Overview
This conference aims to investigate the history of Ethiopia in and of itself, and its complex relationship to the histories of the African continent, the wider African diaspora, and the world at large.
Saturday, October 17
Introductory Remarks
- Hoor Al Qasimi, President, Sharjah Art Foundation and The Africa Institute
- Salah M. Hassan – Director, The Africa Institute, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director, Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
- Elizabeth W. Giorgis – Associate Professor of Theory and Criticism, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
- Dagmawi Woubshet – Ahuja Family Presidential Associate Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, USA
- Surafel Wondimu Abebe – Assistant Professor at the Centre for African Studies and Researcher at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Session 1
Exceptionalism and Historiography of Ethiopia
Moderator & Discussant
Tibebe Eshete – Pocock Family Distinguished Visiting Assistant Professor of History, The College of Wooster, Ohio, USA
Keynote 1
Ethiopia: Symbol of Black Dignity and Independence
Bahru Zewde – Emeritus Professor of History, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Sunday, October 18
Session 2
Ethiopia and the Black Diasporic Imagination | Learn More
Moderator & Discussant
Salah M. Hassan – Director, The Africa Institute, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director, Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
Session 3
Tumultuous Times: Ethiopia Revolution and Derg Years | Learn More
Moderator & Discussant
Shimelis Bonsa Gulema – Associate Professor of Modern African History and Politics, SUNY Stony Brook University, New York, USA
Monday, October 19
Film Screening + Talk: Spacial and Other Memories: Meskel Square’s Contribution
Square Stories Trilogy | Learn More
2010 | 75 mins
Ye Wonz Maibel – Deluge
1997 | 61 mins
Directed by Salem MekuriaSalem Mekuria – Filmmaker and Professor Emeritus, Wellesley College, Massachusetts, USA
Dagmawi Woubshet – Ahuja Family Presidential Associate Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Film Screening + Talk: The Modern Archive
Twilight Revelations: The Life and Times of Emperor Haile Selassie |
Learn More
Directed by Yemane Demissie
2009 | 58 minsYemane Demissie – Professor, New York University, USA
Takele Merid – Director of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Elizabeth W. Giorgis – Professor of Theory and Criticism, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Wednesday, October 21
Session 4
Artist Focus: A Dialogue with Julie Mehretu
Moderator & Discussant
Salah M. Hassan – Director, The Africa Institute, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director, Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
Session 5
The State of Visual Art in Ethiopia: A Roundtable
Moderator & Discussant
Salah M. Hassan – Director, The Africa Institute, Goldwin Smith Professor and Director, Institute for Comparative Modernities, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
Saturday, October 24
Session 6
Writing Ethiopia: Identity and the Literary Imagination
Moderator & Discussant
Elizabeth W. Giorgis – Associate Professor of Theory and Criticism, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Session 7
Modernity and Memory: Ethiopia’s Histories
Moderator & Discussant
Surafel Wondimu Abebe – Assistant Professor at the Centre for African Studies and Researcher at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Sunday, October 25
Session 8
Diasporic Ethiopia: Migration and Exile
Moderator & Discussant
Dagmawi Woubshet¬ – Ahuja Family Presidential Associate Professor of English, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Keynote 2
Beyond Exceptionalism: Ethiopia in the History of International Law
Adom Getachew – Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Political Science and the College, University of Chicago, USA
