#BringBackOurGirls: Boko Haram and Human Security in West Africa Conference, December 4, 2015

#BringBackOurGirls NYC

#BringBackOurGirls: Boko Haram and Human Security in West Africa Conference. 

Thursday, December 4, 2014 

9:30am – 6:00pm

The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY

the conference is a call for continued action toward the end of gender based violence and the rescue and safe return of our girls who were abducted from their school in chibok, borno state, nigeria on april 14, 2014, and all other nigerian citizens abducted by boko haram

December 4, 2014

New York, New York – On April 14^, 2014, armed militants from the insurgent group, Boko Haram, stormed female school dormitories in Chibok, Borno State, Nigeria.  The militants forcefully abducted 200+ young female students in the middle of the night, stole supplies and burned the school to the ground.  Other women and girls, boys and men have been abducted before and after the April 14^th abduction, and Boko Haram is still on the rampage. Many communities have been attacked and thousands have been killed. There are also millions of Internally Displaced Persons and refugees as a result of these predatory attacks.  One of the most unfortunate results of the abductions is the paralyzing effect it has had on Nigerian citizens in Northeastern parts of the country, who are afraid to engage in their day to day activities, including schooling.  234 days after the Chibok abductions, additional concerns have been raised about the fate of many of the abducted female students forcefully separated from their families and communities.  Although the Nigerian government informed its citizens and the world, around May 26th, that it knows the location of the girls, and although there were at least two announcements of the imminent release of the girls, only those who managed to escape by themselves are free. Most of our girls remain in captivity and no additional information has been forthcoming. 

To continue to raise awareness on this heartrending and tragic matter, in collaboration with the #BringBackOurGirls Global Coalition, #BringBackOurGirls NYC, community leaders and concerned citizens from NYC gathered for the #BringBackOurGirls: Boko Haram and Human Security in West Africa Conference on Thursday, December 4, 2014, from 9:30am – 6:00pm at The Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, to discuss the implications of the Boko Haram abductions for Nigerian citizens and state.  We ask the Nigerian government and its armed forces and the International Community to take additional action to #BringBackOurGirls.  We also call on the Nigerian government to keep Nigerian children and citizens safe in their respective schools across the country.  Beginning from November 25, led by UNWomen, various actions have been undertaken worldwide, in acknowledgement of the need to end all forms of gender based violence. As we call for worldwide solidarity with our missing girls and their families, #BringBackOurGirls NYC is asked all attendees to wear ORANGE, as a symbol of the hope for a brighter future in which we will all be secure from violence. We also hope for a future where the bloodshed and abduction of children throughout the northern region of Nigeria would stop.  We will continue to rally to bring attention to this matter until our girls are brought back and reunited with their families.

The program: 

Bring Back Our Girls: Boko Haram and Human Security in West Africa

December 4^th

Special thanks to our sponsors:

Institutefor Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas & the Caribbean(IRADAC)

The Advanced ResearchCollaborative (ARC)

The Sauti Yetu Center forAfrican Women and Families

9:30 - 10:15 AM

Welcome: 
Robert Reid-Pharr, Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies and Director, Institute for Research on the African Diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean

Introduction of President Chase Robinson:
Robert Reid-Pharr, Director, IRADAC


Opening Remarks:
President Chase Robinson, The Graduate Center



Evocations & Griot Performance:
Salieu Suso (Griot)

10:15 - 11:30 AM

Introduction of Keynote Speaker: Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome, Professor of Political Science, African & Women's Studies Brooklyn College, CUNY

Keynote Address: Dr. Mrs. Obiageli Ezekwesili, #BringBackOurGirls, Nigeria 

“Evolving A World Where Our Girls Can Be Safe To Thrive and Lead.”

11:30 – 1:15 PM

PANEL 1: Boko-Haram & Pervasive Violence in West Africa: Interfaith Responses and Action

Speakers

Rev. Herbert Daughtry, House of the Lord Pentecostal Church

Boko-Haram & Pervasive Violence in West Africa in the Context of Global Crises: The Imperative for a Prophetic/Radical Interfaith Alliance

Abstract: Our hearts bleed for the abducted children in Nigeria, indeed, children across the world. This is one of the many crises that pervades Africa. There are crises of war, disease, violence, hunger, refugees and displaced persons, etc. Yet our African continent, particularly Nigeria, has been blessed with bountiful resources and brilliant minds which built advanced civilizations, and which could lead the world with peace and prosperity. Looming over us is Climate Change, which threatens to destroy all of us. If there were ever a time for the intervention, the participation, or the voices of the moral, religious protagonists, the time is now. Our generation, and generations yet unborn, cry out for the activism of a prophetic/radical unity of religious leaders that prioritizes commitment to the Almighty Creator, takes up the cause of the "wretched of the earth," and put forth the vision of a world of oneness of the human family.

Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Professor of Political Science, Ithaca College

Beyond Decoys, Impunity and Interfaith Platitudes: Politico-Constitutional and Other Requisites for Religious Coexistence in Nigeria

Abstract: Interfaith mobilization in Nigeria as a response to terrorism is both substantive and superficial. For some, it opens up new possibilities for productive citizenry action. However, within diverse societal and discursive arenas, many have found reason to dismiss such visions as a sham, or as transient acts inconsequential to enduring realities. To convert nascent hopes for harmonious religious coexistence into a material reality capable of preventing religious violence and the theology of colonizing terrorism adopted by groups such as Boko Haram, advocates of an interfaith approach must tackle some key dilemmas. This paper examines such challenges including the functionality of Boko Haram in luring attention from longstanding and unresolved tensions regarding religious control of public spaces, voices and identities. It argues that in the quest for understanding, mutual respect, reconciliation and peace, interfaith activists have often shied away from discomfiting evidence of specific trajectories of religious persecution underpinned by religious, political, bureaucratic and socio-cultural instruments. Such silences are traumatic for the subjectivities of violence and impunity; they create new layers of fear and mistrust and erode the integrity of interfaith movements and their quest for viable solutions.

Okey Ndibe, Professor of English, Brown University
 Human “Ants” and the Ravages of Boko Haram

Abstract: My presentation will examine two broad issues. One, it will locate the rise of the terror group, Boko Haram, in the context of structural defects in formation of the Nigerian nation. In fact, the failure of the Nigerian state to achieve popular legitimacy and to inspire a national ethos account for the various forms of violent resistance to a structure deemed to breed dehumanization and degradation. Two, my presentation will also explore the success of Boko Haram as owing to the failure of successive Nigerian governments to rise to the challenge of transforming Nigeria into a space where citizens’ basic human needs are met. I will argue that Boko Haram’s power and ascendancy are a function of Nigeria’s crisis of leadership, the absence of an animating national spirit, and the mindless reconstruction of Nigerian citizens into metaphoric ants, at once invisible and insignificant to the visionless and rapacious men and women who presume to be Nigerian leaders.   

Moderator: Olufemi Vaughan, Geoffrey Canada Professor of History and Africana Studies

Bowdoin College

1:15 – 2:30 PM

Lunch

Room 9207

2:30 – 3:45 PM

PANEL 2: Human Security: Women Organizing for Humanitarian Assistance & Peace-building

Speakers

Bertrade Ngo-Ngijol Banoum, Professor of Black Studies and Women’s Studies, Lehman College, CUNY

 Which Way? Grassroots Women Organizing in the New Era of Social Media

Abstract: Across Africa, women have an enduring tradition of mobilizing and organizing at the grassroots to bring about social change within their communities locally, nationally, regionally, globally, and transnationally.  The advent of new social media has now maximized the scope and speed of these mobilizations as shown by the global movement initiated by Nigerian women following the kidnapping of hundreds of girls from their school.  This reflection focuses on the female collective action known as the “Bring Back Our Girls” movement in Nigeria and beyond.   The practice is rooted in a long history of women’s indigenous institutions and mechanisms of resistance to abuse -- struggles against patriarchal dominance, colonial supremacy, global capitalism and the current sexual terrorism.  Past successful campaigns beg the question: Is this new form of grassroots women-led coalition the silver lining for better governance in Nigeria and other African states?

Oty Agbajoh Laoye, Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies and English, Monmouth University
 Building Fences from the Smallest Things: Securing the Future for Our Children

Abstract: The question of security and the lack thereof, especially as it pertains to children in so-called developing countries, is not new.  Growing up in many of these countries means not taking safety for granted, sometimes in unlikely locations— homes, neighborhoods, schools that map the daily lives in the journey from childhood to productive adulthood. African female writers document the unsecured spaces of children in Africa—Nawal El Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero and Amma Darko’s Faceless read like subjects for the goriest episodes in Special Victims Unit (SVU). The documentation in literature is only a glimpse of the problems that children face in West Africa.  Human security should begin as soon as a child is born and in places that we usually consider secure—“cozy and contained, private and limited,” to quote Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (2).  My point here is that women’s approach to human security, especially as it pertains to children in the third world and more, should be different from the so-called norm.  What is the use of national security, if it does not extend to inside the home or ensure safe enclosures in essential spaces—like school for every child?  Safety like charity should begin in small places and with our most vulnerable but precious young population—our hope for a sustainable tomorrow.

Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr, Professor Graduate Creative Writing Program of Wilkes University, poet, playwright, essayist and short story writer.

Nisa; the appropriate treatment of girls, and women in Islam.

Abstract: My talk will focus on a brief background of history and Islam from the Qur'an and the demystification of current trends in the Muslim World in general and Nigeria in particular. I will speak to the topic of kidnapping and forced conversions and the destruction of holy places of worship.

Moderator: Mora Mclean, New York Representative FXB, President Emeritus AAI

3:45 – 4:00 PM

Break

4:00 – 5:15 PM

Closing Celebration: Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome, Professor of Political Science, African & Women's Studies Brooklyn College, CUNY

Shayee Arts and Productions

Mother's cry

Description: A dance-Drama piece starring the the consciousness of everyone to action beyond mere speech. 
Group Members: Shayee Awoyomi,
Kunle Adegeye,
Sunday Bada,
Baba Kebe,
Perfecta Mfonma Ekpo,
Donel Lotus Davis, 
Segun AJ,
Boluwatife Taiwo,
Dami Ibikunle

Ayanbinrin (Mother Drum of Africa)

5:15 – 8:30 PM

Reception

Sociology Lounge, Room 6112

Speaker and performer biographies

Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili founder of the #BringBackOurGirls movement, is a Senior Economic Advisor at Open Society Foundations (OSF), a group founded by investor and philanthropist George Soros. She also jointly serves as Senior Economic Advisor for Africa Economic Development Policy Initiative (AEDPI), a program of the Open Society Foundations. In these roles, she advises nine reform-committed African heads of state including Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia. Before joining OSF, she was Vice President of the World
Bank (Africa Region) in Washington, D.C., responsible for operations in 48 countries and a lending portfolio of nearly $40 billion. From 2002 to 2007, Ezekwesili worked for the federal government of Nigeria as Minister of Education, Minister of Solid Minerals, head of the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit as well as Chairperson of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) where she led the first ever national implementation of the global standards and principles of transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors. She was a key member of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Economic Team.



Rashidah Ismaili AbuBakr is a scholar, counselor, writer, and, arts advocate. She teaches in the Graduate Creative Writing Program of Wilkes University, and is currently the President of Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA). She was the Associate Director of the Higher Education Opportunity Programs at Pratt University. Dr. Ismaili AbuBakr has maintained Salon d’Afrique and Galleria Africa showcasing works of contemporary artists from Africa and the Diaspora. She worked with the New World Theatre at the University of Massachusetts. She is a member of PEN; African Literature Association (ALA); As a member of the Black Theatre Network her works have been translated into: Arabic, Catalan, Dutch, French, Mandarin, Papiamento, Spanish, and Turkish.


Oty Agbajoh-Laoye is an associate professor of Interdisciplinary Studies with expertise in Literature in English, Africana Studies and Comparative literature, Ethnic and Interdisciplinary Studies at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey with a doctorate from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She teaches an array of courses in African and the African Diaspora, Postcolonial, Non-European literature in English; World literature, American Ethnic lives and Interdisciplinary studies. Her research interest is in comparative Black Women literature, the slave narrative tradition, 20th century African Diaspora fiction and comparative and transnational experience in global-local perspectives.


Reverend Herbert Daughtry hails from a family of five generations of Black church leaders. As national presiding minister of the House of the Lord Churches, chairman emeritus of the National Black United Front, and president of the African People’s Christian Organization, he has risen to a position of national and international acclaim and responsibility. Rev. Daughtry’s more than 46 years of involvement in community and church service has earned him the title, “The People’s Pastor.” Reverend Herbert Daniel Daughtry, Sr. is currently the National Presiding Minister of The House of the Lord Churches. He is a founder and President of the African People’s Christian Organization and a founding member of the Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. Reverend Daughtry the host and principal speaker on a weekly radio program on New York City’s WWRL-AM. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from Seton Hall University (1980) and the State University of New York, College of Old Westbury (1992). In addition, Reverend Daughtry is a writer and author, writing weekly columns for the New York Daily Challenge, contributing to The New York Times, the Amsterdam News, and the Bergen Record. His publications include, No Monopoly on Suffering: Blacks and Jews in Crown Heights and Elsewhere, My Beloved Community; Effectual Prayer; and, Dear 2pac: Letters to a Son. Reverend Daughtry's latest book is, In My Lifetime: Towards the Presidency of Barack Obama.



