OSU Center for Africana Studies and Development opens, to debut speakers series

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

by Chase Harvick

“Darubini,” Swahili for binoculars, also refers to an effort by the Oklahoma State University Center for Africana Studies and Development to bring issues affecting the continent of Africa closer into view.

The newly opened center debuts its Darubini Speakers Series on Thursday, Feb. 8. Wycliffe Simiyt, chairman and professor of sports sciences at Kenyatta University in Kenya, will visit the Stillwater campus and talk about sports as a medium for promoting peace and development in Africa. The 3:30 p.m. lecture in 108 Wes Watkins Center is free and open to the public.

OSU celebrated the grand opening of the center on Jan. 25 with a ribbon-cutting and open house. The conception of OSU African Student Organization members, the new campus resource for Africa study, research and outreach began to offer an African language course at the start of the semester. Organizers hope it is the first of many courses on topics related to Africa that will be available through the center.  

“The need to inform and educate about African issues is growing daily, and our hope is that the center will serve as a reference point,” said Billy Jivetti, graduate student and president of the African Student Organization. “The creation of this center has been in the development stages for two years and received support from the College of Arts and Sciences and from the School of International Studies.”

“We are laying the foundation for an African studies minor, and based on the student response to the new Swahili language course, we are confident this is a realistic goal,” Jivetti said.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included OSU System CEO and President David Schmidly, Vice President for Institutional Diversity Cornell Thomas, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Sherwood and Amilcar Shabazz, associate professor of history and director of the American Studies program.

OSU International Education and Outreach director James Hromas and his wife, Kathy, presented a topographical map of Africa to the center. The map, circa 1898, once hung in a Stillwater area schoolhouse.

“We found this map at an auction in 1975. The woman who sold it had been a school teacher somewhere in Payne County, most likely Perkins,” Kathy Hromas said. “We had the map hanging up in our home, but when we heard about the center opening, it was clear the map belonged there.”

Also during the opening ceremony, Wild Card Missions, a group of student missionaries, sang a song in Swahili and Olu Togun, Afro-beat instructor at OSU, led a group of drummers in a performance.

Located in 204 E Wes Watkins, the OSU Center for Africana Studies and Development also will seek to increase awareness on African issues with programs such as the Darubini Speakers Series.

“Binoculars help bring something in the distance closer into view,” Jivetti said. “That’s what we hope to do with Africa through this speakers series and with the center itself.”