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Wednesday, September 7, 2005
Professor Rex Nettleford, former vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, will be the keynote speaker at a cultural tribute at Howard University in Washington, USA, on September 29 in honour of the late Guyanese scholar Dr Walter Rodney.
A release from the university's Office of University Communications said the event will be held in the Ira Aldridge Theater on the university's main campus.
Rodney's daughter Asha Rodney, an attorney-at-law, will attend.
Noted journalist Kojo Nnamdi, host of the 'Kojo Nnamdi Show' on WAMU Radio, and 'Evening Exchange' on WHUT, will be the master of ceremonies.
The tribute is part of a two-day event recognizing Rodney's intellectual and political legacy, 25 years after his assassination in Georgetown, the release stated.
Prof Nettleford, renowned Renaissance figure, will speak on the subject of identity and culture in development, the struggles of people of African descent all over the world and how they can call on their creativity and ingenuity to find a way out against the background of a new world order - globalization.
Meanwhile, on September 30, there will be a symposium devoted to scholarly discourse on the work of Rodney and its continued relevance to the quest for equality and justice among the peoples of the Diaspora. Under the theme, 'The Intellectual and Political Legacy of Walter Rodney, Twenty-five Years After', panellists will examine Rodney's scholarship in a historical context as well as apply the principles of his work to current realities.
Speakers include: Prof Rupert Lewis, Department of Government and Politics, University of the West Indies; Prof Anthony Bogues, Prof and chair, Department of Africana Studies, Brown University; Prof Edward (Ned) Alpers, chair, Department of African Studies, UCLA; Prof Ron Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute and Professor in the Department of Government and Politics, University of Maryland; Prof Horace Campbell, Professor of African American Studies and Political Science, Syracuse University; Prof Jean Toungara, Department of History Howard University and Andaiye, international women's advocate and leading researcher for some of Rodney's major works.
Rodney, in whose honour the event is being held, was himself an outstanding academic and socio-political activist. Among several other titles, he is author of the revolutionary work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, first published in the United States by Howard University Press in 1974. After three decades, it remains the press' best selling title.
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