‘Nollywood: The Nigerian Movie Industry and African Culture’ Is Topic Of All-Day Event at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus.
This African Forum can be attended for free or taken for one course credit
Brooklyn, N.Y. – Hollywood, Bollywood and now Nollywood. The latter is the topic of a one-day forum at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus on Wednesday, November 11. “Nollywood: The Nigerian Movie Industry and African Culture,” will be held at the Brooklyn Campus’ Spike Lee Screening Room, LLC 122, from 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
The Brooklyn Campus’ yearly Africa Forum is part of a 15-credit minor in Africana Studies. The Forum is free of charge, unless it is being taken for one course credit in sociology/anthropology.
Organized by Brooklyn Campus anthropology professor Yusuf Juwayeyi, who was born and raised in the Republic of Malawi in southeastern Africa, the Africa Forum is sponsored by the Campus’ department of sociology/anthropology.
“The Africa Forum is designed to sensitize students, faculty and community members about various issues that affect Africa,” Juwayeyi says. “This year’s topic was chosen because most Americans don’t realize that one of the most prolific film producers in the world is Nigeria, and that as a result of these Nollywood films Nigerian culture is having a significant impact on sub-Saharan African culture.”
In the morning session of Nollywood, the topic is the Nigerian video boom. Panelists are Awam Amkpa, chair of Africana Studies at New York University; Brian Larkin, chair of anthropology at Barnard College, Columbia University; and Jonathan Haynes, professor of English at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus. The panel moderator is Juwayeyi.
In the afternoon session, there will be a screening of a Nollywood film, “Irapada,” which is not yet in circulation. It will be followed by a discussion led by Haynes and moderated by Juwayeyi.
Previous Africa Forum topics have included “The Problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa and New York City,” “Africa and America: Trans-Atlantic Music Crossing” and “Women and Political Power in Africa.”
With more than 11,000 diverse students, Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus is located in downtown Brooklyn at DeKalb and Flatbush Avenues, central to public transportation and just 10 minutes from Wall Street.
For more information, contact Yusuf Juwayeyi at (718) 488-1168 or (914) 374-5288.
