Wednesday, February 11 – Lecture/Discussion: Dr. El Hassen Ould Ahmed – Humphrey Fellow, “Language Dynamics and Language Planning in Mauritania: The Quest for a National Literature” @ Department of African Studies Room 412, 3:00pm. Dr. El Hassen Ould Ahmed has a B.A from English Department, University of Nouakchott and a Master’s and PhD from Cheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar Senegal. He is the Deputy Head of the English Department, University of Nouakchott in Mauritania. He is also a professional Translator: English-French-Arabic.  In the last five year, he has been Teaching African Literature English Expression, with a focus on 20^th century African English Novel. He is interested in a variety of issues such as the question of language and identity in African writings, and language politics and the rhetoric of power in the writing of Achebe, Armah and Ngugi.   Dr. El Hassen is currently in the USA on a Humphrey Fellowship based at Penn State University. He is serving as a guest lecturer at Penn State, Eastern Mennonite University, and Eastern Virginia Community College. For more information contact Chris Daniels ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Kari Miller ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), or call 202-238-2324.

Thursday, January 29 – Lecture/Discussion: Let This Voice Be Heard: Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism @ Blackburn Center Auditorium, 1:30pm to 4:00pm. Dr. Maurice Jackson, Assistant Professor (Department of History, Georgetown University), will lecture on his newest book entitled "Let this Voice Be Heard : Anthony Benezet, Father of Atlantic Abolitionism" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008).  A commentary by Dr. Jeffrey Kerr-Ritchie (Department of History, Howard University) and a discussion will follow. For more information contact Dr. Ana Lucia Araujo, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , 202.806.9362.