiritual inspiration behind some Ellington compositions, as she did this past spring at an international conference at The Sorbonne on African-American music in Europe.
• Nov. 6, Kenneth Bowman, visiting assistant professor at the Africana Center and Department of Theatre, Film and Dance, will speak on “Media and Memory: Afrocentricity and ‘The Lion King.’”
• “This blockbuster film embodies the ancient myth of Osiris, husband of Isis [the Egyptian goddess of fertility],” Bowman said.  “Whenever  I have drawn the parallels in terms of the characters and the plot between the movie and this ancient Egyptian story, the eyes of people in the audience light up . . . Disney has incorporated the story in a brilliantly innocuous way.”

On Nov. 20, Professor Locksley Edmondson will give a presentation titled “In Search of Caribbean Identity: The Caribbean Studies Association.”  Edmondson, originally from Jamaica, recently was named president of the association and served as director of the Africana Studies and Research Center for the past five years. Professor James Turner, the center’s founder and first director, returned to the director’s post July 1.

Turner said that the fall series “has been quite consciously organized around the theme of community service and public service education.  Cornell has been, in the last few years, advancing its programs in what are referred to as ‘public service education.’ We thought it was important to highlight the value of public service education, within a broader theme of community and university relationships.”

He added, “The series will highlight the interaction between the academic activities of the faculty at the Africana Center and the community work of our colleagues. And it will provide a break from the intense academic environment – a place to relax.”

For more information about the Africana Center’s fall colloquium series, contact Edmondson at (607) 255-5218.

• Sept. 11 - Ayele Bekerie, “Afrocentricity on the Internet.”
• Sept. 25 - Marcia Fort, “My Community: The Color of Our Struggles.”
• Oct. 9 - Galyn Vesey, “Retirement and Well-Being of Black Seniors in Upstate New York.”
• Oct. 23 - Patricia Kaurouma, “Duke Ellington’s Vision of the Sacred.”
• Nov. 6 - Kenneth Bowman, “Media and Memory: Afrocentricity in ‘The Lion King.’”
• Nov. 20 - Locksley Edmondson, “In Search of Caribbean Identity.”