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Showing posts from March, 2012

On Women, Water, and Migration in Africa

Paper presented for the Panel on Women, Water and Migration in Africa: The Case of Ghana, Zimbabwe, Guinee and Chad--a Side Event at the 56 th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, sponsored by The Drammeh Institute Tchad Agir Pour l’Environnement. 777 UN Plaza, Saturday, March 03, 2012, 10:30am to 12 pm Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké Okome Professor of Political Science Brooklyn College, City University of New York Since we are African, and our philosophies of life demonstrate an engagement with the issues that we face in our daily lives, it is appropriate to begin with African aphorisms.  Unfortunately, I only speak Yorùbá, so, I will use some proverbs from my mother tongue that are relevant to our subject matter today.   Omi l’ènìyàn: People are water—they flow Eni bá da’mi síwájú, á te’lè tútù—whoever throws water forward will walk on wet ground—if you do good, you will reap the rewards. It is also important to pay attention to African pop...

The AMISTAD Spirit: Wangari Maathai and the Nobel Peace Prize

The AMISTAD Spirit: Wangari Maathai and the Nobel Peace Prize Paper presented at the Symposium--"Wangari Maathai: Visionary, Environmental Leader, Political Activist and Educator" Brooklyn College, Student Center, Gold Room Mojúbàolú Olúfúnké Okome, Ph.D. Professor of Political Science Brooklyn College, CUNY March 28, 2012 In 1901, Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross and won the first Nobel Peace Prize.  According to the organizers, "The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 92 times to 124 Nobel Laureates between 1901 and 2011– 99 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations."  The names and the dates of the awards are found here:   http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/index.html Introduction When Wangari Maathai was honored with the Nobel Peace Award in 2004, for her contributions to sustainable development, democracy and peace, I was personally excited.  But the award evoked many critical...