Mora McLean is the New York-based representative of FXB USA, the U.S. affiliate of FXB International (FXBI), a 25-year old Swiss non-profit organization dedicated to improving conditions of life for people--especially vulnerable children--living in extreme poverty in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. In this capacity she advises FXBI’s founder and the FXB USA Board of Directors on strategy and provides management oversight on a range of program and administrative matters, including FXBI’s work in Colombia, South America. She is President Emerita of The Africa-America Institute (AAI), and between 1989 and 1995 served as the Ford Foundation’s West Africa Representative based in Lagos, Nigeria. Mora is a graduate of Columbia Law School and longstanding member of the Council on Foreign Relations.


Okey Ndibe is the author of the widely acclaimed novels Foreign Gods, Inc. and Arrows of Rain, and co-editor (with Zimbabwean writer, Chenjerai Hove) of Writers Writing on Conflicts and Wars in Africa. He earned MFA and PhD degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and has taught at Connecticut College, Bard College, Trinity College, Brown University, and the University of Lagos (as a Fulbright scholar). He served as the founding editor of African Commentary, a US-based international magazine published by the late novelist Chinua Achebe. Ndibe also worked on the editorial board of Hartford Courant, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the US, where his essays won national and state awards. He writes for numerous international and Nigerian publications, including the New York Times, BBC online, Financial Times, and the (Nigerian) Daily Sun. He is currently working on a book titled Going Dutch and other American Mis/Adventures.


Bertrade Ngo-Ngijol Banoum teaches African Cultural Studies & Women's Studies, and chairs the Women's Studies Program at Lehman College, City University of New York. Her scholarly interests are in gender issues in local and global dimensions. Her current research explores gender construction in language and society, from African oral traditions to integration of indigenous knowledge bases in global academic agendas. Dr. Ngo-Ngijol Banoum’s publications include “The Yum: A Model of Sustainable Development”, in African Gender Studies: A Reader, “Women’s Human Rights” in the new Gale Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender, and The Role of Women in World Peace & the Role of Men and Boys in gender Equity, a Women’s Studies Review Special Issue.


Peyi Soyinka-Airewele is a professor of African and International Politics at Ithaca College, with interests in the fields of socio-political memory, the politics of disaster, critical development theory, human rights and the politics of African Cinema. Her publications include Socio-Political Scaffolding and the Construction of Change, co-edited with Kelechi Kalu (Africa World Press, 2008), Reframing Contemporary Africa, co-edited with Kiki Edozie (CQ Press 2009), and Invoking the Past, Conjuring the Nation. Her work on democratic development, collective memory, and cathartic violence has been published in several scholarly journals including the Journal of African and Asian Studies, the Journal of Third World Studies, and West Africa Review.



Olufemi Vaughan is the Geoffrey Canada Professor of Africana Studies & History at Bowdoin College. He was Professor of Africana Studies & History, and Associate Provost at SUNY, Stony Brook. Vaughan is the author and editor of nine books, including Nigerian Chiefs: Traditional Power in Modern Politics, 1890s-1990s (2000), Religion and the Making of Nigeria (forthcoming), and over forty articles. He has been awarded a Woodrow Wilson fellowship, a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching, and a Distinguished Scholar's Award from the Association of Third World Studies.



Oluwaseyi Awoyomi of Shayee Arts Culture and Tours Inc. is a New York City based visual and performing artist. Entertaining audiences since childhood, Ms. Awoyomi has performed globally throughout her career. Her work showcases the art of Nigerian traditional dance.


Ayanbinrin also known as Mother Drum of Africa is a quintessential vocalist, dancer and more especially a talking drummer of high repute who over the years have conquered many frontiers in the music industry in Nigeria and other parts of the world. Ayanbinrin is a recording artiste, singing in her native dialect and English language. She is the project director of Mother Drum Arts Foundation, a non-governmental organization with the objective of using the arts to promote, preserve and rejuvenate the cultural values of the African people, and in turn use this as a platform for global peace and unification.


Salieu Suso was born into a family of farmers and traditional Gambian musicians/historians that extends back nearly 1000 years He was trained to play the twenty-one stringed Kora (West African Harp) beginning at age 8 by his father, renowned Kora player Alhaji Musa Makang Suso. He is a descendent of JaliMady Wulayn Suso, the inventor of the Kora. He speaks Mandigo, Fula, Wolof, Sarahulay and some German. Salieu Suso is the leader of the Jaliya Kafo! Extended Family Music Ensemble. Griot, an Album of solo Kora and Vocal Performances. Message from Home, ensemble performance with renowned jazz saxophonist, Pharoah Sanders, Taking the Blues Back Home and Cheerful and Optimistic, albums of poetry, jazz and traditional African music.

“Organic Grooves” on African Travels, Sutukiung, a compilation of African dance club music. Http://www.salieususo.fourfour.com/bio