Contact: Kay Fike Jones
A professor of African languages and literature will discuss his research in an Oct. 28 public program at Mississippi State University.
Edris Makward of the University of Wisconsin-Madison will speak on "Myth and Ritual in African Literature" at 7 p.m. in the Colvard Union small auditorium. A reception will follow.
Makward long has studied the African experience on the Continent and the forced dispersion of many of its inhabitants to the Caribbean and Americas.
His studies have included the works of novelists, poets and playwrights such as Sembene Ousmane, Cheikh Hamidou Kane, Abdellatif Laabi, and Ezechial Mphalele. He also has researched African-American writings on Black Muslims in America, as well as the works of the late Alex Haley, author of the widely acclaimed novel "Roots."
A lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1972, Makward is a founding member and current president of the West African Research Association. He also serves as vice president of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, headquartered at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Makward holds a master's degree from the Sorbonne in Paris and a doctorate from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
His visit to MSU is being sponsored by the Cobb Institute of Archaeology, Anthropology Club, Holmes Cultural Diversity Center, departments of history, and of sociology, anthropology and social work, and College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information, telephone the Cobb Institute at (662) 325-3826.