This lecture explores the movements of people and ideas over centuries between and among various geographies of Africa and its diasporas and the impact of such mobilities on shaping politics and identities for people of African descent. Centering the analysis on the country of Liberia and its connections to the United States over several centuries, the lecture presents the concept of “performative mobilities” to frame the larger consequences of movement. Moreover, the lecture argues for the central role that a focus on mobilities will play in the next 50 years of knowledge production in African and African Diaspora Studies more generally.

February 4, 2021 at 4 p.m.
Featuring
Yolanda Covington-Ward,
Department Chair, Associate Professor, Department of Africana Studies
Secondary Appointment, Department of Anthropology, President, Association for Africanist Anthropology (AfAA)
Executive Board Member, Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora (ASWAD), University of Pittsburgh
Yolanda Covington-Ward received her Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan.
Zoom Register:
https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_UQH7psqiQb-CP67h9En2wQ