April has brought more than showers and sunshine to Harvard; it has brought Africa.<\/p>\n
The second-largest continent is the subject this month of Harvard Africa Focus<\/a>, a series of lectures, panels, and performances formerly called \u201cAfrica Week.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, official events stretch for 13 days, through April 18. Add in related events on African languages and on hip-hop, and Harvard\u2019s celebration of 53 countries and 1 billion people goes all the way to May 1.<\/p>\n No matter what the event, hope and optimism are the underlying themes. Africa Focus comes with a subtitle: \u201cReimagine, Redefine, Reinvent: A New Paradigm for Africa\u2019s Leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n Leadership was a leitmotif <\/em>from the start during Africa Focus. The keynote address, on April 5, was by Ambassador Johnnie Carson<\/a>, a 37-year U.S. diplomat and former Peace Corps<\/a> volunteer in Tanzania. After service in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Botswana, Nigeria, and elsewhere, he is now assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of African Affairs.<\/p>\n Carson spoke about \u201cU.S.-Africa Relations in the Age of Obama.\u201d His take? The new administration sees Africa as a strategic partner.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a lot of positive messaging about America\u2019s respect for Africa,\u201d said Ghana native Cheryl Klufio of the keynote. She is a communications officer at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.<\/p>\n Other speakers have included Gen. William E. \u201cKip\u201d Ward, the first head of the U.S. Africa Command, on an April 7 panel on diplomacy, development, and defense. An April 10 panel on leadership and governance in Africa featured former ministers from Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria.<\/p>\n On Monday (April 12), there was a public conversation at the Harvard Kennedy School <\/a>with Babatunde Fashola<\/a>, the youngest governor of Lagos State in the history of Nigeria.<\/p>\n In events to come, there will be other African leaders, along with scholars, jurists, and performers.<\/p>\n Friday through Sunday (April 16-18), speakers and panelists at Harvard Law School<\/a>\u2019s 2010 Harvard African Law and Development Conference include a supreme court justice from Ghana, a vice president for World Bank Africa Region, and high-level jurists from Sierra Leone and Uganda.<\/p>\n Panels will look at a wide range of issues, including development, natural resources, conflict, technology, business, harmonized legal systems, and national health insurance (co-sponsored by the Harvard Medical School\u2019<\/a>s Africa Health Forum).<\/p>\n The April 16-18 conference is sponsored by the Harvard African Law Association, one of a long list of Africa Focus sponsors in the fields of law, medicine, and government. Principal underwriters are the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy<\/a>, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation<\/a>, the Institute of Politics<\/a>, the Kennedy School Student Government<\/a>, and the Committee on African Studies<\/a> (CAS).<\/p>\n CAS coordinates Africa research and teaching at Harvard, where 300 Africa-related courses are taught in public health, history, politics, literature, and other disciplines.<\/p>\n CAS is also expanding the reach of Africa events at Harvard this month. On Thursday (April 15) is the final iteration of Africa Language Theater Night at Harvard, featuring word play in 18 languages, including Amharic, Dinka, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, and others. (Co-sponsor is the Harvard University African Languages Program.)<\/p>\n