This edition of Focus on Africa highlights the remarkable work of several Yale students and faculty who continue to showcase Yale's dedication to African scholarship and discourse through innovative coursework, business ventures, meaningful partnerships, and various events and activities on campus and on the continent that embrace the richness and complexity of contemporary Africa. This Spring we also welcome Somali Human Rights Activist and Physician Hawa Abdi as the 2017 Chubb Fellow, we celebrate the timely creation of the new Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses, and we look forward to the return of AFRICA SALON, Yale's Contemporary African Arts and Culture Festival. Enjoy the issue!

 - Eddie Mandhry, Director for Africa
Office of International Affairs   
Yale and South African Doctors Partner to Expand Care
A need to improve access to care for children in rural South African communities inspired the formation of a partnership between South Africa's University of KwaZulu-Natal and Yale.  More >>  
Building a Business in a Failed State: A Practicum in Hope Village, Somalia
Yale students take part in an innovative course aimed at creating a livelihood for displaced Somalis. Students in the course are helping residents of Somalia's Hope Village launch a sustainable business   More >>  
New location and focus for Yale's African Art Collection
A new installation of African art at the Yale University Art Gallery presents objects from Africa's earliest cultures along with pieces that inspired modernist artists like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. Relocated from the gallery's second floor to a more prominent space on the ground level, the installation presents more than 250 objects.  More >>
MacMillan Center establishes refugee program
The Program on Refugees, Forced Displacement, and Humanitarian Responses was recently launched to promote rigorous interdisciplinary research and teaching that can inform best practice and sound policy and have a meaningful impact on the lives of people affected by forced displacement.  More >>
Putting International & Development Economics to Work in Africa
After graduation in May, Chinweuba Ezekwesili will go home to Nigeria to work at Akanka, a company he and his twin brother Chine founded in January 2016 that empowers brands through beautiful and impactful design.  More >>  
Professor Lamin Sanneh presents book to Pope Francis
Professor Lamin Sanneh, D. Willis James Professor of Missions and World Christianity and Director of the Project on Religious Freedom and Society in Africa at Yale's MacMillan Center recently presented his latest publication, Beyond Jihad: The Pacifist Tradition in West African, to Pope Francis.  More >>
J-Health, African Healthcare Startup Admitted Into YEI's Global Social Venture Creation Program
J-Health, cofounded by Dan Edoma (SOM '17), is a start-up dedicated to addressing medical records management in Africa-replacing inefficient paper forms with digital records. YEI's Venture Creation Program will provide mentorship and funding so that J-Health's important work can continue and expand. More >>
YSPH Dean Discusses Life's Work Against HIV/AIDS
Sten H. Vermund, the new dean of Yale School of Public Health, held a standing-room-only audience rapt for more than hour on March 29 with tales of his work fighting AIDS from 1980s New York City to present day MozambiqueMore >>
YAAPD Conference Returns 
Nana Ama Akowuah '18 and Lisa Achoki '18, President and Vice President of Yale's Undergraduate Association for African Peace and Development(YAAPD), reflect on their experience planning this year's Sankofa54 African Youth Empowerment Conference titled Ubuntu: Collaboration for African Development. More >>
PROGRAMS AND EVENTS ON CAMPUS

Dr. Hawa Abdi: Chubb Fellowship Address, April 18th
On Tuesday, April 18 at 4:30 PM, Yale will host Dr. Hawa Abdi for the annual Chubb Fellowship address. Dr. Abdi is one of Somalia's first gynecologists and an international human rights activist. She will be joined by her daughter, 2016 World Fellow Dr. Deqo Mohamed, who is also a doctor and human rights advocate.   More >>

AFRICA SALON 2017, April 21st-22nd
Yale's Contemporary African Arts and Culture Festival returns this month with a lineup featuring performances and presentations by trailblazing artists including Safia Elhillo and Laulo Senbanjo, a fashion show curated by All Things Ankara, an exhilarating dance showcase, a mouthwatering food festival, and a concert featuring the funky neo-soul hip-hop and electro-afrobeat music of OSHUN and Cosmic Homies, all for free.  More >>

Africa Into Jazz/Jazz Into Africa Final Concert featuring Richard Bona,  April 23rd
The Yale Department of Music presents its final concert in a series exploring the intersection of contemporary jazz and contemporary African music curated by Professor Michael Veal. This concert showcases The Richard Bona Trio (featuring GRAMMY award-winning artist Richard Bona) and  The Randy Weston Sextet (featuring NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston).  More >>

FACULTY SPOTLIGHTS

Louisa Lombard, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, talks about her book "State of Rebellion: Violence and Intervention in the Central African Republic."  More >>

Veronica Waweru, Visiting Scholar, Council on African Studies, talks about Prehistoric projectile weaponry in Kenya. 
More >>
  
Bo Hopkins, Lecturer, MacMillan Center, talks innovative student work in course on practical issues faced by mission-driven social entrepreneurs based in Africa  More >>

'The Development Dance': Book Q&A with Visiting Scholar, Council on African Studies, Haley J. Swedlund More >>

'The Art of Life in South Africa': Book Q&A with Yale historian, Associate Professor,  Daniel Magaziner  More >>


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