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“What is ‘the African Diaspora’— and Why Should it Matter to Me?”
Thank you for everyone who attended this year’s AAI’s State of Education on Africa conference! The virtual conference was live-streamed on Friday, January 19th, 2024 from 1-6pm ET. The conference theme for 2024, “What is ‘the African Diaspora’—and Why Should it Matter to Me?” explored the changing meanings of “the African diaspora” and “African American" in today’s cultural and political landscape and the value of centering Africa and its worldwide diaspora in K-12 education.
Our 2024 program included keynote address by Dr. Kia Lilly Caldwell and Nemata Blyden, a book talk on Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library with author Carole Boston Weatherford, and panels with distinguished scholars and education practitioners. Along with featured video messages from Deniece Laurent-Mantey, Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on African Diaspora Engagement in the United States, and the students of Marygrove High School in Detroit, Michigan.
“The moment of displacement was also the moment of a making of a new identity, a global identity, a transnational identity, a trans-ethnic identity that gave birth to to the identity that is called black today.”
“Restorative education is a social emotional learning framework that uses evidence-based practices to teach skills and to build on three very important components: connectedness, communication, and community stability. These components are extremely important for our black and brown scholars.”
Our annual State of Education on Africa conference aims to reach a broad intellectually curious and socially conscious audience. The program is designed to offer something useful to students, parents, teachers, school administrators, academic scholars, social justice activists, leaders in philanthropy, and others eager to learn more—whether based in or outside the United States.
If you attended this year’s SOE conference, please take a couple minutes complete the survey by clicking the button below. We appreciate the feedback as we work towards broadening the reach of our annual conference.
CONFERENCE SPEAKERS
KEYNOTE: “Reflections on the Importance of Afro-Latin America in the Global Black World”
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Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity and Professor of African & African American Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
KEYNOTE: “Africans and African Americans: Evolving Historical Connection”
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Professor of 19th Century African American and African Studies, The Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, University of Virginia
AUTHOR BOOK TALK on Schomburg: The Man Who Built a Library
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Poet, Author, Critic and Professor, Fayetteville State University
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Award-winning Librarian, 2015 Recipient, Coretta Scott King/Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement
SCHOLARS PANEL on Key Terms: “The African Diaspora, “Pan-Africanism,” and “African Americans”
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Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Tours and Visiting Professor, Bennington College
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Associate Professor and Director, Center for African Studies, Department of African Studies, Howard University
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Assistant Professor and William Dawson Chair, Department of History, McGill University
K-12 PRACTITIONERS GALLERY
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Principal, Marygrove High School and Elementary School
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Principal, Ralph Bunche K-8 Academy
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Teacher and Howard University Masters Candidate