African Studies Center Engages Community at the 14th Annual African Festival of Boston

Children reading in library with author Boateng.

 

The African Studies Center (ASC) was proud to participate in the 14th annual African Festival of Boston (AFOB) on August 17th and 18th. The AFOB is a major public festival held in the Boston Common with the goal of promoting and celebrating African cultures, histories, and identities. The festival features the best of local African arts and culture and receives thousands of visitors. In addition to staffing an informational booth about the Center’s programs and offerings, the BU ASC led a major aspect of the festival, the “Children’s Cultural Village,” in which we created a mobile library bringing Children’s Africana Book Award books to the public. The ASC hosted three children’s author readings, including Thato Mwosa’s 14 African Women who Made History, Crystal Boateng’s Saturday Morning Cuddles with Mommy, and Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond’s Blue.

ASC team with Zoma coffee roaster rep.

There was fun and learning for adults as well as children as we partnered with Zoma Coffee to put on a full Ethiopian coffee ceremony and tasting and also held African trivia games. We engaged many members of the public through our popular How Big is Africa poster and curriculum for teachers, shared information about our language instruction and discussed the resources available at our world-class African Studies Library. The participation at the AFOB was made possible through various arms of the African Studies Center, including the African Studies Library and the K-16 Education Outreach Program.

The African Studies Center (ASC) team at the Welcome Back, Pardee event, part of their back-to-school outreach. From left: PhD candidates Hassan L. Abubakar and Ousmane Cisse, Director of the African Languages Program Dr. Zoli Mali, and Swahili instructor Judith Mmari. Photo: Halle Amankwah Akuffo

The ASC team has recently been celebrating the return to school by tabling at events and sharing information about our language offerings, our speaker series and our community events. We were present at the Explore the Possibilities fair, welcoming first year and transfer students, and then attended Welcome Back, Pardee where we saw both new and familiar faces.

This coming week, we will be at the Graduate Resource Fair on Tuesday, September 10 from 11 to 2 PM, George Sherman Union Metcalf Ballroom. Come visit us there!

 

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